Signs of Spring

I looked out my bedroom window this morning when I opened the shade and was overjoyed to see tiny white flowers in the flowerbed. Squills! They're about the size of my pinkie nail and have a faint blue stripe down each petal. Lovely!

 

And look at the daffodil buds. They're swelling and getting taller, getting ready to burst open and shine their beautiful yellow selves. I'm happy to report that daffodils don't taste good to rabbits and squirrels so they leave the flowers and leaves alone. Not so the tulips. Those must taste good.

 

I snapped this picture of two Goldfinches on the finch feeder. They've got a lot of yellow on them. Yay!

 The male Cardinal landed on the platform feeder this morning and actually tolerated a House Finch landing across from him and pecking at the seed at the same time. This one is obviously not the bully Cardinal of last year.

 

First thing this morning I taped another piece of watercolor paper to the plexiglass and took another stab at yesterday's painting. The mountains aren't as dark as I'd like but I like the row of trees at their base better and the grass in the foreground much better than yesterday's. Moving on.

 

I pulled out Sketchbook Challenge and turned to the next one. It was Everyday Object so I chose my jar of paintbrushes. There are a few more brushes in the jar but I chose the ones I thought I could draw. Maybe another time I'll attempt drawing more of them in the jar.

 

And I drew a gratitude journal page for today too. The big thing I'm grateful for is figuring out the problem with Dropbox on my new laptop. When I open Dropbox on the desktop all of my files aren't there but when I go on Dropbox.com and sign in, they are. After logging out and in a couple times I realized that on the laptop my account picture isn't there and it's tied to a different email address. Aha! Now I have to figure out how to eliminate one account without damaging my "real" account. I think I'll consult with the tech guys at Cyberworks tomorrow. They're very helpful and I have a Peace of Mind account with them which gets me consults in addition to virus protection and security.

 

A Downy Woodpecker showed up on the suet cakes this afternoon but it hung under the feeder and pecked at the back cake so try as I might I couldn't push the shutter button when its head was visible. This is as good as I got and I never could tell if it was a male or female.

 

I didn't write anything new today. All I did was slot in what I wrote yesterday but I figure that counts as writing work too, don't you think?

I got to do the school run this afternoon because DS had an unexpected meeting at pickup time. Poor LC has a rotten cold and OJ was looking for seeds because he and some friends are planting a farm on the playground. That seems like a plan doomed to failure but it keeps them occupied.

Things are ramping up for the NFL Draft to take over the city in a couple weeks. Barrels appeared near an intersection that will be closed or diverted once the whole craziness starts. They've closed a portion of a main street near the stadium and more streets will be closed as the date draws near. DS isn't sure that they'll see much increased business because they're across the river from the stadium and people coming in on buses aren't going to be able to get there. I plan to stock up on groceries and hunker down to avoid the craziness.

Today my baby brothers turned 69 years old. Sixty-nine! I suppose it makes sense since I'm 73.  Actually it's hard to wrap my head around either number. We're just not that old. Are we?

--Barbara

Blooming

The second flower on the Christmas/Easter cactus is in full bloom. The more I look at the flowers the more I realize that they're really red-orange, not pink. The buds are pink but when they open they're red-orange. A much more acceptable color.

 

This morning a male Downy Woodpecker visited the suet nuggets feeder and actually got to spend a little time eating without getting shooed away by another bird or a squirrel. I tried to take its picture so you could see the red swoop on the back of his head but that didn't work. Trust me, it's a boy.

 

In the afternoon a quartet of Starlings came to mob the feeders. One of them landed on the suet nuggets, the rest of them just stood around getting in the other birds' way.

 

I dug out a watercolor how-to book and started it. It's supposed to be for absolute beginners but it emphasizes techniques that I'm not very good at so it's good I'm practicing. Today I'm not going to say everything that's wrong, I don't need to call out every booboo. I can see them, I acknowledge them. I'll do better tomorrow. I may even paint the same thing tomorrow.

