More Words

I wrote more today. 1295 words to be exact. It took me a little more than an hour, maybe closer to an hour and a half. These are not Pulitzer Prize words, they're ordinary words but I'm just happy that they arrived on the tips of my fingers.

This dreary morning a Downy Woodpecker showed up. I wasn't fast enough to grab the camera to take its picture when it was riding the Slinky and waiting for the Sparrows to vacate the suet cakes feeder. It waits until all of the other birds are gone before flapping over and having a snack. The Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up today too but I only caught a flicker of its red head on the platform feeder before it flew over to the suet cakes and landed on the back side of the feeder so all I saw was its tail and not much of that.

Last night I decided that I'd paint the same Yarrow picture today that I'd painted yesterday only better. So I did. I used a lighter gray watercolor pencil to draw the flower clusters, made sure it was very dry before adding the yellow dot centers, and used my pinkie to steady my brush when I painted the stems. Much better. I even like some of the leaves I painted.

Today's drawing is a Fuzzy Worm. It was interesting to draw. He had us start with a foreshortened square and use it to describe the inside dimensions of the worm's corners. I'm not so good at shading and adding the fuzz on the worm but I enjoyed drawing it. That counts for something.

I even managed to find the time to draw a gratitude journal page for today. I don't know why I have a hard time doing that every day. It's not as if I don't have things to be grateful for. Sometimes I think I am reluctant to try drawing some things but if I try I usually have a small measure of success.

Look what I bought last night at Writers Guild. It's GBB's new middle-grade book! I started reading it this morning hoping to dispel some of the post-election malaise and it helped. It's a good story and I can't wait to share it with LC. It's available in ebook and paperback on Amazon if you need a gift for someone in the 9-12 age range.

I had to go to the grocery for fruit today. I was out of bananas, grapes, and clementines. How did I manage to run out of all three on the same day? Pure dumb luck. Usually things run out in scattered times so I have to go to the store on too many days. It was chilly and breezy enough that I wore my fleece vest over my hoodie. I guess I can't complain about the chill. It is November, after all.

DD called late this afternoon hoping that I had a couple old patterns for a travel tray and a dopp kit that I made for everyone years ago. For some reason she doesn't have hers anymore and wants to make some for herself. I was sure that I'd have to copy pages and snail mail them to her but I found both patterns in my "sewing" folder on here and emailed them to her so she'll have them immediately. I'm so glad that she loves to sew. Mom would be glad too.

--Barbara