Sprouts!

 Things are sprouting up all over the yard. There are leaves on the tips of the honeysuckle branches,

 

the bleeding hearts have shot up another couple inches,

and the peonies are making an appearance next to the privacy fence.

This afternoon the Downy Woodpeckers came to visit the filled feeders and this one stopped for a few sips of water. I had a helper this afternoon and we got all the birdfeeders filled and even put out the Hummingbird feeder. I checked the Hummingbird Migration Map online today and yesterday was the first sighting of one in Green Bay.

The daily art challenge was to do another blind drawing using color so I tried my hand at my vase of roses from DD. I confess that I looked at where I was when I changed colored pencils but I didn't look when I was drawing. 

The next figure in the You Can Draw in 30 Days book was a city in 2-point perspective. Not a very interesting drawing, it's just a bunch of tall cube-like things. I didn't add any windows or doors. But then I turned to the next page of the 10-Step: Nature book and there was a Barn Owl that needed drawing. It went pretty well, if I do say so myself.

LC and I did origami after filling the feeders and playing at Fireman's Park. We had a lot of fun going through part of an Origami Page-a-day calendar that I kept from 2005. We folded about five figures before we ran out of steam and played with an old digital camera. She invented a game with the camera. One person closed their eyes and the other person took a picture of something in the house and the first person had to figure out what and where it was. She was much better at it than I was and was the winner.

It was a warm sunny day today, just like Spring. Finally.

--Barbara

Blue

The little patch of blue squills is still blooming under the lilac bush. I noticed that there's a single blue squill flower under the honeysuckle wayyy across the yard from the original patch. I wonder how it got there. Bird bappie?

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I worked on the Owl Sock foot. I've still got about an inch and a half to go before it's time to toe. I was wishing that I'd cast on something else in bigger yarn and bigger needles before tonight. I'll make sure to have something for next week.

The daily art page said to draw a herd in the forest clearing on the page so I drew some white-tailed deer--a buck, three does, and a fawn. I think it turned out okay.

In the 15-Minute Artist, the next figure was a pear. Easy to draw, a little challenging to shade, especially the leaf, but I worked at it and think it's not bad.

And finally, out of the 10-Step Drawing: Everyday Things book, a key and fob. I liked that it's an old-fashioned skeleton type key instead of a new brass key. This too was easy to draw and easy to color. I sure like using colored pencils on these drawings.

Today's toss was a mittfull of colored pencils. This is a set from Michaels, their Artist's Loft brand, and they're terrible. The color part is fine but they are impossible to sharpen. The wood splits and splinters when I try. It's frustrating so I'm passing them on to someone else.

This afternoon it was passable nice, a little breezy but partly sunny, so I went out and picked up all of the trash that had blown into the yard over the last few days and then I pulled out a bunch of weeds that had sent up tall flower stalks. The grass isn't long enough to mow yet but the weeds are tall so I pulled them up. Take that, weeds.

--Barbara

Blurry

I had an eye doctor appointment this afternoon. They dilated my pupils and they're still not back to 100%. Not that my eyes are that great, that's why I went to the doc, but it's pretty blurry on this side of the screen. I have eye drops to use for the next 4 weeks and then I go back to report. My eyes burn and tear when I'm concentrating and I want it fixed.

This was a Goldfinch day at the birdfeeders. They're not frequent visitors but today there were Goldfinches on the ground, on the crooks, and on the feeders.  I was amazed to capture a male and female on the feeder. Must be Spring!

Before my eye appointment I turned to the daily art page. It said to find an image, glue it onto the page if possible, and then make paint swatches to go with the colors that attracted me. That was something I did in that watercolor sketchbook online class so I copied one of the pictures I glued into that book, got out the travel watercolors, and made some little smears of color on the page.

I didn't pull out drawing until after my appointment, after the dilation drops (which stung like crazy), so it was kind of a relief to see that the next page in the 3-D book was the five versions of the letter K. Since I couldn't focus my eyes and could barely see, I think I did a remarkable job of it. 

