In the Nick of Time

Every morning I write a list of things to do in my Bullet Journal and cross them off as I accomplish them. Being a retired person I don't leap out of bed and busy myself around getting dressed early and stuff like that. I'm more of a loll-er. I loll around in my yoga pants and hoodie, have breakfast, play 3 Wordles, and then maybe get dressed and do something constructive. I decided that today was the day to move the snowblower from the garage to the shed and lawnmower from the shed to the garage. But first I had to spray hornet killer on the six nests on the inside roof of the shed so that I didn't get stung. Six! Anyway, I got the snowblower started and drove it around to the shed, got the patio chairs and lawnmower out of the shed, and drove the snowblower into the shed. I got the patio umbrella out of the garage and managed to hoist it up over my head high enough to slip the umbrella into the pole and not bonk myself on the head with it. Then I decided to fill the birdfeeders. As I was finishing the feeders I felt raindrops and by the time I got into the house it was raining pretty hard. Whew. I got my outdoor chores done in the nick of time.

The Oriole made a few visits to the grape jelly and to the orange half today and I actually got pictures. I'm so happy to see that bright orange and black bird. I'd like to put all four of the pictures that I saved on here but I'm only going to put on one. You're welcome.

Today's Daily Practice was fruit. We used gouache and we all know that I pretty much suck when that's the medium of the day. I think the lemon, clementine, and banana turned out pretty well. The apple is a disaster, the figs are the right shape but the wrong color, and the strawberry is only okay. I hope we go back to using watercolor tomorrow.

 

The five pink tulips are starting to fade. I noticed when I drove the snowblower by that one of them is dropping its petals. Looked at from this angle they're kind of peachy inside. I like that.

I didn't draw today and I didn't do a Gratitude page. Tonight was Writer's Guild so I left before 5 and got home in time to watch Finding Your Roots on PBS. 

I spent a few hours in the middle of the day on the manuscript, reading and making small changes. I've decided to go through LL's comments again to see if I missed any good ones on my first pass. I should probably put it aside for a week or so to let it settle in my mind but I'm kind of driven to sit here and read and reread it, hoping that one time it'll be just right and I can publish it and move on. How did I ever put up with working on The Seaview for, like, 10 years?

I also pulled out my yoga mat and cued up the 10 Daily Yoga Poses app on the Kindle and did yoga for the first time since early December when I was so breathless and weak I couldn't even do the poses without stopping to rest. For some reason I didn't start up again when I got better but decided to start up again today. Better late than never, right?

--Barbara

I Saw Orange!

I was talking on the phone to DS this morning and glanced out the window to see a male Oriole on the dish of grape jelly I'd put out the night before. I didn't have any oranges so the orange holder was empty. (it's that coil-y thing on the side) I didn't think that they'd come to just the jelly but evidently they will. Later in the day the female stopped by too but I didn't get a picture of her. I'm thrilled! And I have oranges now so the feeder is filled up.

In order to get this picture of a fern frond not open yet I had to take about six shots moving around so that the auto-focus would focus on the fern and not the leaves behind it. I love the way these look. They remind me of a bishop's crozier.

Speaking of leaves, there are baby leaves on my little maple tree in front. They're such a lovely light Spring green. I'm happy to see them.

 

The Daily Practice today was a challenge. She had a pdf of a butterfly brooch for us to paint using gouache. I don't do well with gouache, I don't know why. I tried, I really did, but this is all that happened.

 

My author copies of Horizon and Better Than Mom's arrived this afternoon and thank heavens they both have the correct covers. I was afraid that Better Than Mom's would have the old cover and I'd be stuck with 10 more books with the wrong cover. But I'm not, they're right, and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be a little happier if the cover was a little brighter but I'm not going to quibble. This cover is better than any of the three previous designs and I'm not changing it. I'm actually impressed that I got the new design at all since the company that I order from is in western Ukraine so I can't fathom how they're able to keep working with a war going on around them.

 

I made time to do a Gratitude Journal page today because I had things to be grateful for. Yesterday I didn't do one because I couldn't think of anything to draw. That's kind of sad, isn't it?

 

A local woman wrote a book about an old scandal in town and everyone has been raving about it. It's so successful that she's organizing walking tours to view the houses where the people lived. I got the audiobook from the library last week and started listening to it. I got a few chapters into it and had to stop listening. I don't know if it was the narrator or the story but I just couldn't listen anymore. I must be a philistine if everyone thinks it's wonderful and I don't. 

Tonight OJ had his Cub Scout advancement ceremony and DS invited me to attend. It's quite a challenge to have a ceremony that resonates with a herd of 8 year olds but they tried and it was very nice.

--Barbara

Springing

I love the look of the ferns in my back flowerbed when they're just barely visible in the brown clump of last year's fronds. They look like little green knuckles sunk in the center and straining to emerge.

