One Awkward Duck

Today's drawing is a Mallard Duck. Not only does my duck look stunned, I'm also convinced that it would never fly. And its feet look like they'd hurt to walk on. This is not my finest drawing hour. And I worked so hard on it, too.

 

There were so many squirrel visitations today that I didn't take any pictures of them. At one point there were five squirrels out there around, on, and under the feeders. Naturally when I picked up the camera, they scattered. However, I did take a picture of one of the Red-bellied Woodpecker visits because it moved from perch to perch so that I could see all of it, its rosy red head and its striped black and white back, for once. 

 

I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page this morning. Well, it was barely still morning. I got a late start today, not getting out of bed until almost 9:30. Makes sense since it was almost 1am when I finally fell asleep. I hate nights when I turn out the light and my brain and eyes turn on and say, "oh no you don't." Then I lay there in the dark trying to convince my biological clock to turn off for the night and leave me alone. I wouldn't mind so much if my brain did something productive, but it seldom does. Last night it played the soundtrack from South Pacific. *sigh* Obviously all night too, because I woke up with "Dites moi, pourquoi, la vie est bella" in my head. And now it started up again. Gah!

 

I had trick-or-treaters! Two princesses and one tiny Spiderman. They were my neighbors and their cousin. I also bagged up a couple handfuls of Dum Dum suckers for them to have for later. They're the first trick-or-treaters I've had in a couple of years. I sorted out a few of my favorite flavors of suckers for myself too. I still have a crapload of suckers left from the bag of 500 I bought years ago. One of these days I'll run out. Or they can hand them out at my funeral.

I read a cozy mystery on my Kindle this afternoon. It was very short and not even close to the how-to book's recommendations. Tomorrow Novel November starts which means I need to write 1,667 words every day for the next 30 days. I'm giving myself credit for the 5 chapters I've already written of Not Fair. I realized that I'm already mentally hampered by the idea that whatever I write has to be logical and connect to what I've already written. It doesn't have to. I can write things out of order and shift them around when it's time for them to make sense.

Speaking of clocks, make sure you've reset your clocks to fall back one hour. (Stupid Daylight Saving Time) I'm going to start doing that soon, even though the official switch time is something like 2am. I won't be awake then, she says hopefully.

--Barbara 

Frosty

Today was the second morning (not in a row) that the roofs across the street were frosty when I opened the shade. It only got down to 35 last night so it wasn't a real frost that kills plants, just a little light frost on the shingles.

 

And when I opened the living room drapes I saw something pink on the Christmas cactus plant. Look! Flower buds! There are quite a few of them. I try to drench the plant on the first of the month and when I do it rewards me by throwing out flowers. I'll take it.

 

I took this squirrel's picture because it was on the suet nuggets head-up. Usually they're head-down with their tails blowing in the breeze. Not today. This one hung on right-side-up and nibbled away. Also the lawn mowers came this afternoon and now there are very few leaves on the lawn. It looks so nice and clean when they get done and before long more leaves creep onto the grass.

 

Once the squirrel was done, the Red-bellied Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets but was mostly on the backside, then it flew over to the round birdseed feeder and demonstrated its flexibility by contorting around to peck at one feeding port while standing on another one.

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal page doesn't have anything particularly outstanding on it. Yoga in the morning, filling feeders before lunch, and a walk in the late afternoon. Still, they're fun to draw.

 

I ordered more keyrings to give away with sold books but the flat Christmas ones weren't available to reorder so I had to chose some different ones. These are cute but will be harder to haul around because they're not flat. I didn't think of that when I ordered them, but I'll make them work. 

 

Speaking of drawing, I tried drawing the strawberry again but this time it looks rounder, I think. I didn't have time to draw the leaves or I'd have been late for Friday Night Knitting.

 

I added a bunch of rows to the Alpaca Sophie scarf at knitting tonight. This is such nice yarn to knit with and the pattern is easy to memorize. All I have to do is count rows because I have to increase on the 8th row. That means I use Knit Companion, an app on my iPad, to count the rows to stay on track. Handy.