 

This morning I had a Zoom critique session with cda which went well, then met the St. Agnes Class of '65 (or parts of it) for lunch, then I spent the rest of the afternoon working on the next manuscript. I wrote a 6-page scene and figured out where to slot it in. On my way home from lunch I went to the birdseed store and to pick up an Rx. I invariably head to the pharmacy when they're closed for lunch. Happily I could divert to the birdseed store and then backtrack a few blocks to the pharmacy. I don't understand why I am lured there between 1 and 1:30. It's just silly.

I put in a call into the dentist today because I went back to wearing the sleep apnea appliance last Wednesday and everything was going well until last night when the right side of my jaw woke me up in pain. I called to tell him I wasn't going to wear it anymore because obviously it isn't right for me but he convinced me to come in next week for another adjustment. I don't have a lot of faith that he'll be able to "fix" things but I guess I'll try. Naturally most people don't have this kind of trouble but then I can't have anything normal. I also suspect that people just stop wearing it and stick it in a drawer and never tell.

--Barbara

Sprouts & Birds

I was so excited to see that the rhubarb has begun to send up leaves. They're hard to see (they're very dark red and small) but I'm not moving the leaves to make them more visible because it's supposed to be a lot colder tomorrow. And I don't know if any little bugs or bees are overwintering among those leaves. So I'm leaving them be.

 

The daylily sprouts have gotten taller since I showed them to you last week. Every day there's a little more green out there.

 

And look at the Goldfinch. It's a lot yellower than it was last week too. I can't decide if they molt to change colors or if the feathers change colors on their own. I'm going with molt because it makes more sense although I've never seen a tiny little yellow green feather floating around, but would I?

 

I was lucky enough to look out just as a female Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet cakes. She didn't stay long but seemed to enjoy pecking away at the edge of the suet. As it gets warmer the suet sticks to their beaks and they aren't fans. Birds shake their heads and scrape their beaks on the wires to try to dislodge the sticky stuff. 

 

The chipmunk scurried out to hoover up some of the fallen seed and cracked corn. I don't know if you can see it but its cheek pouches are really bulging.

 

Today I decided to draw a Rabbit or three. I didn't find a picture to copy, I just drew, and think the gray head is the best. The other two side views of brown rabbits are just barely okay.

 

This is the last painting from the Wildflower Watercolor book. It's a bouquet but I put the leaves too low so you can't see the stems. I like the poppies and the cornflowers. All in all, it's not too bad. I wonder what I'll find to paint next.

 

I even drew a gratitude journal page for today. I slacked off the last few days and haven't drawn one since the 2nd but today I felt like I had the time and the things to be grateful for. I made myself take a walk to the stop sign and back this afternoon. I realized that in four weeks I'll be going to The Clearing for my watercolor week and will need to be able to comfortably walk from my cabin to the Schoolhouse and back multiple times a day. Having spent the winter pretty much sitting on my butt I need to get moving.

 

I spent some time today working on the critique for my Zoom with cda tomorrow morning and then working on the next manuscript. I have to dream up scenes that insert two characters in the later parts of the story. I've got some people moving around but need to incorporate others. It's like building a puzzle without the picture on the box.

I sure hope it doesn't snow tonight. Someone said it might. Ugh.

--Barbara

Number 7000

This is blog post number 7000. Seven thousand. I can't believe it but it must be true because it's on the computer and computers don't lie. Do they? I started in 2007 and didn't post every day. Initially it was my crafting blog and then I started another one for writing. After a couple years I wasn't the only one posting, others in my writing group were too. Then when they dropped out I combined my knitting and writing blogs so I'd only have one place to blog. Soon I was posting every day or almost every day and now here we are at 7000. Whew, that's a lot of words.

 

I was up and moving earlier today because it was a Market day so I got early bird pictures to show. First there were these Sparrows on the round feeder. They weren't tossing seed like they usually do, they were just eating.

