I Finally Caught One

Well, a picture of one. A Bluejay landed under the patio table and hopped along pecking at fallen cracked corn until it was in a place where I could take its picture. So I did. I managed three shots--two blurry and this one. Whew. Usually they land just long enough for me to see them and then they fly away. Not this time.

Look at what bloomed! Isn't this the prettiest day lily? Even though I'm not a fan of pink, I really like these dark pink, kind of brick pink ones. This is the only clump of this color lily across the whole retaining wall. Every year I'm surprised to see them. One of these years I'll remember they're coming and not be quite as thrilled.

 

We had a rainy morning and there were still droplets on these Stella d'Oro lilies when I took their picture. They looked so pretty in the afternoon sunshine, glittering there.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Seasons. I thought about choosing one and then decided to draw a little picture of all four of them. How can I choose? There's something I love about each one. Maybe not the dead of winter but sometimes I like it.

 

I worked on rewriting the blurb for Christmas at Seaview this afternoon. I posted it on the Ad School FB page earlier and just before I came to blog I checked my post and had a great comment so I rearranged some sentences and I think it's better.

 

I cast on 100 stitches with the brown llama yarn and started knitting the Llama Boyfriend Hat. It's just knit 3, purl 2 ribbing which is easy to see what I'm supposed to do and needs to be knitted to 6" or so before the crown decreases when I'll need the pattern. I'm looking forward to the crown because you decrease out every other rib so the top looks really interesting. It'll be a while, though. I'm a slow knitter.

 

I heard a thump on the patio door while I was knitting and turned thinking another bird had crashed into the glass. Instead there was this young bunny standing on its front paws on the patio door looking in. I guess it wanted to see what I was up to.

 

My tenant texted me this morning that they had water in their basement. They can't see where it's coming from but when it rains hard the water comes in. I should probably call the basement fixit guys. Just dandy. I love being a landlord.

--Barbara 

Did I Waste Water?

I took a little package of brownies over to DS's house this afternoon and while I was there I watered DIL1's garden. It's a beautiful garden and she asked me to water it because they were busy today. The thing is, it poured rain this evening. It got dark and rained like crazy. Now, I don't know if it kept raining all the way across town to DIL1's garden so I might not have wasted water after all. More is better, right?

 

This evening I picked up the Llama Gathering Hat that's been languishing for weeks, maybe months, and thought I'd add a few rounds while I watched TV. I got to the end of the first repeat and had an extra stitch. Usually that's not a big deal to me because I'll just knit 2 together and keep knitting but for some reason it stopped me tonight. Had I missed a k2tog or ssk (slip, slip, knit) somewhere along the way? Would I have an extra stitch in every repeat? Tonight it was a big deal, such a big deal that I pulled out the needles, pulled out all the stitches, and wound the yarn up again, semi-neatly. I searched around on Ravelry (a fiber enthusiasts website) and found The Boyfriend Hat which uses the same weight yarn, similar needles, and is a much simpler pattern. There are no charts to follow, just ribbing from the cast-on edge to the crown. Simple. I'll be casting it on maybe tomorrow.

 

When I tried to take a picture of this vivid pink male House Finch this afternoon he thwarted me by crouching and lunging to take off for the platform feeder. Then I took a picture of him there but you couldn't see even the little pink that's visible in this shot. Uncooperative creature.

 

In the afternoon I wrote a thank-you note to yesterday's host and hostess and put it on the table in the living room so I remember to mail it on Monday. While I was there I saw Dad's roses bobbing in the wind. They looked like a little bouquet so I went out to take their picture. Aren't they pretty? They smell good too.

 

I decided to paint today instead of drawing and I picked hollyhocks because I'm kind of obsessed with the contrast of the cobalt teal background and the red and golden flowers. It didn't turn out too badly, if I do say so myself. And it's going to make a couple of killer cards when I cut it up, emboss it, and glue it down. I made the flowers ruffly instead of round this time. That's better.

 

Oh, and I even drew a gratitude journal page after supper. I was most grateful for not having to be outside in the 90 degrees with 70% humidity for very long. I could dash from the car to the house and from the car to the pharmacy and back. It's supposed to cool off into the 70s tomorrow. Maybe the humidity will be less too.

 

I'm working on remembering the elevator pitch I wrote for Horizon the other day. It's only 2 sentences and not very long ones at that, but I'm struggling. Maybe I'll get it tattooed on my arm? On the inside of my eyelid? Nah.

I reread Christmas at Seaview again Friday and today. I still like it but I'm afraid it's too "nice." There are a few hitches in the story but I wonder if there are enough. I'll let it settle and read it again. I've sent the first 2 chapters to cda for critique on Monday so I'm anxious to hear what she thinks. 

--Barbara 

Not A Great Start

Today didn't start out so great. It puckered up and rained quite hard around 9:30 this morning. It wasn't looking good for a July 4th picnic and pool party in Shawano. But it settled down to a drizzle and then intermittent raindrops that I drove out of on my way west. 