 

 I worked on adding some of Cecilia the sleuth's (main character) inner thoughts to Not Fair and then started rereading Three Cheers for Murder--again--to find places to do that. I had more luck on Not Fair than on Three Cheers but I'll keep working at it.

When I took a walk after supper but before knitting, I wore my new puffer vest because the sun had mostly set and it was breezy and cooling off fast. I was glad to have it but got a little warm on the way back home. I don't walk very far and will add distance when it stops hurting when I walk. I'm not in it to win a race, just want to keep my legs working, which they kind of do but I want them to be better. Sitting and writing as much as I do isn't the best way to keep things moving, so I'm trying to remember to walk most days.

--Barbara 

Sunny & Windy

It was windy all day today which meant that a lot of leaves got blown off trees. You can see that the big tree on the corner is still holding onto most of its green leaves, but the trees down the hill are nearly bare. The giant maple tree's leaves in my neighbor's yard are turning yellow which means soon my side yard with be carpeted with maple leaves. Thank heavens that the lawn guys have a mower that chops them and then sucks them up. Oh, and down the block the new owners are having two gorgeous, enormous red maples cut down. It'll look weird without them.

 

I don't know what's going on with the squirrel's feeder detente lately but once again the squirrel on the round birdseed feeder didn't budge when the other squirrel leaped up onto the suet nuggets feeder. After I took this picture I went out and filled the feeders.

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal took some thinking because I didn't do a lot of memorable stuff yesterday. I called the promoter of the book fair coming up in Sheboygan on the 7th and asked if he'd had a cancellation. Unfortunately not, but he did take my info so I'll get the mailing for next year. Then there was the teeth cleaning. My teeth are so sensitive that it's kind of painful having them scraped and polished but they feel so nice when it's done.

 

This little Junco came hopping across the patio this afternoon. They don't usually show up alone but maybe it's the scout sent to reconnoiter and report back.

 

The drawing today is a Strawberry. It turned out pretty well. Once again I like the leaves. The example in the book looks rounder. Mine looks flat. I can't figure out how they did that. I have to look at it again.

 

I had a cool experience last night when I was blogging. I kept hearing yelling and cheering every once in a while. I thought maybe a neighbor was having a fire with friends, then I thought maybe they were watching the baseball game. Yep, that was it. I googled the score and every time it changed the people cheered and yelled. I bet Milwaukee was a zoo last night and today.

Speaking of sports, there's a home Packers game tonight. Thursday seems like a silly night to have a game and then it didn't start until 7:15 so it'll go on until about 10:30. And then people have to drive home from the game. Pretty late for a school/work night. 

--Barbara 

Sunshine

I was so happy when I opened the shade over my bed this morning and saw a clear blue sky and abundant sunshine. The main reason I took this picture of a squirrel on the suet nuggets was because it was in the sunshine.

 

Then the Sparrows were back. A whole flock of them but I only snapped a picture of these on the round birdseed feeder.

 

But wait, there's more! The Red-bellied Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets. On the back side, as usual, but just before it flew away it inched around the side and then looked off in the direction it was planning to fly. Snap! Gotcha.

 

And even more! I saw a flash of blue and there was a Bluejay on the patio table. It's blurry because I had to take it through the screen. I waited to see if it would move onto the patio and it did, but only behind a chair. 

 

Today's drawing is of a Peacock Butterfly. I was going to skip drawing it because it's so complex, but then I mustered up my courage and got busy. It's okay. I've never seen a butterfly like that and I'm not the best at drawing them or coloring them, but I tried and that's what counts. 

 

I had a dental cleaning appointment, which went fine until the hygenist told me that one of my molars has a piece broken off of it. I have two choices: a crown (which is their first choice for longevity) or a four-surface filling (which is a whole lot less expensive and might be my first choice for speed and comfort). The hygenist introduced herself, said she'd known DIL1 since she was a bitty girl, and started working for DJZ, DIL1's dentist dad, when she was in high school. Small world. 

