So Many Roses

You have to see all the roses and buds on Dad's rose right now. Usually I go out and take closeups of individual flowers but there are so many that I had to take a group shot. I know it's not as easy to see in a shot like this but there are so many little spots of red.

And here's a rosebud just because.

This afternoon I met RP, the knitting lady I met in the dentist office waiting room a couple weeks ago. We met at Cheesecake Heaven for, what else, cheesecake and so I could deliver the bin of yarn. I don't think that she was expecting a full bin of yarn but with the inclusion of the bag o'yarn from KE the bin was full. When I arrived at the restaurant she handed me a little bag that she made for me. It's the perfect size for putting a few things in my purse. Such a cute little thing. She also bought two books! She was going to buy The Seaview but when I told her that Open For Business is the sequel she bought that one too. Bought, as in paid cash money. Hooray!

I stopped at the Farmers Market on my way home and bought too many tomatoes, a cucumber, a red bell pepper, a box of plums, and a cookie. I want to make a batch of gazpacho because I've never had it and I put the recipe in the back of Open For Business so I thought I'd better make some just in case someone asks about it. Last weekend's chill is long gone. The heat is back along with the humidity that never left. It was in the mid-80s this afternoon with not much breeze and the blazing sun. It was hot at the market. I didn't tarry too much, although I did get stopped by the director wanting my email address because it's time to apply for the winter market and she wanted to send me the application. When I got home I had an email from LW who spearheaded our market days the winter before last forwarding the forms to me so I filled them out and sent them right back (once I figured out how to download it so I could fill it out online). The director also advised me to get a certain brand of folding table that's better quality and a lot more durable so I looked it up on Amazon when I got home and ordered one (it was quite a bit cheaper than I thought it'd be) and a pair of tablecloths. I want to be ready when November rolls around.

Here are the next few figures from 20 Ways to Draw a Tree. I wasn't thrilled when I turned the page to see the last one to fit on my page was a log. They're a pain to draw but I think mine didn't turn out too badly.

After supper I cast on the gray bear. The gray yarn is a lot thicker than it's supposed to be but the variegated yarn is thinner so I'm rationalizing that it balances out. I think the bear is going to be bigger than the toast bear so it might be too big for a baby. We'll see. I got the legs knitted and knitted together. Next comes the belly and arms. I really like knitting it all in one piece, well, you can't knit both legs at the same time but the rest of the bear is all in one piece so I'm counting it.

 

I almost forgot that I glanced out to see a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the suet pellets. It didn't stay long but long enough.

I spent some time on the manuscript this morning and after the Farmers Market. I've slotted in the scenes I wrote the last few days and added more trouble to one of them. See? I'm getting better at it. Two weeks from Saturday I'll be going up to The Clearing for a week's writing retreat and I want to be ready. Next week will be spent deciding which scene to print off to share with the group. That should be fun. I love how it feels when the ideas come and the words flow. I just hope that the weather cools off some. I don't want to be up there in the heat because the cabins aren't air conditioned. The classrooms are but not the cabins.

--Barbara