Another Good Thing

About being retired is when it's beastly hot and humid you don't have to go outside if you don't want to. I went out yesterday to top up the birdbath but then I stayed inside the rest of the day and all day today too. I'm planning not to go anywhere until Wednesday when it's supposed to only be in the 70s. Thinking of mowing then too. Since I told you I didn't go outside I'll share a flower picture taken a couple days ago. The dark pink day lilies are pretty much done. They bloomed a long time though.

 

This squirrel worked very hard to get the last remnants of suet nuggets today. Unlike the previous feeder, this one has a solid bottom so they can't nibble from the bottom and get them all. This is the one that checks to make sure there's no jelly left and also takes a few nibbles of the suet cakes on the way to the nuggets.

 

I was lucky enough to nab a shot of another Chickadee this afternoon. It was trying to get at the last nuggets too.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Something Beginning With... and I chose B. Because I can draw a banana, a bee, and a barber pole. And because it's my initial.

 

Watching TV tonight I worked on the heel flap and turn of the Iron Pyrite Sock. For some reason the heel turn worked out perfectly this time. Usually I have one too many stitches on one end or the other and have to add a row or two to account for it. This time I didn't. Now comes my least favorite part--the gusset stitches that narrows the stitches down to the original number for the foot.

 

I wasted hours on FB this afternoon. I don't know why. There wasn't anything uplifting or educational on there but I couldn't stop scrolling. I did post the third rewrite of the blurb for Christmas At Seaview to see if anyone had suggestions about how to improve it. Then I sat at the table reading in a prompt notebook to see if anything sparked a story. I marked a bunch of things but didn't find anything I couldn't pass up. Yet. I have faith that I'll find something in one of those notebooks.

--Barbara 

A Quiet Sunday

I didn't do much today. Mostly I put away the things from the book fair yesterday, put them back in the basement where they'll be out of the way until I need them in October. I'm kinda bummed that I don't have a fair for two full months but I'll survive. One thing I was thinking about was how to get people to buy all of The Seaview Series books at once. So I made up a couple signs to stick to my poster. Which one do you like best? The "Take" one or the "Get" one? Let me know in the comments because I can't decide. I think the woman that bought The Seaview from me yesterday went online and ordered Open For Business and Spies Don't Retire on Kindle. That's what it looks like anyway. I don't really care, I'm just glad someone did.

 

Well, I tried painting the rust and yellow day lily today. It turned out okay. I should have painted the background in pale gray to finish it off. Maybe I'll take another stab at it in a few days. I'd like to figure out how to paint it with less sharp edges, more watercolor-y.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Spots & Dots. I used markers to make dots on the page and then used a black Micron pen to add designs on them. They're okay. Not as arty as the author's page but she used watercolor and that's a whole different ballgame.

 

The Bluejays were back! Three of them! I didn't manage to take a picture of all three together but I think I got a sharper shot of one today. They must be young ones because they're sticking together and not as skittish as adults.

 

 What flower do you get today? How about a pair of yellow day lilies? They're pretty and I like them. That's good enough for me. I think the day lilies are really liking the hot and humid weather we've been having since they're blooming like mad. I could do without the stifling heat and humidity. It's supposed to cool off on Wednesday. I can't wait. The lawn is getting out of hand but I'm not going to kill myself out there to cut it.

 

This morning I worked on finishing my next writing progress letter. I polished it up, added a couple of pictures, and sent it off to KM so she can get it scheduled to send out on August 1. Like I said, I didn't do much. I reread the chapters I submitted for critique for tomorrow's Zoom and rearranged a few things. Naturally those changes won't be in the pages I submitted last week so I made them red so I know I've changed them. Then I played solitaire while listening to the end of a Debbie Macomber audiobook. It was all right. I don't think I'll make it a point to find more of her books to listen to but I won't say never. It is the same genre I write in, after all.

--Barbara 

Book Fair Day

Today was the Art Garage Summer Reading Book Fair. It ran from 10-3 and I did well. I sold 6 books, 3 Better Than Mom's, and 1 each of The Seaview, Horizon, and Island Dreams. The keyrings were a hit. I laid them out instead of piling them in a basket so they were visible and the little bowls of soup made everyone stop and look. The crowd wasn't as big or continuous as we'd hoped but JB commented she thought that it wasn't the best time of year for a book sale. My next outing isn't until October 5. By then I'll have Christmas at Seaview published and will be anxious to see if people buy it. I need to figure out a way to get people to buy the Seaview Series. Maybe if I make a special series price. I'll have to think on it.