It was so beautiful today that after I filled the horse head and cob corn feeders, I took a walk without a jacket. It was 72 degrees. At the end of October. In Wisconsin.

I spent the rest of the afternoon writing the monthly writing progress email letter and sent it off to KM so she can tidy up the links and get it ready to be sent next Sunday. Then I tried to work on a manuscript, either finding a place for secrets, lies, and red herrings in cozy book 1 or charting where to go next on cozy book 2. That's what I'm working on for Novel November. I want to get the first draft of book 2 pretty much written during those 30 days.

--Barbara 

Dreary

It takes a couple of seriously overcast and dreary days for me to remember that I don't function well with not much sunshine. When I drew the gratitude journal for yesterday I had to figure out how to draw the overcast sky without a peek of sunshine. I managed. But I was reduced to being grateful for filling the pill keepers and going to the grocery instead of something more interesting.

 

For the first time in more than a month, DS texted that he was brewing today so I was welcome to come visit at the brewery. Hooray! He was getting ready to transfer beer to a tank to get carbonated before kegging it.

 

I didn't see one bird today. But I did see four squirrels around the feeders at once. One was on the round birdseed feeder and the rest were on the ground. When I snapped the picture, one of them had rambled off, so you don't get the full effect. Tomorrow I have to go fill up the horse head and cob corn feeders, then I'll need to go resupply.

 

Today's drawing is California Poppy. I tried to grow them once from seeds I bought in California, but evidently didn't have the right soil for them because they didn't thrive. They were fun to draw and color though. I should have pressed harder on the orange so it was darker near the base of the petals. Oh well. I like them anyway.

 

I had a haircut appointment today. It's so nice to be confident that the stylist will be there when she says she will. When I was coming home I intended to take a walk but it started to drizzle. Just enough to be annoying and uncomfortable to walk in. I suppose I could have put on my raincoat and gone anyway but I didn't.

Instead I went back to the beginning of Three Cheers for Murder and started reading to see if I can find places to insert secrets, lies, and red herrings. I'm not very good at that but I keep trying. 

--Barbara 

A Quiet Day

I had a quiet day today. Squirrels were the only wildlife I saw and this one was shy. It stuck to the back side of the suet nuggets feeder, only peeking around a couple times to get a better angle on the nuggets.

 

The gratitude journal page for yesterday was pretty simple too. Just a nice walk, pretty leaves, and a little knitting in the evening.

 

I ran out of line drawing lessons, at least, the ones I'm interested in. The third set of videos is about drawing line work on old photos. Meh. So I pulled the 10 Steps-Nature drawing book out again and drew this Camelia. I like it. I especially like the way the leaves turned out. Usually I'm iffy about the leaves but today I like their shape and the way I colored them.

 

In the afternoon I had a critique zoom with cda. She gave me comments about Chapters 14 & 15 of Three Cheers for Murder and I answered some questions she sent about her historical novel. 

I didn't take a walk and I should have. My knees are aching something fierce tonight. I thought maybe my trip through the grocery would count but evidently not. Perhaps I'm now able to predict weather changes with my knees? God, I hope not. 

The other day I got a Messenger message that the dinner host at The Clearing read something I wrote before the meal on Friday. That felt very cool. I'm glad they're still reading that because I wrote it in 2001, the first time I went to The Clearing and they asked me to share it with them after I read it at the Show & Tell that year. Made me feel good that someone who was there let me know.

--Barbara 

The Autumn Sky

This afternoon when I turned the corner coming home from my walk I had to stop and look at the sky. There's a whole lot more sky today than there was yesterday because more leaves have fallen and more of the trees' branches are exposed. That big tree on the left side of the corner is still green, but the trees farther down the block are losing leaves at a furious pace.

 

There were a lot of leaves on the street to crunch through on my walk too. You can tell how the wind blows on the street by where they congregate on the sides and in the gutters. I still have a hard time motivating myself to go walk nearly every day even though I can tell it's getting easier and less painful to walk. My darned knees ache something fierce but daily walking helps. But my instinct is to stay seated and I have to push myself to rise above that.

