A Quiet Day

My day wasn't anything special. DD called this afternoon so we got to chat a bit and I saw DS yesterday but they were busy with friends today so we'll celebrate Mother's Day some other time.

 

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak appeared for a minute or so this morning but no Oriole accompanied it. Drat. I should look up whether this is a male or female Grosbeak. Maybe the male has more rose on its breast? Maybe.

 

The baby bunny was out under the feeders this morning and didn't get chased away by the chipmunk. I was surprised that they tolerated each other in such close proximity.

 

My watercolor teacher brought some painting books that she'd inherited from a fellow artist and let us each chose one to keep. I chose the flower painting one.

 I tried an exercise in the book but didn't do a very good job of it. I obviously put the clear water on too early or too late because neither of my little practice paintings turned out like hers did. It's a good thing I just got a box of 120 sheets of so-so watercolor paper so I've got lots to practice on. One thing this author/artist talks about is not wasting paper and painting on the back of pages you've already painted on. I tried taping down one of my paintings but it wouldn't stay flat so I gave up and used fresh paper.

 

The teacher also brought framed paintings for each of us which were also part of her inheritance. I didn't have any trouble deciding which one to choose. The sea turtle spoke to me so I nabbed that one to bring home. Now I have to decide where to hang it.

 

The tulips in front of the house are blooming. They're pink which isn't my favorite color, but at least nothing ate them this year. That's a good thing.

 

I've been seeing different Sparrows on the ground under the feeders. I looked them up and think they're White-crowned Sparrows. In the bird books their range is listed as west of here but that's what they look like so that's what I'm calling them.

 

After a week of walking the path down to the Schoolhouse for class, back to the Lodge for meals, and then back to paint more I realized that I need to keep walking so I forced myself out of the house in the late afternoon and walked to the stop sign and back. It's not too far but is farther than from Cabin #2 to the Schoolhouse. I have to keep walking so that I'm not so winded in September when I got back for the Women's Writing Retreat. Besides it's good for me to get up off my behind and move a little. So I put the walk on my gratitude journal page.

 

I pulled out the Sketchbook Challenge book this evening and landed on the Numbers page. I drew a couple lines of different styles of numbers, a pair of dice, and a couple stars. Nothing too fancy and nothing colorful but at least I drew.

--Barbara