 

The weather didn't bother the Sparrow that clung to the suet nuggets feeder. The beginning rain didn't disturb it one bit.

 

Doesn't this plate just tell you that it's July 4th and I'm at a picnic? There were enough of us that we ate indoors but then adjourned to the deck and pool for an afternoon of fun. I didn't take my swimsuit and I was sweltering even in the shade. The little breeze off the river was blocked by the house so it was HOT. Not to mention humid. I got smart and went into the house to cool off for a while when I got a little lightheaded. 

 

My brownies were very popular but LC's flag cake was the big hit. She baked and decorated it herself and was proud to tell us that there were 50 blueberries on there. It tasted good too.

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting my first task was to undo the last round I knitted last night because I forgot to count a row so I did row 2 twice in a row. When I finished undoing the last round I realized that on the previous round I'd done half a round of row 1 and half a round of row 2. Uh oh. So I had to back up another 24 stitches to get back on track. Things went smoothly after that.

 

And that was it for my day. I shared the leftover brownies with my neighbors and made a container for DS and family. I'll deliver it later. The big excitement was seeing a pickup truck on fire on the drive out this morning. The firemen were there and flames were shooting out of the back of the truck. It wasn't there when I drove back home so it must have cooled off enough to be towed away. I'm finally feeling cooled off. Whew. 

Lots of fireworks being shot off all around.

--Barbara 

Clean Up Crew

I filled the feeders this afternoon and, as usual, I spilled a little in a couple places. The first to arrive was this bunny gingerly poking its head around the can that I store the seed in to nibble up the spilled cracked corn. It was very thorough.

 

Then when I filled the suet nuggets the powdery crumbs from the bottom of the bag poured out between the gaps in the feeder. This Sparrow discovered it and ate a bit of it but left a lot behind. I was surprised that it didn't eat more of it or call its pals to come have some too.

 

Dad's roses keep blooming. This cluster of them keeps opening up a new flower every day or so. And there's a bud right in front that should open up in a couple days. I'll keep an eye on it.

 

The day lilies are making their statement in the shady spot along the lot line. They've sent up tall flower stalks and shoot out a flower every day on many of them. I'll miss them when they're gone but then the ones on the retaining wall will start to bloom. It all balances out.

 

For today's drawing prompt I picked Shapes. It said to draw 30 shapes on your paper, set a 5 minute timer, and then fill in the shapes with lines or pictures or whatever. I was just finishing #30 when the timer went off which was much better than the last time I tried this exercise. This time I did less thinking and more drawing.

 

Tonight at knitting I worked on my sock and only screwed up the last round. *sigh* So the first thing I'll do at Friday Night Knitting tomorrow is pick out the last round and do it correctly. Oh well, my friend KW says if you have to reknit your yarn you're getting more for your money. I guess that's right but I sure don't feel that way when I'm backing up stitch by stitch to correct a mistake.

 

I tried to spend time with The Summer of Blue-Black Nights manuscript but couldn't get my head in the game. I scrolled through looking for places to add things or change things and just didn't find what I was looking for. It was kind of frustrating so I played Spider Solitaire instead. Some days you just gotta goof off.

--Barbara 

A Different Lily

I've been watching some buds on the side of the house and today when I went out prospecting for flowers to take pictures of one bud had opened and look at what showed up. Isn't it pretty? I love the pale peach of the petals and the orange and pink of the center. I don't remember planting it but I'm glad I did.

 

The Stella d'Oro lilies are still going gangbusters. Still no bees though. That has me worried but maybe they're not the kind of flowers that bees are attracted to. Maybe?

 

Next to a big patch of orange day lilies is a milkweed plant and on that plant this afternoon was this cool-looking bug. I don't know what kind of bug it is but I like the way it looks and I like its color.

 

I got a shipment of author copies of books today--a week before they were expected. So, the last order took a week longer than promised and these took barely a week? I'm confused but I'm slowly building up my stock because I have no idea how sales will go in all the fairs I'm signed up for. I have to have a lot to start so that if I have to order more I've got enough to keep me going. At least that's my theory.

 

I filled the grape jelly this afternoon and it didn't take long for a House Finch to find it. The dish was completely empty so he hit the jackpot.

 

I made a Book Bub ad today. That's a website that features eBooks so I made an ad for Horizon pricing it at $.99 for the next week. Let's see if anyone bites.

 

The drawing prompt today was Transport so I drew and colored my beloved red HHR. I can't imagine having a different vehicle. This one is exactly right for me. I can put the back seats down and haul big things and I love that it has a hatchback which makes it easy to load. And it's not too big.

 

After supper I watched TV and knitted some rounds on the Iron Pyrite sock. I was making sure I could do two things at once so it'll be okay to knit on at knitting tomorrow night. I had to back up a few times and count stitches a few times but I think I can manage it.