 

I caught two squirrels fending off birds at the round birdseed feeder and the suet nuggets feeder this morning. I saw a flash of white and red, and realized that the Red-bellied Woodpecker was flying in for a visit but it veered off when it saw the squirrels.

 

It was patient and came back a little later when the squirrels were gone. I watched it figure out to perch on the lower perch and lean around to feed at the higher port. It didn't take it long to find a peanut half and fly away.

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal page was easy to fill up. I was extremely grateful for the successful book sales, for the dishwasher, and for being able to get to bed a good hour before my usual time. I was so tired last night, I didn't even stay awake to hear the end of my bedtime meditation recording.

 

I pulled out my paints today and painted Agapanthus, which is also called Lily of the Nile. It turned out pretty well, although I wish I'd painted the background. But I only thought of that when it was dry and I'd taken it off the plexiglass board. I suppose I could have re-taped it and done that but I didn't.

 

Last evening and this evening I knitted a couple of 8-row repeats on the Alpaca Sophie scarf, enough so I could tell I'd done something, which earned a new picture. For some reason, taking it sideways pleased me. I can't explain it, it just did.

 

This afternoon during the away football game, following advice, I went down to Barnes & Noble to look at the covers of the cozy mysteries to get an idea of what to ask for when I order my covers. Well. They were all over the place. Some had realistic photos, some had artwork, there was no one style that typified the genre. Not helpful. When I got home I got on Amazon and asked to see the top 100 cozy mysteries. Same thing, no standard look. Now what do I do? Maybe the designer will have an idea.

--Barbara 

A Big Day

The day started slowly. I'd only sold one book in the first 2 hours of the show, but then this woman stopped at the booth, looked at the books, and before I could even give her my spiel, she said she'd take The Seaview. Then she changed her mind and said she'd take the whole Seaview Series. !!!!! I did not quibble. I stacked up the books, bagged them, and politely took her money, thanking her all the time. Within fifteen minutes a friend of hers or her sister (one or the other, it wasn't clear) came to the booth saying she'd started reading the first book and she wanted them all too. But she also wanted to hear about the four books not in the series. She decided to buy Better Than Mom's too. Holy smokes! That's the first time I've sold the series twice in one show. I'm pumped. I plan to wear the same brightly colored jacket next time. Maybe it's lucky.

 

Here's my setup. All ready to welcome customers. In the afternoon, a woman came to the booth and told us about a bookstore in Menominee, Michigan right across the river/border where she worked and they'd love to have our indie published books. She took our cards and before the day was over, GBB got an email from the bookstore expressing interest in our books. We'll plan a little jaunt up there one of these days, you can bet on it. 

 

The only wildlife photos I have are of squirrels. This kind of blurry one is a squirrel gorging itself on the cob corn. At the same time another squirrel was doing battle with the horse head feeder but none of the pictures were even remotely worth looking at.

 

I was pretty exhausted when I got home this afternoon after hauling all my book stuff into the car in the morning, into GBB's SUV, into the venue, out of the venue, into GBB's SUV, out of there and back into my car, and into the house when I got home. *pant, pant* At least I didn't have to haul a table this time. I will have to the next three shows. All that's leading up to the fact that I just did a little Detached Lines drawing when I got home and before supper. It was kind of engrossing.

 

And that's it. I had a hard time falling asleep last night and when I got up to go to the bathroom at 5:06am I couldn't get back to sleep before my alarm rang at 6:00am. I'm tired. I'm going to slap some pictures on here, post it, and see about getting into bed before I pass out and bang my head on my keyboard.

--Barbara 

Falling Leaves

When I turned the corner toward home during my walk this afternoon, I noticed that there were a lot fewer leaves on the street's trees than there were yesterday. Most of them are still pretty colors, there are just fewer of them. And you can see in the upper left of the picture that a tall tree on the curve is still green.

 

Also in the still green category, is my little Pacific Sunset Maple tree. It's right there next to the little pile of leaves and grass clippings that the lawn mowers left this afternoon. I wondered when they'd be here with their mower that collects things instead of mulching things and today was the day. 

