54 Degrees

That was the high temperature today. And it drizzled in the afternoon. Right now it's 8:45pm and it's still 48 degrees out there. Crazy. I took a picture of a Sparrow taking a bath this morning and you can see all the snow behind the birdbath.

Now look at the snow behind the birdbath in the late afternoon. Almost all gone. The downhill skiers in my family are not happy this winter. It's barely into February and there's no snow and I'm sure that they can't make snow on the ski hill. I'm fine with it because the roads are clear and there's no snow to shovel.

The bunnies have taken care of the crocus and tulip sprouts that sprang up in front. The daffodils are still there. They must not taste good.

Mark Making today on Day 10 was Shapes and Patterns in Wet Media. That meant watercolor and a flat brush. I'm happy with the red paper, not so much the blue and green one. It's made me want to haul out the watercolors and have a go at a painting, though.

I pulled out the Drawing Cute book for the first time in months and drew bok choy and broccoli. I'd forgotten how much fun those little figures are to draw and color. And they're so cheerful!

I spent the greater part of the afternoon here at the laptop going through the comments on my whole The Seaview2: Open for Business manuscript that I sent to the moderator of the Novel Writing online critique group and came to the conclusion that I need to go back to the all-1st-person POV manuscript. She had a lot of complaint-type comments about the shifting of POV and I have to admit she has a point. I'll be sorry to lose the 3rd person parts of the manuscript, which I really like, but 1st person is smoother. *sigh*

The other day OJ asked me if I could sew up a seam on the bootie of his squishy green stuffie. This is the second seam that started to come apart. I can't decide if it's poorly made or if he's especially hard on this one. I suspect that the softness of the fuzzy fabric and the squishiness are contributing factors. Luckily I have thread that matches so I can easily make the needed repairs.

After supper I watched Jeopardy! and then couldn't find much else to watch so I turned to the Discovery Family channel's Beach House for background noise and knitted on the Cashmere Sophie. I changed to the third color of yarn the other night and things are moving along. And I probably should have tuned in to a music channel or the Netflix fireplace hour as more entertaining options.

For all that it was warm today it sure was dreary. The sun peeked out a couple times in midday but soon enough the clouds came back and then the drizzle started. It didn't rain for long, just enough to dampen the pavements, but it was a depressing day for most of the day.

--Barbara

A Couple Birds

I saw a Downy Woodpecker land on one of the legs of the Adirondack chair on the patio but when I tried to snap a picture it flew away and all I got was a swoop of striped wing. Luckily it flew up to the suet cakes feeder and landed on the side facing me so I could snap another picture and this time I got him. You can see in the background how the snow has melted. There's hardly any left from last month's blizzard and we haven't had a snowfall since.

Then I saw the suet pellets feeder swinging and knew that I'd just missed the Red-bellied Woodpecker. Dang it. Happily he came back a little later and clung to the side of the feeder so I could snap a bunch of pictures and one of them showed the whole bird, not just his tail.

Mark making today was Splashes and Dots. We used watercolor inks and colored papers to make the marks. I managed to spatter black ink on my iPad screen but it was just small spots that I could wipe or scratch off. Whew. An alternate step when doing the Dots was to tip the paper this way and that when the ink was wet so that the dots dripped. I started to do it but then thought better of it. I wanted the contrast between the random splashes and the controlled dots.

I had a hard time thinking of gratitude journal things today. I didn't think of the woodpeckers or I might have included one or both of them. As it is, there's a little room at the bottom of the page where I could add a bird if I was in the mood to do it. Which I'm not.

And the reason I'm not is that I discovered today that I've been returning comments to my Novel Writing online group and they're not able to find my comments. Arrgh! So frustrating. I'm sure it's something that I'm doing wrong but I don't know how to fix it. I learned that I can open up the copy of the submission with my comments on it, copy a link, and attach that to a new email. I'm hopeful that they can open that and get my comments. Honestly I need a kid to help me figure this out but I don't know one that knows anything about Word. *flings hands into the air*

--Barbara

Don't Buy Any More Markers

Not any colored pencils either. You don't need more of them. That's what I told myself when I parked outside of Office Max this morning to take some things to the shredder. Unfortunately I turned down the art supplies aisle (I swear it was an accident) and this package of colored pencils caught my eye. It's supposed to be a representation of skin colors of the world but I don't really draw people. I was attracted to them because of the range of tans, browns, peaches, almonds, and roses that aren't a part of traditional colored pencil arrays. So I picked them up. After taking my bag of papers to the shredder I went back up the aisle to look at the markers and there was a package of fine point markers with the same colors. *sigh* So I bought both of them.

