Ended On a Happier Note

OJ had his final soccer game of the season in the broiling sun and high temps of this morning. His team held it together and the game ended in a tie, which is way better than a loss. OJ was smart. After the game, he upended his water jug over his head. He was wet, but cooler.

 

This afternoon one of the baby bunnies was grooming itself just outside the patio door. It looked so cute. Now that I don't have a garden for them to munch on, I don't mind them so much, although I do wish they wouldn't scrape out a burrow in the hill in the backyard.

 

One squirrel got creative this evening. First it climbed up on the suet nuggets for a snack but there's nothing left in that feeder but crumbs. Then it moved over to the grape jelly and finished it off.

 

Next it did something I've never seen one do. It moved over and started eating the orange half. It ate all the pulp out of the orange and then knocked it down onto the grass so it could finish the job. It took one bite of the rind but then gave up and scampered off.

 

After lunch I pulled out the drawing things and drew this picture of Jasmine. I like the way it turned out.

 

I didn't really want to do anything this afternoon so I sat down to watch TV and knitted on Teddy Bear #2. I finished the second set of arms, knitted the backside, and then started the first of the final legs. It occurs to me that I can't be knitting on it on Thursday when my friends come over because the bears are for someone's grandchildren-to-be so I have to knit on something else. I've got a hat in the works. That'll be fine for group knitting.

 

Last week I was looking through a box of things from KA, the watercolor teacher, and found a stack of business card-size pieces of watercolor paper. Couldn't figure out what they're for but I've been thinking of them and pulled out a book called, Ink & Wash Florals. After supper I drew three flowers on three little pieces of paper and then painted them. I like them. They're a tulip, a cosmos, and a snowdrop. I'll paint more.

 

After the soccer game, I went to the grocery. Might as well go, I was already hot and sweaty. No sense going home to cool off and then going out again, right? Anyway, I got all of the things I'll need to make chicken tacos for Thursday night's knitting night. I'm looking forward to eating them. They're so good, plus they're easy to make. I'll chop some scallions, shred carrots and radishes, quarter grape tomatoes, and put out a bowl of shredded cheese and another one of chopped salad for toppings. I even splurged on a small container of lite sour cream. Decadent. But I can't forget to go get beer from Zambaldi on Thursday.

Tomorrow is my DD's 45th birthday. I can't believe she'll be that old. I vividly remember the day she was born and it just can't have been that long ago, can it? 

 --Barbara

Game Day

OJ had two soccer games today. One at 10 A.M. and one at 4 P.M. It was hot, in the mid to high 80s, humid, and sunny with a slight breeze that was so appreciated by both the spectators and the players. Although I suspect that the players didn't notice it because they were running and sweating. DS took along his canopy tent for shade for the team in the second game. I'm sure the players appreciated being able to sit in the shade when they weren't playing. They didn't win either game. In fact, they got creamed both times, but they played hard and didn't give up. They have one more game tomorrow at 10 A.M. and then the season is blessedly over.

 

Early this morning a Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet nuggets feeder and stayed long enough to have its picture taken. There must have been a lot of birds visiting all day because when I got home after the second game I saw that the nuggets were nearly gone already.

 

 A male House Finch landed on the birdbath and then went right to the grape jelly for a snack. It wasn't facing the sun so you can't see how bright its head and breast were, but the reddish color was impressive.

 

Today's flower is an Iris, and a French Iris at that. I feel intimidated when I turn the page and see such a complex flower, but if I get over myself and take it one step at a time (there are 10 steps), I can do it. The French Irises on the retaining wall didn't bloom this year. I don't know why. I see the leaves but no flowers came.

 

I spent the time between games at home cooling down and reading the mystery manuscript. I didn't have any brilliant insights but I did make sure the city name was spelled the same through the manuscript, which is a good thing. And I started making chapter breaks. In one place I made a note about what has to go there but I wasn't in the right frame of mind to act on the note. I'll get there.

We went to lunch at Culver's after the morning game and DS and DIL1 bought us all paletas (frozen ice pops) at the start of the second game. Mine was coconut. So delicious and white, which was good because if it dripped it would have blended with my white t-shirt. But I managed to eat and lick it fast enough that I only got a drip on my ankle. Don't ask me how. It was crazy at the playing fields today. All of the city league teams played their last games today so every field was in play and there were a zillion cars parked along the streets. There were food trucks and paletas vendors, even a shaved ice truck. Madness!

--Barbara 

A Lily Tour

I went out into the backyard to take a picture of the Stella d'Oro lilies and got pulled along by other colors of lilies. First are the golden yellow Stellas because those are the ones I went outside to look at.

 

Then there's the pale yellow day lily. It's huddled in a patch of orange ones all by itself.

 

Next to it are the old, traditional orange day lilies. These are the ones I dug out of the yard of my parents' house on Liberty Street. They were there when we moved in in 1961. They've been around a long time. Almost as long as I have.