 

I was quick enough and lucky enough to spot a Downy Woodpecker on the round feeder this morning. It was being very particular about what it pulled out of the feeding port. Many seeds were unsatisfactory and got dumped on the ground before it found a sunflower seed and flew away.

 

The weather report on yesterday's gratitude journal was complicated. It was foggy when I woke up, then it was overcast, and finally in the afternoon the sun came out. That's when I went for my walk. I'd rather walk in the sunshine wearing just a long-sleeved tee shirt than having to wear a jacket in the cloudy and windy.

 

Today's drawing is Scallops. Also pretty meh, but not as meh as yesterday's concentric circles. I may not draw or paint tomorrow because I've got a craft show in Marinette which is about 50 miles away so most of the day will be taken up with driving, showing and selling books (hopefully), then driving again. Fortunately I don't have to drive. GBB's husband volunteered to drive us and help haul the heavy table and chairs we need to take. Thanks, JM!

 

After my walk, I went out to fill the feeders and birdbath. It didn't take this squirrel long to discover the refreshed suet nuggets and glom onto the feeder for an extended nibble. I also saw another squirrel scamper across the retaining wall, swat the horse head in the snout, and then move on. It didn't even stop to eat the kernels that fell out when I filled it. Take that, disembodied horse head!

 

I made good progress on the Alpaca Sophie scarf at Friday Night Knitting. It's such a pleasure to knit with this yarn. It's 100% baby alpaca and just as soft as it can be. It isn't splitty either, just nicely behaved yarn.

 

I'm typing this as quickly as I can so I can get to bed soon because my alarm will ring at 6:00am. I have to be at GBB's at 7:30 to load all my stuff into their SUV so we can drive the hour to the show location. What were we thinking?

--Barbara 

Turkeys!

I opened the shade this morning and saw a line of turkeys crossing my neighbor's yard and coming my way. So I hurried into the kitchen and slowly opened the patio door drapes and there they came. Six of them sauntered over to check to see what seed was on the ground under the feeders. Those are some BIG birds.

 

Then one of them "flew" (more of an ungainly flap) up onto the retaining wall to check out the corn under the horse head squirrel feeder. There must have been some kernels there because it pecked away at something for a while. They wandered around and finally moved off, turning the corner onto the parking lot behind my house. Where they went from there, I do not know.

 

And a squirrel made itself at home on the round feeder. It looks like a young one to me because it's kind of skinny and its tail isn't as bushy as the bigger, older looking ones. 

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal page was an easy one to draw. I was most grateful for the landscapers and for finishing up the Manuscript Analysis.

 

I wasn't so enthusiastic to do any art today so I just called up the next line drawing lesson. Meh. It was Concentric Circles which didn't spark my interest, so I did the minimum and packed it in for the day.

 

There was another little box on the porch today. It held the standalone bookmarks. See? There's still red accents on this one. And my writing friend JMK's review is still prominently displayed on the back.

 

I took some homework along to work on while I waited in the after school pickup line. This is the workbook that goes along with the how-to book I'm using to guide me in writing cozy mysteries. I'm not sure how much help this is going to be but if it organizes my ideas and keeps me on track, that'll be good.

 

In preparation for Friday Night Knitting, I cast on and knitted the beginning of an Alpaca Sophie scarf. You increase just one stitch every eighth row until you get to a certain number and then you decrease back down until it looks like the beginning. This yarn is so soft, it'll be a pleasure to wear around my neck when it's cold outside.

 

When I turned the corner to come home from my walk, the sun was shining so the colored leaves looked extra pretty. See? Orange and red and yellow with a little green for accent. And it's downhill. I like that part.

 

I haven't gotten a text from DS to come down for a brew visit for a long time, so I stopped just to make sure he was still alive. He is. (I'm certain DIL1 would have called if he wasn't.) He's been busy with Brewer For a Day brews instead of ones for the brewery. He said next week he'd probably brew and I could come visit. Yay!

--Barbara