I used two of the colored pencils when I drew and colored in a pangolin out of the Learn to Draw Chibis book. I have been frustrated at not being able to find colored pencils that approximate the colors in the book, now I have them.

Today's Mark Making exercise for Day 8 was a grid of marks. It was kind of a fun exercise and it went quickly because I used the fat black colored pencil.

It wasn't nearly as foggy this morning as it has been the last few days but still I noticed that the bare branches of the trees behind the house were frosty with the moisture in the air.

This squirrel made the leap from the birdbath to the suet cakes feeder and then up to the top of the crook holding the suet pellets. It stretched down to investigate but evidently didn't have much satisfaction because it was gone in a flash.

I've tucked the Gratitude Journal basket under the chair next to where I sit at the table so it reminds me to fill in a daily page. I did the school run this morning at the crack of dawn (well, it seemed like it to me who usually sleeps until 8am or so) and I was very grateful that the predicted dense fog was barely visible. Then in the afternoon the sun came out! Hooray! It got up to 39 degrees this afternoon so the sunshine didn't warm things up much but it sure cheered me up.

I had Writer's Guild this evening and I volunteered to help GBB organize the food for the Guild's upcoming workshop day. We've already decided we'll cater it in, not cook or ask for potluck contributions. We're not fools.

Tomorrow morning is Novel Writing group on Zoom. One of the members still hasn't submitted. I hope she doesn't send in something in the morning and expect it to have been critiqued by 10am. Maybe she hasn't been well. I should give her the benefit of the doubt. Be nice, Barbara Sue.

I got my taxes organized and took the envelope in to the accountant this morning. I got an email from the state Dept. of Revenue saying that I was late filing my Sales & Use Tax forms. I knew that getting a seller's permit last year might come back to bite me in the butt and today it did. I had to pay the taxes and a penalty for late filing. Man, they get you coming and going.

--Barbara

Bye, DD!

This morning we awoke to a world swathed in fog. Not too dense fog, but fog nevertheless. Still DD had to pack up and head home. She texted me about 8 hours later to say that she got home safely, which means she didn't get caught in much traffic or get stalled behind a flatbed semi hauling lumber that caught on fire. !!! And Alexa gave me a notification that the US Weather Service has issued a fog warning from this evening until noon tomorrow. Sheesh. See the air is warm-ish and the remaining snow and ground are cold-ish, that makes fog. We've had a lot of it this year.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker found the full suet pellets feeder but still landed on it sideways and pecked away at the bottom of it. Later in the day I saw it had returned and was more upright but I wasn't fast enough with the camera. I do love seeing that bird.

Two Nuthatches showed up this afternoon when it was sunny. I caught this one on the suet pellets feeder. This is another of my favorite birds to see. I like the sleek lines of its silhouette and the way it spends a lot of time with its head pointing down and its tail above it.

I had a lot to be grateful for today. First I filled a page with these things...

... and then I remembered other things I wanted to list so I made another gratitude page for today. I think that's the first time I had more gratitude than would fit on one page. And still I almost forgot that today was a pajama day so I had to squeeze it in on the side.

 

Mark Making Day 6 today was Scribbles using Wet and Dry media. First we used inks and used the droppers in the bottles to apply them to the paper (the middle sheet). Then it was watercolor's turn (the one on the right). Finally I used alcohol markers to scribble on the third page (on the left). She used colored pencils but I wanted to use my markers. So I did.

The fog stayed away until the sun went down so I was able to poke the camera out the front door and take a picture of the sun sinking behind the neighbor's house. It's staying light later and later. Yay!

I wasn't in the mood to knit this afternoon and neither of the remaining Novel Writing group members submitted their pages for critique, so I cued up my audiobook and pulled out Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers, which is by the artist that is teaching Mark Making, and drew a few flowers just for fun.

It was quite luxurious to stay in my pajamas, aka lounge wear, all day. I waited until the evening to take a shower so now I feel luxurious and clean. 

Oh, I won't be able to blog tomorrow night. I won't be home. Talk to you on Tuesday.

--Barbara

A Lazy Saturday

DD and I took our old sweet time doing things today. We both slept late, DD later than me, and had a leisurely breakfast. DS texted to invite us to their place for homemade pizza for supper so we didn't have to cook. We said yes, of course.

In the not-so-early bird department, this trio of Mourning Doves took over the platform feeder and managed to eat just about all the seed in the feeder by the time they were finished. I refilled it when I went out later in the day to fill the suet pellets feeder.