 

These ones have grown out of the ground enough that they're thinking about unfurling. They are the most precious green color that just says Spring to me. 

Then there's the bleeding hearts. They've grown by leaps and bounds over the last week, sent out buds, and started blooming. Those little pink hearts with their pink and white drops are so sweet and they tremble in the slightest breeze.

I saw the Gray Catbird the other day and he was back today on the ground headed to check out the fallen seed. I filled the feeder yesterday and by this afternoon it was half empty. The Sparrows and the Starlings have taken to just flinging seed out of the feeder willy nilly so just about every bird has to eat on the ground, if they can muscle in between the squirrels and the rabbits, that is.

Today's Daily Practice was this Hummingbird drinking nectar from a pink flower. I wish I'd used a bit darker green on the head and body so that it looks more shiny and vivid like the real ones do. I haven't seen one at the feeder yet and I think the level of birdie juice is the same as when I hung it out the other day. One of these days I'll see a Hummingbird or the level of the nectar will be lower. Can't wait.

My knitting friend KW sent me a Message the other day showing me a hat knitted to look like Monterey Bay. I looked at it and admired it and moved on. But it stuck in my head and wouldn't let me go so I got online and ordered it. There's some assembly required. The kit came the other day. Look at this hat. I'm hoping that I'm smart enough to knit something this complicated and cool. I'll let you know. I'm a bit reluctant to just jump in and start since I've not really done two color knitting much. Maybe only once and that was flat not in the round. Maybe there's a YouTube video I can watch. Over and over and over. And over.

I spent some time on the next read through of the manuscript but took time to draw a bit. These flowers caught my eye. I really like drawing with Micron pens more than drawing with a pencil.

Two weeks from today I'll be up at The Clearing getting ready for Watercolor class. I imagine that I'll be packing layers because the weather has been so unreliable this Spring.

--Barbara

I Have Five Pink Ones

Tulips, that is. They have managed to survive to adulthood maybe because they're clustered behind some daffodils and rabbits don't eat daffodils. I can't believe that I planted pink tulips but I must have because nobody else planted bulbs in my flowerbeds. Maybe they were part of a mixed bag and the others gave up the ghost.

I saw a Hawk! I don't know what variety of Hawk it was but I saw it land in the tree behind the house and then a smaller bird objected to its presence because the little bird dive bombed the Hawk. It flew away. But not before I managed to take it's picture.

The Goldfinches have been eating almost solely from the old feeder that I put out the other day but this morning I saw a male Goldfinch on the new feeder. He even flew over to the old feeder and then back to the new one. Maybe he's one of those guys who likes new things.

Speaking of birds, today's Daily Practice was to paint two birds. I don't know what variety of birds they are but I think they turned out okay. The one on the left, the half-painted one, didn't get finished because I started too close to the edge of the paper and there wouldn't have been room for its tail. So I started over.

And I even managed to draw today. These are out of 20 Ways to Draw a Jellyfish and I think they all turned out pretty well. I especially like the nautilus.

The lilacs are blooming! All over the bush there are these beautiful cones of purple flowers and they smell heavenly. Part of me wants to go out with a scissors and cut some to bring in but then I think that means that they'll die and another part of me doesn't want that. Honestly, who else has an internal argument over whether to cut flowers?

Here's today's Gratitude Journal. The big grateful is the one in the middle. Last Thursday I dropped a copy of Island Dreams off at the dive shop where I used to work since they give me permission to use the name in the novel. This morning the owner called to say that she wanted to buy one of each of my titles for herself but she also wanted copies of The Seaview and Island Dreams to offer for sale in the store. So I hurried down there and she bought 11 books. I was so excited I'm sure I grinned for the next hour. Now I hope she can sell them.

I keep looking out for a "Your items have shipped" email from Amazon. I ordered some more copies of a couple of my titles, one with the new cover design, and they said they'd arrive by May 6. That's in 2 days. I have a book signing a week from today and I hope hope hope that the books are here by then. They'd better be, my inventory went way down today. I'm not complaining, not by a long shot, but I do hope that the copies arrive soon.

I have more things to show you that are popping up out in the yard but I'll wait until tomorrow so I don't overload the pictures today.

--Barbara

Only Watercolor Wildlife

It was a gorgeous sunny day today but I didn't see many birds, none to take pictures of anyway. The only wildlife I have to show you is a page of watercolor butterflies. Not lifelike butterflies but made up, imaginary butterflies. Not as interesting as the page of bugs, in my opinion, but kinda fun to paint.

Today's Gratitude Journal page was a quick dash just before Friday Night Knitting Zoom. I forgot to do it in the afternoon because I was busy with my manuscript and then remembered at about 5:50pm so I quickly dredged up some gratitude for today and got it down in the book.