 

This morning I looked out to see a Mourning Dove on top of the platform feeder and a male House Finch inside. It looked to me like the Dove was waiting its turn. Doves are so big, it amazes me that they can cram themselves into the feeder but they can.

 

I looked out this evening to see two Bluejays cavorting around on the patio chairs and on the patio. One of them tried to make a squirrel move out of the way so it could eat some fallen cracked corn. The squirrel didn't budge. It was so rare to see Bluejays long enough to take pictures. Usually they land and leave almost immediately. The photos aren't sharp but at least you can see what they are.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Butterflies & Moths. I'm thrilled that the author doesn't draw both sides of the insect's wings because I can never make them the same. If she can draw only one side, I can too.

 

Here's a lily picture just for something pretty today. I didn't take the picture today but I'm posting it today anyway. I badly want to paint this lily but every time I try I do it very badly but I suspect I'll try again tomorrow.

 

I have to figure out how I can mow the lawn without dying of the heat and humidity. It's been so oppressive and the lawn (weeds) are getting long. I just checked the weather app on my phone and it looks like Wednesday will be the day. I have to dig out the lawn mower manual and figure out how to raise the deck since the grass is too high to use the lowest setting like I usually do. I know how to raise and lower the front but not the back. How hard can it be?

--Barbara 

They Came!

I wasn't at all confident that the business card hang tags would arrive in time for tomorrow's book fair but they did. I ordered 100 hang tags and the smallest quantity of strings I could buy was 1000. (I won't run out of those anytime soon.) They arrived in time for me to sit at the table and string them onto the keyrings. I got all of them strung and clipped the hang tags together so they hopefully won't get too tangled in transport.

 

When I picked up the camera there were four Sparrows on this feeder. By the time I got it turned on and up to my eye, there was one left. Birds. You just can't depend on them.

 

The other things that came today were the Foldie travel cross body bags. One for me and one for DD. Hers is purple and I mailed it this afternoon so it should arrive on Monday. They were buy 1, get 1 free. I had to get some. They say the belt resists cutting and it's lined with RFID fabric. You know, the stuff people can't access your credit card numbers through.

 

I didn't have much down time today but I did do a little prompt notebook reading in the next notebook. Man, I wrote a lot ten years ago. A couple of the Friday Night knitters asked when I was going to publish my short stories in a collection. I'd never thought of that. They're so different from my novel style, maybe putting them on Substack is enough.

 

At Friday Night Knitting I added an inch or so onto the Llama Boyfriend Hat. It needs at least another inch, probably two of the hat body before I start the crown decreases which will entail actual thought instead of the knit 3, purl 2 I'm doing now.

 

I had a wonderful time visiting with BV this morning at Luna Coffee Roasters in De Pere. We talked about husbands, kids, old friends, and memories from high school. She'd asked me to bring books so she could see them and ended up buying one of each title. That really blew me away. I really appreciate support like that. She plans to share them with friends to build my readership in Minnesota. Thanks a million, BV!

This morning I got an email from MK about a watercolor class at the technical school and wanted to know if I was interested. Yes! She sent me the link, I read about the class, and signed up. DT is coming too. So the three "old neighbors" are going to go painting together for 6 nights in Sept. and Oct. Should be fun. 

I've got the books, bag of tablecloth, etc., and poster loaded into the car. I filled my water bottle and started putting a few things together for lunch so I can get up, get ready, and get down to the Art Garage for the book fair tomorrow. It'll be a long day, 10-3, but hopefully it'll be busy enough to make the time pass quickly.

--Barbara 

So Muggy

It wasn't so hot today--83 degrees--but the humidity was 81%. Muggy. I went out in the afternoon to fill the bird feeders and was damp in an instant. Ugh. This young Sparrow was the first to arrive at the filled feeder. It didn't stay long but long enough for me to snap its picture.

 

While I was out there I strolled around in the muggy taking flower pictures, mostly lily pictures. The lone little pink lily opened another flower today. It's kind of hidden behind a struggling shrub so it's difficult to see but I spied it and snapped a shot.

 

Next to the pink lily is the yellow & rust one, well, two today. I like the rust against the yellow and the shade of egg yolk yellow.