 

Then another Sparrow joined a Starling on the suet nuggets feeder. The Starling is hard to see because it's behind the orange glass ball but I was impressed that one bird didn't chase the other one away.

 

I sold two books at the market! Hooray! Only one of the buyers took a keyring but that's okay. MB, my cleaner, came hoping that I'd have copies of Spies Don't Retire to sell but I won't have them for another week so she left disappointed. One woman stood and told me all about her sisters and how they didn't get along, how the best of them had died too early, and all that were left weren't worth talking to. What is it that makes people tell strangers so much about themselves? She probably talked for 10 minutes with me nodding and agreeing with everything she said and then she didn't buy a book! Sheesh.

 

In the afternoon I drew Red, which is our favorite color. I drew an apple, a tomato, the red sweater I'm wearing, and my red journal. I liked the way they all turned out but I like the marker colored ones the best because they're bright.

 

GBB forwarded an email about book awards to me and one of them was a Kindle Book Award contest. I read the requirements and was amazed that they accept books from 2022 up to the present. So I spent a good hour and a half re-uploading The Seaview onto Kindle Create because when the program didn't work on the old laptop all of the books that I'd done before disappeared. Arrgh. There's a nominal entry fee so I paid and shipped it off. Now I wait. Semi-finalists will be notified on September 1 which is my birthday. Do you think that's a sign?

Then I went onto the ACX website and made an offer for an audiobook production of Spies Don't Retire, sent it to the producer I want to use, and got her acceptance. So that should be accomplished by mid-summer if not sooner.

I also spent an hour or so fighting with Dropbox. See, the files that are on my old laptop aren't on my new one in Dropbox. They're supposed to be in the cloud and available on all devices. They're on my phone but not the new laptop. I uninstalled it and reinstalled it but that didn't help. I looked up how-tos online but couldn't really understand. Guess I'll wait until Monday and call Cyberworks. Maybe they'll know a way to figure it out. I love computers when they do what I want them to do.

--Barbara

If I Fill Them, They Will Come

I went out and filled all of the bird feeders this afternoon and it wasn't long before a Sparrow landed on the round feeder and investigated.

 

It didn't take long for another Sparrow to discover the small bit of seed I spilled on the patio. He hopped around pecking the best ones up fast. I also tipped out a fist-sized chunk of suet cakes that I was sure they'd all jump on but I only saw one Sparrow pecking at it and all of the squirrels went the other way. Maybe the bunnies will scarf it up.

 

Except for this one squirrel that leaped from the birdbath to the crook with the suet cakes and right up to the suet nuggets feeder. It spent a good amount of time savoring the fresh nuggets. A couple Starlings showed up after the squirrel left but I didn't get a picture because they don't stay long.

 

The prompt I picked out of Sketchbook Challenge was Rubbish. You can tell that the author's British because if she was American it'd be Trash. Anyway, I carefully dug out the two paint tubes I threw away the other day. The cobalt blue was was just used up but the flamingo was the tube that exploded when I opened it so I was extra careful when I touched that one. It had so much paint hardened in the threads I couldn't put the cap back on. That was one huge mess but I like the drawing.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I worked on the sock leg and added an inch or so. It's getting to be time to measure it and think about adding the heel flap, heel turn, and gusset.

 

I went to the grocery this afternoon to replenish my supply of frozen meals. There was an older lady peering into the next freezer looking at frozen meals too. I said, "I'm sick of cooking. These days I only reheat." She looked at me, grinned, and said, "Me too."

Tomorrow is another Saturday Market on Military. We've got two in April and two in May to get through. I'm surprised that we're going that late in the season but we've paid and will stick it out. I have the feeling that we've exhausted the book-reading customers at the market. I hope not. All I ask is that I sell one book per session. Just one and I've paid for the booth rental that day. Anything else is gravy.

Now it's time to say goodnight and hit the hay so I wake up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for tomorrow.