At Friday Night Knitting I finished the 7th ball of yarn on the Cashmere Sophie scarf and added the 8th and last ball. I played a little yarn chicken with the 7th ball and lost. I thought I had enough yarn for one more row but got 2 stitches from the end and knew I couldn't make it so I had to back up stitch by stitch. Knitters call it tinking because you're knitting backwards.

 

A couple weeks ago I signed onto a book site called BookBub. It's a site that advertises eBooks at lowered prices so I applied to make an Author Profile and I didn't hear and didn't hear so I contacted them yesterday. I got an email reply that they had a delay but I was approved so I could construct my Author Profile and list my books. I need to figure out how to offer my books for sale on the site. Guess I'll have to read the fine print.

This morning I went downstairs and folded the clean sheets out of the dryer. King size sheets are no easier to fold than they are to put on the bed. It's just about the same amount of energy expenditure, especially keeping the clean sheets off the dirty basement floor.

I had a writing Zoom this afternoon with a bunch of women friends too. We meet most Fridays to check in on each other, write and share a little free write, and just hang out together. Zoom is great because it lets us meet even though we live far apart.

And that's all I have for you tonight.

--Barbara

The Last of the Bugs

In today's Daily Practice we filled in the spaces in the page of bugs that we started a couple days ago. I really enjoyed painting these little made-up bugs. I'm especially tickled by the little black tick-like bugs in the lower left. My India ink dripped on the paper so I turned the drips into tiny bugs. I must confess that it's not an original idea but I like the way they look nevertheless.

This is a little Chipping Sparrow. They're tiny, about half the size of a regular Sparrow. They come to check out the fallen seed in the spring and then I don't see them the rest of the summer. I don't know where they go but I like their rust colored cap and their stripes.

As soon as the Chipping Sparrow left the Cardinal hopped down from the platform feeder to prospect in the fallen seed. He found a peanut (you can see it in his beak) and took off almost immediately.

Around lunchtime it started raining and kept up for about an hour. It rained enough that the patio had a thin film of water on it and I could see the raindrops so instead of the rainy birdbath you get the rainy patio. It's a change.

Yesterday (or was it the day before? Oh well.) when I put out the Hummingbird feeder I moved the Finch feeders to the crook up on the retaining wall. I was half-convinced that the Goldfinches wouldn't find them but today they proved me wrong. And they seem to like the old feeder better than the new one. Good thing that the new one didn't cost an arm and a leg.

I had a haircut this afternoon and then I went over to the Aqua Center dive shop where I used to work and gave them a copy of Island Dreams which has a mention of Aqua Center in it. I asked permission last summer when I was publishing it but I think they probably forgot. I suggested that I'd be happy to supply a few copies if they want to sell them in the store. Hey, it never hurts to ask.

Tonight I got together with DM and CS at CS's house (KE had back surgery yesterday so she couldn't make it). We had tostadas with all the toppings. Oh, they were so good. And there was queso (melted Velveeta with salsa) too. I brought salsa and chips. DM brought non-alcoholic margaritas and cheesecake. Once again we didn't starve but this time we never did get around to knitting. Oops.

--Barbara

Still Five

I was almost afraid to look down when I went out to get the mail this afternoon but I did and I was so glad to see that there are still five tulips getting ready to bloom. They look like they're going to be pink but that's okay. Pink is light red, right? That's what I keep telling myself anyway.

I was so excited to see a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak on the platform feeder three times today. It's just a springtime visitor so I was lucky to see it but not lucky enough to take its picture. Every time I'd slowly reach for the camera and every time just as soon as I'd get it off the table the darned bird flew away. So this picture is from a few years ago but I couldn't tell you about my avian visitor without a picture.

Today's Daily Practice was more bugs--a rhino scarab beetle and a made-up bug. And we painted them on the same sheet of paper as yesterday. And we'll paint tomorrow's smaller bugs on the same sheet too. I'm a big fan of the way both of today's bugs turned out. I was better at making bug legs today.

The lilacs are opening a little more every day. It was so windy today that I was afraid they'd get blown all to pieces but they hung in there.

I was frustrated at some of the comments I received from the Novel critique group today. Not really frustrated by the comments but frustrated at my inability to figure out how to implement them. So I got out the sketchbook, the pens, and 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly and got to work. I never thought I'd get to the point where I use drawing to relax but I did today and it helped. After I drew this page of flying things I was able to come back here and rearrange a few things in the manuscript and delete a bunch of food talk which the critique group calls chit-chat. I'm not sure I see it that way but I'm outnumbered.

 

And today's Gratitude Journal was short and sweet. Just the sunny day, the Grosbeak, and the watercolor bugs. It was enough.

Today was sheet changing day. A king size bed has really big sheets. I feel like I've walked a mile going back and forth around the bed tucking and spreading and folding and tucking. It's a big job. I keep thinking that a king size bed is way too much bed for one little old lady but I can't really justify the cost of a queen size bed when I have a perfectly good bed already.

--Barbara