 

On the west side of the house these peach lilies are happily blooming.

 

And finally, tucked into the pampas grass down at the corner of the lot around the streetlight pole are red day lilies. Only one of them was in bloom today but here are about three of them tangled up in all the grassy leaves.

 

GBB was right. It takes more than a little hail to keep rhubarb down. I cut about two-thirds of it right after it got beaten up and left the rest to see what would happen. Well, the shredded leaves have perked up and new leaves have sprouted. It's doing just fine, thank you very much. I'm so relieved.

 

I was lucky enough to catch three Sparrows on the suet nuggets at one time. The one on the right rear is nearly hidden behind the red-orange Oriole orb but he's there nibbling away.

 

Today's drawing is a Rose. I switched to the 10-Step Drawing: Floral book and they have a lot of faith in people because the rose is the first one in the book. Don't want to start with something easy. That would be silly.

 

This afternoon I spent a lot of time on my feet working to beef up the cozy mystery manuscript that I want to tackle next after I publish the next and last The Seaview Series book. I'm hoping to get it out by the fall so I'll have the mystery to play with when I'm at The Clearing in early October.

 

At Friday Night Knitting tonight I made a lot more Teddy Bear #2 progress than I thought I would. I knitted the whole head front and back, and then started on the second set of arms. All that's left once I finish the arms is 12 rows of the behind, then the backs of the legs. After that it gets clipped together, the face gets embroidered on, and it gets sewn up and stuffed. Then I cast on and knit a scarf to tie around the neck.

 

I'm hosting local knitting friends next Thursday night so I searched my recipe file for something to make. I think I've settled on Chicken Tacos. I've got the cooked chicken already in the freezer so all I need is a jar of salsa and toppings. I made a list.

OJ has two soccer games tomorrow and one on Sunday. He's going to be a tired boy by the end of the weekend. Let's hope the soccer field has dried out some since last night.

--Barbara 

Happy Birthday, Aunt B!

Today is Aunt Barbara's 92nd birthday. I called to sing the Happy Birthday song to her this afternoon and she sounded just like she always has. We had a little chat and a few laughs and rang off. I was disappointed in my cousins because she said neither of them sang to her when they called. Get with the program, guys! Birthday calls require a song! I looked for a picture of her and found this one of her with my mom the weekend of DD's wedding. Aunt B is on the right. 

 

I was quick enough to snap a picture of a Chickadee today. Two of them were tag teaming the suet nuggets. The other one was on the side so it was easier to see but this is the one that held still the longest. You take what you can get.

 

For today's drawing I chose a Dolphin. I like the way it turned out and even like the color blue I used to color it in. Even though blue is not one of my favorite colors. 

 

As I was leaving for OJ's soccer game I spied this baby bunny munching away on the clover. It's so tiny, I'm sure it's one of the ones that ducked into the hobbit hole last night.

 

Speaking of OJ's soccer game it rained a lot yesterday and overnight so the field was squishy. Turns out a ball doesn't roll well when it's wet and on wet grass. In places there was a considerable splash when the ball landed and other places the ball would land and just stop, not roll. However, OJ had his best game of the season. He attacked the ball and made some good kicks. One almost made a goal but it squeaked by the goal post on the wrong side. Rats.

 

I read through more chapters of the next Seaview Series manuscript. I didn't find much to add but at least I didn't find any glaring mistakes like I did the other day. Did I tell you about that? I realized Rose had a couple stay over an extra week and then introduced more guests than she had rooms for in the next chapter. Oops. I added a little more action in an arrest the bad guys scene today. More action is always good.

--Barbara 

Who's In There?

Just now I was in the kitchen getting ready to close the drapes over the patio door when I spied movement in the grass. Two little brown lumps were clumped together, one disappeared underground and then the other one did the same. I realized that the scraped out dirt on the slope was the doormat of a bunny nest. The mama was grooming herself not far away while the babies were nestling into the hole for the night. I'd never seen that before. I thought they had a nest of leaves and fur, but it seems they've got a kind of hobbit hole in my yard.

 

This afternoon the lawn mower showed up and raced around getting the grass cut before the next rain came. While I watched him I saw movement in the tall, unmown lawn of the neighbor's backyard. Now I wonder if the baby bunnies were sheltering in there from the big, scary machine. Seeing the guy, I wondered when I'd get a bill since I hadn't seen one yet this year. I was just writing a text when I thought, I'd better check my Junk folder, and there was a bill. Due today. Well, it's not going to get to Bonduel by midnight but it'll get there in a day or two. I emailed him and apologized for being late and assured him that the check was in the mail. 

 

Today's drawing was Bakery Items. Not very inspiring or colorful, but a bit challenging to get the lines and angles right. The loaf of white bread took the most erasing. I think it's about time to stroll through my drawing books and find another one to play with for a while.

