Turkeys!

I opened the shade this morning and saw a line of turkeys crossing my neighbor's yard and coming my way. So I hurried into the kitchen and slowly opened the patio door drapes and there they came. Six of them sauntered over to check to see what seed was on the ground under the feeders. Those are some BIG birds.

 

Then one of them "flew" (more of an ungainly flap) up onto the retaining wall to check out the corn under the horse head squirrel feeder. There must have been some kernels there because it pecked away at something for a while. They wandered around and finally moved off, turning the corner onto the parking lot behind my house. Where they went from there, I do not know.

 

And a squirrel made itself at home on the round feeder. It looks like a young one to me because it's kind of skinny and its tail isn't as bushy as the bigger, older looking ones. 

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal page was an easy one to draw. I was most grateful for the landscapers and for finishing up the Manuscript Analysis.

 

I wasn't so enthusiastic to do any art today so I just called up the next line drawing lesson. Meh. It was Concentric Circles which didn't spark my interest, so I did the minimum and packed it in for the day.

 

There was another little box on the porch today. It held the standalone bookmarks. See? There's still red accents on this one. And my writing friend JMK's review is still prominently displayed on the back.

 

I took some homework along to work on while I waited in the after school pickup line. This is the workbook that goes along with the how-to book I'm using to guide me in writing cozy mysteries. I'm not sure how much help this is going to be but if it organizes my ideas and keeps me on track, that'll be good.

 

In preparation for Friday Night Knitting, I cast on and knitted the beginning of an Alpaca Sophie scarf. You increase just one stitch every eighth row until you get to a certain number and then you decrease back down until it looks like the beginning. This yarn is so soft, it'll be a pleasure to wear around my neck when it's cold outside.

 

When I turned the corner to come home from my walk, the sun was shining so the colored leaves looked extra pretty. See? Orange and red and yellow with a little green for accent. And it's downhill. I like that part.

 

I haven't gotten a text from DS to come down for a brew visit for a long time, so I stopped just to make sure he was still alive. He is. (I'm certain DIL1 would have called if he wasn't.) He's been busy with Brewer For a Day brews instead of ones for the brewery. He said next week he'd probably brew and I could come visit. Yay!

--Barbara 

 

All Clean

It was a gorgeous sunny day today and the landscapers came just before lunchtime to do the fall cleanup of my yard. They started at the end of the retaining wall and moved to the other end, snipping and cutting, until it was all cleaned up. Then they cut down the ferns, trimmed the bushes, cut back the roses, and cut down the pampas grass on the corner. It's so restful to look up there and not see weeds and straggly leaves.

They liked the horse head squirrel feeder but now it looks a little lonely up there all by itself. After my walk this afternoon I filled it up and as it was getting dark I saw a couple squirrels investigating it.

 

This squirrel didn't hesitate to glom onto the suet nuggets feeder and have a feast. It was a little tentative at first but it quickly got into the swing of things and chomped away.

 

I was lucky enough to catch this picture of the Red-bellied Woodpecker just as it found a peanut half in the seed feeder and before it flew away. I snapped another shot but it was just a blur of stripes and wings.

 

I impressed myself by getting five things onto the gratitude journal page for yesterday and I could have added at least one more if I'd have had room or drawn things smaller. I was most excited about finding my audiobooks on Libby.

 

Instead of painting tulips again, I tried the next video in the series, Astilbe, aka Goldenrod (not to be confused with Ragweed). I think it turned out okay. I was just glad we only painted one stem instead of the overlapping three in the reference photo.

 

When I was leaving for my walk, there was a tiny box on my porch. Inside it were my new The Seaview Series bookmarks. With five covers to the series, it was difficult to cram all the standalone books on there too, so I've ordered two separate designs--series and standalones--so the cover pictures are bigger. I plan to shuffle them together. I'm not usually a fan of the color blue but I like the way this looks. The other bookmark with the four standalones still has red accents.

 

Most of the day when I wasn't watching the landscapers or walking or painting, I worked my way through the rest of the Manuscript Analysis comments. The last one was the hardest. It suggested that I needed better forensic information about the weapon and method of the three murders. That meant I spent quite a bit of time searching the web, looking for how durable a flint knife is and how hard it is to shove it into the space between a skull and spine. I worry that one of these days someone will ring my doorbell to ask exactly what I'm doing with that information. I circled one comment that I haven't tackled yet. It needs thinking about. It wants me to vary the interrogation of the suspects and it gives suggestions but I'm not sure how or if I want to do it. I consider these comments suggestions rather than commandments. I'm still the author and have the final say.

The other day I got an email in my author email box supposedly from an editor at Penguin/Random House. I'm very suspicious of emails like that that come unbidden. Agents and editors don't troll for clients, do they? People complain how difficult it is to find/get an agent. I can't imagine a real editor would email me telling me how terrific my books are and wondering what I'm planning in the future. It's just too unlikely. I didn't answer. 