--Barbara

Not Today

No snow today. Whew. We had wind but no snow. Of course I had to drive across a long, pretty high bridge over the river to get to my haircut this afternoon. That was fun with the wind trying to shove the car over to one side but I held firm and made it. Both ways. The daffodils are still happy out there in front of the brick facade of the house. Still no crocuses but I guess I can't have anything.

 

The biggest bloom on the Christmas/Easter cactus is just about fully open. It's so pretty, even if it is pink-ish. Which I have to keep reminding myself is light red and I like red so I need to get over it.

 

Look what I got in the mail today. It's the very first copy of Spies Don't Retire! I always buy one as soon as it's available so I have the first one. There's a stack of first copies on the desk where I can see them often and remind myself of how much work I've done to get that stack built. The author copies are supposed to arrive on the 11th, just in time for the Saturday market on the 12th.

 

The next prompt in Sketchbook Challenge was to draw pens. I pulled out a couple from the pen/pencil jar on the table and got busy. I didn't color them, mostly because I had to leave for my haircut, but one of them is black and silver so it would have looked like a totally black pen. The words wouldn't have shown since they're silver and I "drew" them in black.

 

I even made time to paint the next to last flower in the wildflower book. It's Asters. It took quite a bit of time to paint this since I had to let things dry after each part. First the centers, then the petals, then the stems, then the leaves. I'm no good at making the stems come together right but I'll keep trying.

 

I visited DS at Zambaldi this morning. He was brewing a batch of Good Dog Porter and also cleaning some of the Brewer For a Day equipment. I thought I'd show you the size difference between the "real" brewing tanks and the BFD ones. In this picture the white tank is for fermentation and the little silver tank is for carbonation and finishing. You can see the big fermentation tanks behind these little ones. The BFD tanks are just a little taller than I am, the big ones are really tall, need a ladder to get up to the hatch tall.

 

This afternoon I emailed the Spies Don't Retire manuscript and character list to the audiobook producer. Her rates have gone up since the last one but I've got it covered so I'm going ahead. I'll find out soon when it'll fit into her calendar. 

--Barbara

Again

Look at what greeted me when I opened the drapes this morning. Snow! Wet snow with rain. Uck. Happily it didn't rain all day, just in the morning, and it was quitting by the time I left for my oil change at 10:30. Speaking of my oil change, Steve the mechanic fixed the tire service monitor thingy that's been blinking at me for a couple weeks. It added to the bill but now that little yellow tire icon isn't lit and blinking. What a relief. Oh, and the snow's all melted away because it's 48 degrees and foggy at 9pm. Crazy. It was 28 last night. And we didn't get the ice that they got north of here. Whew.

 

Even though we've had overnight snow a couple times in a row the daffodils and tulips in front don't seem to mind. If you look closely you can see yellow-green daffodil buds in with the leaves. I keep hoping to see a crocus or two but the leaves keep being eaten so I wonder if the flowers will come. I'll keep watching.

 

Today's drawing challenge was cups and mugs. I picked out a couple of my favorites to draw and then added a couple small ones to fill in the spaces. I made the last mug of WW hot chocolate mix to sip while I was drawing too.

 

Speaking of that, I hauled up the food processor and whirred up a fresh batch of mix. It's so simple to make, it makes a whole quart, and it tastes good. Oh, that reminds me, I need to order more cocoa from Penzey's. I get Dutch Processed Cocoa from there. It's a little pricey but it's so good it's worth it.

 

I also drew today's gratitude page today, not waiting until tomorrow to do it. The two best things are hugs from LC and OJ, and selling a copy of Better Than Mom's to JR, my car guy.

 

I washed the sheets today and they managed to twist themselves around and together so well that I had a heck of a time getting them out of the washer. They were really braided together. I wonder if there's a better way of putting them in there so they don't get so tangled. They're king size sheets, maybe I should wash them one at a time?

It being Wednesday, I posted another short story on Substack this afternoon. It's hard not to post something every day but since I do this blog daily it's probably enough.