 

This morning a Downy Woodpecker landed on the suet cakes so that I could see it and take its picture. It didn't have red on its head so it's a female.

 

A squirrel discovered that I filled the suet nuggets feeder so it spent suppertime nibbling away at the mesh. I still can't understand how they can get anything worthwhile out of those little openings but since they come back it must be worth the effort.

 

It was almost suppertime when I decided to paint something. I paged through my watercolor journals and found four different pages of directions on painting hollyhocks, which means four different years of how-tos. It's okay. Not my best work, not by a long shot, but it's good enough to cut up and turn into cards. Next time I'll make the outside of the flowers ruffly and make the centers smaller. More leaves across the bottom too.

 

I finished knitting the first set of arms on Teddy Bear #2 and started the head but my iPad's battery was too low to keep it open and running. I use an app for the pattern and for keeping track of rows so I had to stop and plug it in. I'll do more tomorrow or maybe wait until Friday and work on it at Friday Night Knitting when I devote three straight hours to knitting. 

 

It was too hot and humid to walk today but I did do yoga this morning so that's something active. I spent most of the day rereading the manuscript and making small edits. I want to get it done and published by the fall so I can move on to trying my hand at a cozy mystery manuscript that's been hanging around for about 25 years. That will be a challenge.

--Barbara 

Hot & Steamy

It wasn't hot enough or humid enough, so I went down to Zambaldi to visit DS where he was brewing a batch of Octoberfest beer. That meant he had two big tanks of boiling water on the brewing platform and was draining hot sanitizing solution out of one of the fermenter tanks. So adding heat and humidity to an already steamy situation. We spent part of my visit in the taproom where the air conditioning was on so he could cool down in between chores in the brewhouse. He built a pergola over the end of the patio that the hops vines are climbing up. Some of them are tall enough that they're turning the corner to go up toward the roof. One of these days they'll be bushy and provide shade.

 

Just as I pulled into the garage coming home from the brewery, I got a text from the pharmacy that my prescriptions were ready for pickup. So I reopened the garage door and drove over there. On the way I passed the birdseed store so I stopped for suet nuggets (they go fast!) and a small bag of cob corn. When I got home from errands, I filled the feeders. It didn't take long for the Sparrows to figure out that the suet nuggets feeder was full and the House Finches took advantage of the refilled orange half and grape jelly. I didn't get a House Finch picture but I did catch one of two Sparrows sharing nicely.

 

Today's tiny drawings are Tools. I don't remember drawing them before. I wish I had a better gray colored pencil but made do with the silver one and black one. I should look in a different colored pencil holder. There are probably a plethora of gray ones. Or maybe two.

 

Our presentation on newsletters went pretty well at Writers Guild tonight. I collected four email addresses to add to my mailing lists. I'm glad about that. 

When I got home from the meeting I didn't knit so I don't have more teddy bear to show you. Maybe tomorrow.

--Barbara 

All-Squirrel Wrestling

I was finally lucky enough to see the juvenile squirrels wrestling and be able to take pictures of them. One shot is pretty blurry but this one is more in focus. I wonder if they make noise while they're wrestling.

 

Today's drawing is a Luna Moth. I tried my darnedest to make the two sides of wings match each other and don't think I did too badly. Then I sharpened the colored pencils which made a huge difference in coloring the drawing.

 

Checked Dad's roses to see if any were blooming and found this rosebud just unfurling. So beautiful, so red, so sweet. Once again I resisted picking it, leaving it out there to be enjoyed and not plucked to die in the kitchen in a vase. Even though the vase is cut crystal. And there's a bud tucked up under the lower right side, so more to come.

 

And around the base of Dad's rose bush the purple mums buds are starting to open. Every year the purple mums start to bloom in July and most years I go out and trim them back so they don't bloom until September like they're supposed to. I haven't decided whether I'll trim them this year or not. I'm thinking about it.

 

 After supper I sat down to knit on Teddy Bear #2. I finished the 12 rows of belly, although I was at row 8 when I noticed that three rows back I'd purled half a row when I was supposed to knit. Damn. So I pulled out the needle, ripped back the stitches, picked the stitches up again, and kept going. I was impressed that I could count the rows because this fuzzy yarn makes seeing the stitches hard. It's easier to count the purl rows because they don't blend together like the knit side of the piece does.  Besides, it a stuffed animal. Who's going to count rows to make sure that the belly and the backside match?

 

I was very relieved this morning when cda wasn't upset at my compilation of her three epilogue versions into one. There were good parts in each and I thought it was a shame that they didn't all make it into the final version. Fortunately she liked it. Whew.

GBB and I are doing the education at the Writers Guild meeting tomorrow night so we met this afternoon on a short Zoom to plan what we're going to say. I have a feeling that there won't be a crowd at the meeting, don't know why, but whoever comes we'll talk to them about newsletters and different ways to use them. I have notes.

--Barbara