--Barbara

Exciting Find

MB, my cleaning lady, came today and the first thing she told me was that she'd signed up on Hoopla through the library and was looking for an audiobook to listen to. Featured on the page was Better Than Mom's, so she borrowed it and is listening to it. I went to Hoopla on the library's website and there it was so I took its picture. I also learned that the library is cancelling its Hoopla membership at the end of the month due to budgetary constraints. Boo.

 

Then I thought, maybe my audiobooks are on Libby too, so I went there. They are! All six of them lined up so pretty I had to take another picture. Hoopla and Libby are some of the places that are opportunities on Voices INaudio, the distributor I put my audiobooks on earlier this year, but I didn't know that people in my hometown could borrow my books through the library. That's so cool!

 

It took some thinking to draw the gratitude journal page for yesterday but I finally managed. I was most grateful that I finally had the guts to put those uncomfortable shoes in the donate box. 

 

The Red-bellied Woodpecker visited the round birdseed feeder. Unfortunately it was in the shade so it's a little hard to see but, trust me, it was there in all its black-and-white striped back, red-headed glory.

 

I took another stab at painting tulips today. I like that I managed to spread the flowers around better on the page but I'm still not satisfied. Some of the stems are too thick and I feel like I can do even better arranging them. I'll try again. Hey, it's only paint and paper. What else do I have to do?

 

I tackled another page of Manuscript Analysis comments this afternoon. One was easy to fix. All I had to do was add a sentence or two near the end to carry one character into the sequel. Then came the hard part. The comment was that the climax scene gave too much away, that all of the dialogue detracted from the action. So I went through and extracted superfluous verbiage (meaning I took out the extra words), pasted them all onto the Darlings page, then I found a later place and way to reinsert the information so that the murderer's motive is clear without boring the reader. Whew. That was challenging.

It was really foggy this morning but it burned off and turned into a great afternoon. They're predicting fog for tomorrow morning too. I can't figure out what makes it foggy. Cool nights and warm days? Haven't got a clue.

--Barbara 

Hawk

I walked in from an errand, glanced out the patio door, and saw a Sharp-shinned Hawk sitting on the fence. It had its back to me so I couldn't see its yellow legs or its tan and white breast, but I could see its squared-off tail that told me what kind of hawk it was. (I looked it up) BTW, there were no birds or squirrels at the birdbath or feeders while it was there. Go figure.

 

I finally got tired of my desk chair wheels catching in the cracks of the chair mat, so this morning I unloaded the things from the shelf alongside the desk (because it was sitting on the corner of the mat). I had tried to extend the life of the old mat with duct tape but that only worked for so long. When I picked up the old mat, there was tape stuck to the carpet underneath. Oops. The new mat is thicker and bigger so it covers more area. Maybe it'll last 10 years like the old one did. As I reloaded the shelves, I sorted through things and recycled and tossed a lot of stuff. So the job did double duty.

 

This squirrel spent a lot of time on the round feeder today. I'm convinced that it spent most of the day on and off of it. It ate a while, twisting around to investigate every port, then it'd drop off, scamper around, climb up the patio chair, leap to the feeder, and start all over.

 

I slept until 9:00 again today, so it was afternoon before I drew a gratitude journal page for yesterday. My favorite thing was getting a call from DD after sending her a text saying hi.

 

When I went out to fill the birdbath before supper, I saw this red leaf had blown into the yard so I took its picture. The maple tree next door and my little maple tree's leaves are still green but there are trees downwind that have turned amazing colors. I figure that's where the red leaf came from.

 

I decided to paint again today instead of draw. I like these tulips but I made the stems the wrong lengths so that all of the flowers are clumped together in the middle, almost in a line. They should be spread out. I'll try again.

 

I didn't do much writing today. I had a critique zoom with cda this afternoon, and spent a lot of time rereading old writing that I then recycled. I even tossed a couple old Bullet Journals that didn't have much interesting in them.

I also tossed those uncomfortable shoes into the donate box. Someone will like them.

--Barbara 

Woodpecker Day

Today was a Red-bellied Woodpecker day at the feeders. First this morning it was at the not-full suet nuggets feeder, on the back side as usual, but horizontal so both ends of it stuck out. It stays as long as it takes to peck out a big lump of suet and then it flies off.

 

I filled the feeders so it came back to the round feeder and spent a lot of time pecking and pecking in the feeding ports shoving birdseed onto the ground until it found a peanut half. It tried three of the four ports before it found the peanut and flew away.

 

The landscapers were supposed to come today to do the yard fall cleanup but I got a call that one of them (there are only two) sprained an ankle on Friday. She's got it wrapped and in an inflatable boot and they think they'll be able to come on Wednesday. In preparation for their arrival I refilled the horse head feeder with a smear of peanut butter in the opening and corn kernels in the snout. It'll probably be empty by Wednesday. Oh well.

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal was a pretty easy one. A bright sunny day, a little yoga, and a shower. What more can a person want?

 

I decided I wanted to paint today instead of draw so I booted up a flower painting video and painted this hyacinth. She didn't paint the background but I like it painted so I did.