 

 I even made time to draw a gratitude journal page for today.

 

Most of the day I spent rereading my manuscript and making some tweaks. I decided to ignore a few of the manuscript analysis "concerns." They aren't "major concerns" so I don't feel like they ruin the book and they're parts I like the way they are so I'm leaving them. Then I revisited the categories for my novels and changed some of them, one for each book and format. They tell you in Ad School to only change one thing at a time so the algorithm learns faster. Don't want to confuse the algorithm. I'm not even sure what that is. It kind of sounds like something you should keep caged in the basement.

--Barbara 

A Mostly Writerly Day

Most of what I did today was writerly. I started off seeing if I could get my monthly newsletter posted on MailerLite so I could send it out. Usually KM does it for me, and she tried her hardest yesterday, but MailerLite demanded a code for her to log in. They were supposed to send me the code to share with her. Three times. Never got it. So I thought I'd try to follow the steps to upload it and post it. I got so far and then got lost. Happily KM tried one more time, I got the code, shared it, and she sent it. Hooray!

I spent most of the rest of the day adding bits and pieces, little scenes and big scenes to The Summer of Blue-Black Nights, following the recommendations of the manuscript analysis. Slowly but surely I'm working my way through the suggestions. All in all, in the last two days I've added 10 pages of story to the manuscript. I think I'm making it better. Gosh, I hope I am. This is a lot of wasted work if I'm making it worse.

 

The other day I found an article online about writing an elevator pitch, which is a short, one or two sentence synopsis of a novel that you can deliver in the space of an elevator ride. It needs to be punchy and succinct and nearly irresistible. I wrote one for Horizon which I've always thought should sell better than it does. So I've been trying to memorize it over the last couple days. I am not having much luck with that but I'll keep trying, no, not trying, working on it. 

 

This Sparrow was taking a little bath and just as I got the camera up and ready it hopped onto the rim of the birdbath and just as I pressed the shutter, it started to fly away. I was sure I'd have a blur but was lucky enough to catch the little thing before it flew. Whew.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Balls. You can guess what my first impulse was but I reined it in and drew sports balls instead. Much more appropriate.

 

Tonight after Writer's Guild I pulled out the Iron Pyrite sock and finished the cuff and knitted the first two rounds of the leg. It's over twice as long as it was last time I posted it. Which isn't saying much but going from four rounds to ten rounds is a pretty good thing. I'm a slow knitter but I never give up.

 

I read the first few pages of Christmas at The Seaview tonight at Writer's Guild and got some good feedback. One thing I need to do is have a few more things go wrong or at least hint at them to liven it up. The education tonight was to write poetry. Oh my, it's been a very long time since I've written poetry. I tried my hand at a haiku and limerick. Neither one is worth repeating but it was an interesting exercise.

--Barbara 

Today's Lily

I went out to chase a few weeds (my Grandma Angermeier always said that) and saw that the patio day lily is still blooming. Well, today's day lily was blooming. There were a couple old flowers I plucked off and there are a couple more to come. It's such a pretty color.

 

Representing the front of the house is another Dad's rose. This one is leaning up against the house where it has to be broiling hot in the middle of the sunny day but it seems to be happy there.

 

Aren't ferns pretty? There are lots of them in the same patio bed as the day lily and they're thriving. There are two types, one of them is Ostrich Fern and I forget what the other one is, but I love the way they look. And the way they come back year after year with no effort on my part.

 

A pair of House Finches spent a little time dipping their beaks in the grape jelly. I'll have to go out tomorrow and fill it up because it looks a little low. We had a surprise rain shower an hour ago so I'm sure the jelly left is watered down. I'll fix that tomorrow too.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Fish. I like drawing fish. I like coloring fish. So here are the fish I drew and colored.

 

I also made time to draw a gratitude journal page. I drew one for yesterday this morning and one for today after supper. I did the same thing last Monday and then didn't draw one for a week. I'm not even going to talk about how I need to do better. We all know I should but I'm not making promises.

 

In writing news, I took the pages of manuscript analysis I printed off yesterday and went through the manuscript comment by comment adding little scenes and embellishments so that it is closer to what the analysis recommends. I did ignore one suggestion. I even wrote a note in red that I'm not changing it because I like it the way it is. I'm the author and what I say goes.

 

I cast on a new sock. I'm meeting knitting friends on Thursday evening and need something I can knit on while chatting. The name of the colorway of the yarn is Iron Pyrite and I'm excited to see how the yarn knits up.

 

This morning I had a critique zoom with cda. She gave me her comments on the last couple chapters of my novel manuscript, The Summer of Blue-Black Nights (working title). Next time I'll share the first 20 pages or so of Christmas at The Seaview. I'm excited to share it because I'm convinced that it's perfect. It isn't, of that I can be sure, but allow me to wallow in my delusion for a week before reality comes crashing down next Monday.

--Barbara