After supper I sat on the couch, watched Jeopardy!, then picked up the Owl sock to finish my least favorite part of knitting a sock, the heel gusset. That's where you decrease back to your original number of stitches from the increased number so that the heel fits around the biggest part of your foot. Now I'm ready to just knit around and around (and around) for 7" until I get to the toe. I also knitted the sock back onto the circular needle so I can knit it Magic Loop instead of wrestling with four DPNs. One of these days I'll learn how to turn the heel, etc. using a single circular needle and not have to switch back and forth.

My doorbell rang just as I finished my lunch and I went out to find that FedEx had brought me a package. I knew that I hadn't ordered anything that hadn't been delivered and it was from 1-800-Flowers. I opened the box and it was 2 dozen roses from DD for Mother's Day! Aren't they beautiful? She's such a wonderful daughter. I love her and the flowers.

Today's toss was an old 3# can from Folgers that I found rattling around on the shelf where the vases are. On the same shelf I found two packages of some kind of stretchy bandage stuff. I have no idea why or when I got it. It's in the Goodwill box now.

It was sunny-ish and warm-ish today. I could go outside in my tee shirt and cotton sweater and was comfortable. It can stay this way for the next, oh, three months.

I got texts from both DS and DIL1 telling me that LC and OJ were sick today. Throwing up sick. Evidently there's a tummy bug ripping through the elementary school. And how was I feeling? So far I'm fine. Naturally I spent the evening with the little germ factories yesterday but we wash hands a lot and I only kiss the tops of their heads so maybe I'll be okay. Fingers crossed I stay fine. The latest text says that LC is vastly improved and OJ is slightly improved. Everyone's hoping that they awake feeling chipper and hungry.

--Barbara

The Sun Came Out

I couldn't believe my eyes when I opened the shade this morning. The sun was shining. It shone all day. It made me smile. The temperature got up to 55 degrees even. I could go outside in just a shirt and sweater and I didn't really need the sweater. Luxurious!  Here's another look at the forsythia, a closeup one, just because.

The male Cardinal stopped by, shooed away all the other birds, and spent time pecking away. No female came. Maybe she's sitting on a nest.

The squirrel made himself/herself at home on the suet pellets. Another squirrel scampered up, this one dropped to the ground and chased the interloper off, then came back and had some more nibbles. It must be worth the effort.

The daily art page said to draw my bookshelf and take pains to be very accurate. I wasn't sure that I could do the job but I sat here with my pencil, took my time, and did a pretty good picture of the shelf of writing books. I'm glad they didn't say to write the book titles on the spines. I can't write that small and I for sure wasn't going to use a pen which was one suggestion. No sirree bob.

The next lesson in the 30 Days drawing book was to draw a castle in 2-point perspective. The directions made so much more sense this time around.

I'm having so much fun drawing out of the 10-Step books that I ordered the last two the other day. They came today. 10-Step Drawing: Flowers and 10-Step Drawing: Animals. I swear I won't leap ahead into them for at least a day or two. I haven't even flipped through them yet. I have lots of other things to draw.

Today's toss was a couple more cookbooks. One was How to Cook Without a Book and another one was The Cake Doctor. I had marked one measly recipe in each book that I had cooked more than once so I copied the recipes and tossed the books.

I got to pick up the small people this afternoon and feed them supper, then help them get ready for bed. It's like grabbing the tails of whirlwinds. They have so much energy even at the end of the day. I forgot how little kids seem to run forever. And I got to collect eggs.

--Barbara

So Tired

I'm so tired of the chilly, dreary, wet weather. I'm sure everybody is. It's May. I'm not supposed to have to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie all day and then put a fleece vest on top of it to go to the store. I toughed it out and didn't put on mitts but my hands froze on the steering wheel. I hope it warms up soon or at least the sun shines. The sun came out for a few minutes this afternoon and it was like the angels sang, but then the clouds crowded back in and we were back to drear.

In spite of the crap weather things are growing in the backyard. I ducked out when it was only drizzling today to take a few pictures. First is the forsythia. I was afraid that the trim it got last Fall would mean it wouldn't burst out in flowers but it's blooming. It's so cheerful with its little yellow flowers on such a cruddy day.

The rhubarb is going great guns too. It won't be long before the leaves are the size of small umbrellas and the stalks are long and pink. Then it will be time to whip up some rhubarb sauce. Maybe I can put it on some plain Greek yogurt...

