Close Up

It was another overcast and dreary day, chilly too and breezy. I drove to the birdseed store this morning and was glad that I'd filled the feeders yesterday afternoon because it was just plain uncomfortable out there. But I took the camera and set it to close up and went out to take pictures of the few flowers in the backyard. First up was the French Iris. This one was short enough that I could lean in close and not have to shoot up. I like the contrast of the petals and the bright green of the leaves.

 

This is that purple flower that I can't remember if it's sage or salvia. But I like the flower stalks and the narrow focus.

 

Another purple flower is a weed. There are lots of them on the retaining wall that I couldn't reach when I was weeding and this one on the ground in front of the wall so I could lean over and snap a picture. I should get that app that identifies plants so I know what it is. It's kind of pretty, don't you think?

 

This last yellow Iris flower bud attracted me and when I got close to it I saw that something has eaten holes in the outer petals. There's a bug on it in the picture but I don't know if it's the one that's eating it.

 

A Cardinal visited the platform feeder a couple times today and was nice enough to pose facing out the second time I saw it. Very considerate of him.

 

I was amazed to see these two birds posed together. They're usually too skittish to get that close. The Oriole was on the grape jelly and then hopped over to the orange half just as the Gray Catbird landed on the suet nuggets. The Catbird was lower on the feeder but then it moved up higher so I could fit both in the frame and have them show off well.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Water. The author of Sketchbook Challenge used watercolor (see what she did there?) to fill in a cluster of glasses but the paper in my sketchbook won't tolerate watercolor. So I went and got the big colored pencil case and drew another sunset over the bay. It turned out okay, I think, not great but okay.

 

I worked my way through more of the new manuscript this afternoon. I even used my laptop stand so I could read standing up for part of the time. I'm out of practice typing while standing so I have to do it more often.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I added a few inches onto the Alpaca Man Hat. One more inch and I'll start the crown decreases. And then I'll have to either finish the Llama hat or find something else to knit. I've got a whole bin of alpaca and llama yarn, I shouldn't have any trouble.

 

I wore one of my new tops today, a red cotton knit sweater-ish thing with short sleeves, but it was so chilly that I had to pile a cardi over it. Not the look I was going for. It isn't supposed to hit 70 degrees until Sunday and they're promising a few rainy, 80 degree days next week too. I guess that means I mow on Sunday. Ugh, that's in two days. Oh well, it has to be done, I suppose.

 --Barbara