 

There's a long row of the rust & yellow day lilies on the end of the retaining wall. Why I didn't remember all of them I do not know but I'm happy to see them blooming away. 

 

One late-blooming Stella d'Oro lily has a single flower on it still. It's representing for the string of them on the retaining wall.

 

Next in line is Black-eyed Susans. They're fighting their way through the tall weeds that I'm too short to reach.

 

After that is the dark pink day lilies. They've still got a few buds and some flowers blooming but they're slowing down. 

 

And finally comes the plain old fashioned orange day lilies that have been around forever. I think some of the ones under the kitchen window and on the west lot line came from the house I lived it when I was a kid.

 

Before I went out to fill the feeders I was lucky enough to snap a picture of two Chickadees. Two! One on the feeder and one on the crook. They're usually so quick I can't even catch one but today I got two. Amazing.

 

The drawing prompt today was Balls and, once I got over my inappropriate first instinct, I tried drawing a few balls with a continuous line. It worked okay until I got to the soccer ball and then things went bad fast. I scribbled it out and quit. Take that, uncooperative drawing.

 

I went downstairs and grabbed a handful of old prompt notebooks, some post-it flags, and started reading. I found a few, okay, more than a few things I might be able to turn into short stories. The book I looked at was dated late 2014 and early 2015. A lot of them center around a body and a pool of blood. I don't know if I'm up for exploring those rather gruesome stories but maybe. In those days I bought myself an Art Page-a-day calendar and used the art as prompts, one every night before falling asleep. It amused me to see the pencil scribbles when I fell asleep while writing. There are probably 25 notebooks in the carton so there are lots of potential stories in there.

 

For the last two days I haven't been able to get on Substack. It wouldn't load and I couldn't even contact Support. I kept trying and then leaving it alone thinking they were working on it but this evening I got tired of it and searched how to fix it myself. First thing I tried was using another way to get on, so I went on Chrome and got right on. That told me that my Firefox was the culprit so I figured out how to clear my cache (don't ask me what that means, I followed a little video) and it worked! Hooray! I'm so relieved. I love posting a story every week.

Tomorrow I'm meeting my high school friend, BV, for coffee at Luna. I haven't seen her in at least a year so it'll be good to get together for a little while. 

Oh, and I checked the tracking on my hang tags and they're supposed to arrive tomorrow. If they do, I'll be able to have them on the key rings on Saturday. That will be amazing.

--Barbara 

All Day Short Stories

Today almost all I did was read, redo, and tidy up short stories. It was very much fun and I have a long file of stories that I'll be able to post on Substack over the next weeks. I don't have as many stories as I thought I had so I've got to get my rear in gear and write some more. There are a couple that need finishing but then it's back to the drawing board. I was thinking, though, I have a carton of prompt writing notebooks downstairs that I can mine. There are bound to be story starts in them... Oh boy, more stories!

 

I looked out and saw this vivid pink House Finch on the feeder and hurried to take his picture. It's blurry, dang it, but I'm sharing it because he was so beautiful. I must not have held the camera still enough or something. Better check to make sure the stabilizer is on... yep, it is. I have no other excuse.

 

Today's drawing prompt is Kitchen Utensils and I followed the author's lead and drew them in a continuous line. I think I'll try that technique again. Maybe tomorrow.

 

The food keyrings I found on Amazon came today. They're tiny bowls of soup. I love them! Homemade soup is a continuing theme in Better Than Mom's so they're totally appropriate. I got notice today that the hang tags shipped but there's no way they'll be here in time for the Book Fair on Saturday. *sigh*

 

And here's today's gratitude journal page. There's only three things on it but it was a quiet day that I spent mostly at the computer. I tried making Jell-O pudding yogurt again only this time I used one box of chocolate fudge pudding powder and soupier yogurt. It's better than the lemon stuff, better by a long shot, so I might make it again some day. And, no, I didn't eat it all today. There are three servings left.

 

Guess what I saw zip across the patio this evening after the rainstorm. The rat. I was sure it was gone but, nope, it's still here. If I knew where it lived I might be tempted to pour some rat pellets down its hole but I suspect it either lives somewhere under the ferns or in the giant hostas next door. I'm not trolling through all those plants to look for it.

 

I really enjoyed spending all day revisiting story after story, tidying them up, and saving them. One thing I ran across was something I wrote about learning to dive. I'd forgotten how scared and intimidated I was in the beginning but I pushed through and did it. I'm more stubborn that I thought. God, I loved diving in the ocean.