--Barbara

Still Blooming

I'm happy to report that my Christmas/Easter cactus is still blooming and the second bud is growing. There's a third bud but it's tiny and I'm not sure if it'll make it. This whole blooming out of season thing is blowing my mind.

 

Look at how much of this Goldfinch is yellow! When I saw it at a distance it didn't look too yellow but cropping the picture brought it closer and I see that there's plenty of yellow on this guy. Such a happy sight.

 

The Starlings invaded the suet nuggets feeder today and this one clung to the mesh and twisted around to peck away at the few remaining nuggets. I am amused by these birds. They descend in a bunch of three or four, poke around, and then they fly off. Usually all of them leave but this one stayed for a little while.

 

I drew a gratitude page for yesterday. I was mostly grateful for ordering books but was very happy to get all of the laundry taken care of too. I should probably throw the towels down the chute. Yesterday there just wasn't room to include them. All of the baskets were full. Now it's time to start piling it up for the next laundry day.

 

Instead of drawing a flower today I flipped forward to the official prompt/challenge #1 which was Pattern. I used a ruler to draw boxes on my paper and then got out the colored pencils to fill each box with a different pattern. It was surprisingly challenging to think of something for each space. You'll notice that I kind of cheated and ignored the half boxes on the page's edge. Hey, I was glad to get the square ones filled.

 

This morning I had a critique session with cda. Neither of us had a load of comments on each other's pages so we didn't spend all morning on Zoom. Now I get to transfer her corrections to the main manuscript. In one place I have the word "she" about 10 times in three or four sentences. That has to be fixed. 

And tonight was Writers Guild. We had a speaker from UWGB talking about the opportunities for publication and classes available to the community. It was good to be reminded of what's out there on campus. Then a few people read some of their writings for a quick critique. It's always interesting to hear what people have to say on paper.

--Barbara

Some Snow/No Snow

This is the time of year that snow is fleeting, especially a light layer like we got last night. You can see it behind these two squirrels. I couldn't resist taking their picture since they were both stretched out hanging from their hind feet on both suet feeders.

 

And then a couple hours later when the Cardinal visited the platform feeder the snow was almost melted. By suppertime it was all gone, even in the places that the sun didn't touch.

 

I can look out the patio door and now the daylily sprouts are tall enough that they show over the retaining wall stones so I took their picture. I just love seeing that spring-y green color out there, especially when there's a little snow. 

After lunch I took a few minutes to draw a gratitude journal page for yesterday. I was glad to stay inside on such a rainy day and I was ecstatic to publish my latest book.

 

Just before I came back here to blog I realized that I hadn't done any art today. I spent some time refilling the cups of my watercolor palette but I didn't paint. I did have one tube kind of explode when it opened, naturally it was red, so I spent a bunch of time scrubbing paint off my hands, my hoodie, and the quilt on the guest bed. I even had the palette on a plexiglass board but it spewed a bit and got a few spots on the quilt. Anyway, I sat down to draw the next prompt in Sketchbook Challenge. It was an orchid and I was sure that I couldn't draw one from memory. The yellow one is my attempt. The branch of pink orchids is copied from a drawing book. It occurred to me that using a drawing book goes against the sketching challenge but I'm the boss of my drawing so I say it's okay.

 

Today was laundry day since when I tried to throw my dirty clothes down the chute it was full. Up to the tippy top. While the wash was sloshing around I spent time reading short stories trying to figure out which one I'll post on Substack on Wednesday which is story-posting day. It was fun strolling down memory lane, revisiting stories I haven't read or thought of in years. Some of them aren't done but a lot of them are and maybe I can finish the unfinished ones I like.

I ordered new bookmarks with all 6 of my book covers on them and I ordered author copies of the latest release. They should be here in about 2 weeks, just in time for the April 12th Market. Fingers crossed.

And Spies Don't Retire is now available in paperback as well as eBook. I've sold four of them on Amazon today! Woohoo!

--Barbara