I did Day 5 of Mark Making before lunch. Weave and crosshatch. I'm kind of getting used it this repetitive marking on half-sheets of paper. It's thick paper called bristol and it's really stiff. It reminds me of poster board but stiffer. As I said yesterday, I'm glad I decided to use the short, fat colored pencils that make a thicker line and I'm glad that I'm choosing different colors for each mark.

We went to lunch at Kroll's over by the Packer stadium. I had a cheeseburger and shared DD's fried cheese curds. Then DD said she had hoped to go to Seroogy's candy so we drove over there after lunch where we each spent hardly any money. Not like at Christmas and Easter when I spend my allowance and then some.

When we got home I pulled out my gratitude journal basket and drew today's page. It wasn't until I was finished that I realized that out of the five things I'm thankful for today only one thing doesn't involve food. Oh well. Some days I'm just happy to stuff my face.

Then I went out and filled the suet pellet feeder. No birds jumped on it that I saw but I wanted the Red-bellied Woodpecker to have some pellets to peck on next time he stops by instead of having to crane around and try to get something from the little bit left in there.

My stomach still feels a little tender from yesterday's adventures but it's tolerating food just fine so I'm happy.

--Barbara

An Okay Day

I had my stomach procedure today and it went well. Even better, when they tested my hemoglobin it was up to 10.2. That's way better than the 8.7 it was when I got out of the hospital three weeks ago. It's still considered low but it seems to be inching up. I'll take it. A friend stopped by the hospital and brought me this reddish-pink rose for courage. We'd been texting back and forth this morning and I said I was wearing red shoes for courage so he brought me a red rose. He's a nice man. One of my knitting friends.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker came back and he's really had to contort himself to be able to peck at the suet pellets. Now that that snow has melted back from the feeders I'll go out and refill it so he has an easier time of it.

The Cardinal was here too. For a minute there he let a House Finch stay on the feeder but then he lunged at it and drove it away. What a bully.

While the Cardinal was on the platform feeder, three Goldfinches landed on the tube feeder and had a little snack. They're kind of skittish so they didn't stay long, but I managed to snap this picture before they took off. A Nuthatch, a Downy Woodpecker, and a few Chickadees visited too but I wasn't able to take their pictures.

While waiting for time to head to the hospital I drew Day 4 of Mark Making. Loops and scallops. I couldn't make the loops as even as hers and had trouble making them tall enough to touch the row above. I did a little better on the scallops. I'm glad that I'm using my little fat colored pencils. Makes it go faster.

I knitted a bit on the Cashmere Sophie scarf tonight and am almost done with the next little ball of yarn. I'll have to check the stash picture of this yarn to see what color comes next. I liked the way they looked when they were all joined together so I'm trying to preserve that array.

It was wonderful to have both DS and DD at the hospital with me. I don't think I'd have been as calm and brave if it wasn't for them. I suspect that the nurse who told me that we could go to lunch after the procedure thought that I was having a regular endoscopy. I had to stick to clear liquids for 4 hours afterwards and eating made my stomach feel a little weird. We'll do lunch tomorrow.

--Barbara

Foggy Morning

The fog was so thick and heavy this morning that it looked like it had snowed a bit overnight but it was just extra-frosty on the grass. A whole flock of Sparrows and Mourning Doves were pecking around under the feeder like crazy. A few Sparrows fly up to the perches on the tube feeder and they're in charge of throwing seed down to the masses below.

Now that I rediscovered my Gratitude Journal I'll try to remember to fill in a page every day or so. Today I was happy when the sun shone and not so happy when it went away. I got to pick up LC & OJ from school this afternoon and of course that's when the sun went behind the clouds and the north wind picked up so I pulled up my hood and turned my back to the wind. It helped.

Day 3 of Mark Making on Creativebug was zigzags two ways. I'm not sure what we're going to do with all these marks but I hope that the whole 30 days isn't just filling pages like I've done the last three days.

Instead of using regular colored pencils I've been using these short fat colored pencils to make my marks. The lines they make are thicker so I don't have to take forever to fill a page. I suspect that I don't have the correct attitude about it.

To kill time while I waited for DD to arrive I got out 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and drew three birds--a cardinal, a swan, and a pheasant. I can't pick a favorite, I like them all.

Two of the four remaining Novel Writing group submissions came today. Hooray! So I spent some time at the laptop reading and rereading and putting my comments on them. Only two more to go!

DD arrived! Only three hours late! She got caught in traffic twice and was delayed behind a flatbed semi hauling lumber that caught on fire. But she made it safely, she's just tired.

--Barbara