--Barbara

Not So Much

As much as I accomplished yesterday, I really slacked off today. And I didn't feel guilty about it. I thought I might mow the lawn but we have a heat advisory in effect so I elected not to fry my brains. I spent most of the day working to tidy up or finish short stories and figure out how to mark them so I know what's done and what's not. I finished another story and rearranged one so that it makes more sense. I guess I can pick up the threads of these stories after all.

 

A Downy Woodpecker showed up on the suet cakes this morning. This is a rotten picture but you can kind of see the bird hanging off the side of the feeder.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Flowers so I drew this page of daisy-like ones. I like the black and yellow together, kind of like bees.

 

One of the squirrels hung on the suet nuggets for the longest time. It bent around the feeder to get the best angle on the nuggets. I don't know how they do that for so long. The blood would rush to my head and I'd get dizzy.

 

I took a few minutes to assemble my supplies for Saturday's Book Fair at the Art Garage. I can get 23 books into the gray rolling backpack, along with six easels in the front pocket, a pack of bookmarks, and business cards in a side pocket. In the blue bag is a tablecloth, the beach table runner, my Square and Venmo things, the gift keyrings, and the easel for my poster. In the white plastic Office Depot bag is the poster that fits on the easel. I need to print out a card to offer a "buy the series" price of $40, a $5 savings. Hey, maybe someone will bite. I also want to dig out a notebook to collect email addresses for my newsletter. The hang tags haven't been shipped so I'm sure they won't arrive in time for Saturday's fair. Oh well, I tried.

 

I went to the grocery after supper today instead of in the middle of the day. There were a whole lot fewer people there and I got a better parking place. Hm, maybe evening is a better time to go. They even had the greenish bananas I buy so they last longer which they didn't have the last time I went in the day.

I went on Amazon looking for "food" keyrings and found some different ones that I might like better so I ordered one set to see how they look in real life. I'm not crazy about the stuffie ones I have, although LC and OJ like them. 

--Barbara 

Got a Lot Done Today

I had a lot of energy today. So I took a walk in the morning. I had a critique zoom with cda, did three loads of laundry (not folded yet), and trimmed down the backyard tree shoots. This trash tree or maybe two was growing on the lot line over the past few years and early in the spring I commented to the neighbor that I wanted to cut it down. The next thing I knew she and her husband, with their new little chainsaw, had cleared the area. I noticed the other day when I was weeding over there that the stumps had sprouted a bunch so this afternoon I took the loppers out there and cut them all down. I hauled the trimmings to the curb. There are no pictures.

 

But in clearing out the tree sprouts I uncovered this pale pink day lily. It must have been lurking in the leaves and burst out when I cut things down and dragged them away.

 

Next to it were these three yellow & rust day lilies. This is the first time there has been more than one flower on this plant.

 

Dad's roses are still going strong. I like that a few buds at the end of the canes bloom at the same time so they look like a little bouquet.

 

And I haven't gotten around to trimming the purple mums so there's that. Maybe I'll just leave them since I didn't plant any flowers in the pots along the front of the house. The weeds are thriving in them, tho.

The Catbird visited the suet nuggets today. It usually hops around on the ground looking for fallen seeds but this morning it went right to the source.

 

I did two drawings today. This one I did while waiting for the clothes dryer to buzz so I could go downstairs and hang up shirts. It's called Mindful Circles. It's very meditative, just drawing circles in a pattern or no pattern. The instructions say to relax and think about drawing circles, to not just dash them off. I enjoyed it. I'll do it again when I need to pass the time and don't want to read or knit.

 

After supper I drew a gratitude journal page for today incorporating my zoom, the laundry, and integrating cda's comments on my submission this week into the manuscript.

 

Also after supper I knitted the last two rounds of the leg of the Iron Pyrite Sock then got started on the heel flap. Naturally I screwed up the first pass across the heel stitches and had to back up two-thirds of the row but at least I found my mistake early and didn't just keep going. 

 

Days like today when I get a lot accomplished make me feel great but also make me feel like I should do that all the time. A lot more of the weeds I sprayed yesterday have withered and yellowed. Now I have to figure out how to remove them. I'll think of something. There was a Red-tailed Hawk in the neighborhood today. I didn't see it but sure heard it. All the chipmunks hid most of the day and when they did come out they were running.

--Barbara