Also I noticed that the Bleeding Hearts are sprouting. They're up about two or three inches and soon they'll be two feet tall and sprawled all over themselves. 

The next figure in the 15-Minute Artist book was this daisy. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be and those petals aren't light enough. Too much shading and the blending stump transferred color to them. The directions said to use a white pencil to add highlights but I found that the opposite happened. Maybe my white colored pencil is defective.

Then I turned to the next item in the 10-Step: Nature book which was olives. I like drawing the plants in this book and I love coloring them in.

Today's toss was a couple cookbooks, mostly Caribbean cookbooks. I haven't cracked them open in years. Why am I keeping them?

I'm beginning to get nervous about the watercolor class, a slight case of cold feet, so I went online and finished paying for it so I can't back out. What if I'm the only rank beginner in the class? Like I used to tell my kids, I'm worrying too early. Wasting energy worrying too far ahead of the event. I'll wait for a couple weeks and then start worrying. I come from a long line of worriers.

--Barbara

A Drawing Day

It was another chilly, dreary day in good old Green Bay. I went out in the morning and the fresh dirt was dry enough that I could walk on it to clean the leaves out of the last window well. I don't have covers for the three wells on my side of the duplex so I'll just have to watch to make sure that I clean them out periodically. I do not want water in my basement.

The daily art page today had four hooves drawn on it and asked me to draw the animal that the hooves belong to. I drew my rendition of a big-horn sheep. I think I did okay.

The next figure in the 3-D book was Jumping Jack, another one of Mark Kistler's space drawings. I wasn't enthusiastic when I saw it but I managed to draw it and feel good about the way it turned out.

Then I turned to the next page in the 10-Step Drawing: Everyday Things book which was sunglasses. I drew them and wasn't happy with my outcome so I took off my glasses and tried again. That one had the left half looking good and the right half all wonky so I took another run at it and that time I was happy with it. I have trouble with things that are at an angle. Perspective isn't my best thing so I drew the third pair of glasses pretty much head-on. I'll try again with my glasses at an angle. Another day.

I happened to glance out the patio door and saw an unfamiliar bird. By the time I got the camera up and ready it had run off to the side but I was able to snap one shot of it before to scampered off to the garden. It's pretty blurry but I was able to identify it. It's a Brown Thasher and it's a ground feeder. I thought at first that it was a variation of a Flicker but it's its own self. I wonder what they eat. I'll have to look that up.

Today was the first Monday of May and therefore the day I go to lunch with people I graduated 8th grade with many years ago. There were 10 of us today, eight men and two women. I'm surprised that more women don't show up. There is usually another woman but her husband has COVID so they're in quarantine. I had a gyro and TATER TOTS. Hooray! I will confess that I ate enough at lunch that I skipped supper altogether. It's only once a month.

--Barbara

Lovesick

This male Mourning Dove has been plaintively cooing on my patio for days. I don't know if the object of his devotion is the same female every time but he is persistent and continuously rebuffed, poor guy. He puffs up his chest, inflates his crop, and coos. She keeps on pecking at seeds and dodges away when he comes close. He finally flew up to the birdbath to coo from on high but didn't get a better response. I fear he is romantically doomed.

It was a crummy day--again--overcast, breezy, and intermittent drizzle, so I didn't really go outside much. I took the little rake out and got a lot of leaves out of my window well that doesn't flood the basement and took the leaves to the curb but have to wait for the soil to dry around the other window well before I clean out that one. It's right at the dividing line between my side and the renters' side. I'll get it cleaned out in a day or two, provided it doesn't rain again.

So I just drew all afternoon. It was the 30 Days book's turn so I drew things in 2-point perspective. Not very artsy since I used a ruler to get the lines lined up with the vanishing points but I realized that I had less trouble figuring out the more complicated figure than the last time I attempted it.

Then I turned the page in 10-Step Drawing: Nature and found what they call a Goldfinch. It doesn't look anything like an American Goldfinch except for a little yellow and black on the wings but it was still fun to draw. 

And that was my day. I didn't toss anything, I stripped and remade the bed, and put fresh towels in the bathroom and kitchen. It is the first of the month, after all, time to start fresh.

--Barbara