 

A squirrel figured out that I filled the suet nuggets feeder so it wasted no time clinging to the feeder and nibbling away. It stayed a long time.

 

After I sent the Zoom link for tomorrow's critique meeting with cda, and went through the editing questions she sent instead of manuscript pages, I spent the rest of the day starting through the comments in the Manuscript Analysis of Three Cheers for Murder. I moved quite a bit of writing I like to my Darlings file and out of the manuscript. The major comment was about telegraphing the murderer too much and too soon. Most of the comments I kind of agree with, some of them are hard to face and follow. One of the scenes I had to rip apart was one with a Ouija board and the sleuth and her friend that basically pointed at the murderer. A lot of that one went into the Darlings file. Instead of just deleting sentences and segments, I put them in the Darlings file so if I decide I want them back, there they are waiting in the wings.

I took a walk this afternoon in shoes that I haven't worn in a while. They're supposed to be good to walk in but I think they're not good for that. They feel too stiff. They don't flex when I walk so I'll probably retire them. I have enough aches when I walk without my feet hurting too.

--Barbara 

Zzzzz

I couldn't believe it when I opened my eye this morning to look at the clock. It was 9:30! That meant I slept for 10 hours--with one bathroom trip at 5:30, but still that's a long time to sleep. My whole morning was shot. I had breakfast, did the Wordles, did yoga, and when I got out of the shower it was nearly noon. Incredible. So I had lunch at around 2:30, and supper around 6:30. Will I stay up too late tonight? No. Because the landscapers are coming tomorrow to do the yard's fall cleanup and I don't know when they'll arrive, so I'll be setting my alarm for 7:00 so I'm not still rolling in the sack when they get here.

 

The Red-bellied Woodpecker visited the suet pellets a few times today. When I saw it the first time, all I saw was the tip of its tail. It was perfectly aligned with the feeder and nearly invisible. It peeked around the side a few times and I tried to snap its picture and failed. The next time I saw it, this is what I saw. Part of the bird on the side of the feeder. I'll take it.

 

After lunch I drew yesterday's gratitude journal page. I really amuse myself with the daily weather report and made myself cry drawing the knitting zoom boxes with one empty one.

 

I spent most of the day working to add things to Three Cheers for Murder. I thought I did okay so I ran another Manuscript Analysis. Well. It doesn't agree with my personal analysis of the story. I'll go through the suggestions and then see what I think. It does say right on the analysis results that human opinions are better than it. I take it at its word.

 

Today's drawing is Geometrics. Triangles, to be precise. My triangle trees are a little wonky. For some reason my left side line isn't right, too slanted to the right. Or maybe my right side line isn't slanted enough. I'll try again another time.

 

I'm working to knit the gusset of the Regia Summer Sock, which is my least favorite aspect of sock knitting so I procrastinate, thereby making it last longer. Not particularly smart of me, but I'm often a trial to myself.

 

I spent most of today thinking that it was Sunday and wondering why there wasn't a flyover before the football game. It's Saturday, Barbara, and tomorrow's game is after dark so there shouldn't be a flyover, which is the only part of football I like.

--Barbara 

That Took Care of That

Yesterday's rain and today's wind took care of most of the leaves on the tree at the curve of the court. I took a walk this afternoon and the wind was cold. I was glad to have on a flannel shirt and padded vest. I wish I'd had on gloves, but I made it to the stop sign and back, probably faster than usual to get warm.

 

Something I don't see too often is one squirrel on the round feeder and another one on the suet nuggets. I was surprised that the nuggets squirrel didn't growl at the feeder squirrel and chase it away but they ate in peace for quite a while.

 

The drawing prompt/lesson today was Composition. She drew a taller vase or jar on the right side of her paper with poppies in it before the lesson, and then drew from there. I didn't draw that jar, I just started where she did, so my drawing is only of three jars or vases. She also wrote Fleurs (flowers in French) in the open space at the top of the page. I didn't.

 

I drew the gratitude page for yesterday in the afternoon.  Having my shoes and tee shirts swapped from summer to winter was the first thing I thought of, but picking up LC and OJ after school is always the best, even in the rain.

 

At Friday Night Knitting tonight, I finished the Pale Orange & Tangelo Chemo Hat. I only had three very short and getting shorter rounds to finish the crown decreases and then all the tails to weave in. I am not a fan of weaving in tails, especially in non-wool yarn because the yarn doesn't stick to itself so it's a challenge to get it to stay.

 We got sad news at knitting tonight. Our dear friend, KW, didn't show up. We knew she'd been put on hospice last week so things didn't look good. Her daughter joined us to let us know that her mom passed away on Wednesday. So fast. She gave it all she had for 10 years, but in the end the breast cancer won. This is a picture of her when she and I went out to a nature preserve snowshoeing about 11 years ago. There wasn't a lot of snow, as you can see, but we made the best of it and had hot chocolate at the end. She was a good friend. 

 

They're predicting a low of 29 degrees tonight. Freeze warning. Too early. No wonder I was cold on my walk. But back into the mid-60s next week. Whew.

--Barbara