Spring Yard Tour

I took a tour around the yard with the camera this afternoon. First, look at how fast the rhubarb is growing! Last week, Aunt B said it looked like a green bouquet, today it looks like a green explosion. Pretty soon it'll be ready to harvest a little at a time.

 

Then I saw that the lilac has little leaves. There's just a few at the ends of the branches but it's a start.

 

My little Pacific Sunset Maple tree's buds are starting to pop. First comes these little yellow flowers and then the leaves emerge. I like seeing the green haze around the trees.

 

The daffodils and hyacinths are still going strong. The earliest blooms are fading and drying out but there are plenty of others taking up the slack.

 

When I walked to look at the daffodils I saw a tiny blip of purple in the yard--grape hyacinths! I was afraid that the rabbits had eaten them all but there are a few survivors. They're very tiny this year, maybe two inches tall, but they showed up and I'm grateful.

 

Then I saw a spot of white and discovered a tiny white violet. Pretty soon those will be all over the lawn courtesy of the birds.

 

And to top it all off, there's a lone dandelion in the front flower bed. Now that's a sign that spring is really here.

 

Today OJ and I went to lunch and then did his birthday shop. We kind of blew the budget. He wanted to go to China Buffet for lunch so we did. It was way more expensive than I thought it'd be and we really only each ate a plate of appetizers so they made money on us but that's okay. Then we went to The Schoolhouse to find the sleeping cat that actually breathes. Well, it looks like it anyway. He's been wanting one and finally asked for one. He picked out a few other things and on the way home we stopped at Barnes & Nobel for a book. Just one but it's not a birthday if you don't get a book from Meemaw.

 

When I wasn't touring the yard or shopping with OJ, I spent the rest of the time working on cda's critique for Monday and reading LL's comments on the last 200 pages of my manuscript. She didn't find a lot to quibble about so I guess I might be getting better at this writing thing. I didn't draw or paint. I did knit while watching South Pacific on Prime. It's been ages since I've seen it. It was our school musical when I was a senior and I remembered all the words to all the songs. I see there are lots of old musicals on there so I might feel a jag coming on.

--Barbara 

Shy

Twice this morning a Robin was bathing in the birdbath and twice it flew away just as I was going to take its picture. So I went back into the archives and found this picture from two years and one day ago of a bathing Robin as a placeholder. I know this isn't the same bird because today's bird had a white feather on either side of its tail and I can't see if this wet one has the same tail but I'm guessing no.

 

The only bird I caught on the feeder is this Sparrow. There were Chickadees around but they flit in and flit out so quickly it's rare that I can catch them. At least the Sparrows hang around a bit. 

 

Today's drawing is an Owl. The owl in the book was fluffier than mine. Mine is too long and thin to look like a real owl, I think. I know I'm too hard on myself, this is an adequate owl.

 

At Friday Night Knitting tonight first I knitted on the Vienne sweater left front. I finished the neck increases and now have to knit even to make the front piece as long as the back but in order to figure out how much longer I need to knit I have some gymnastic measuring to do. I suspect I'll have to pin the pieces to a foam tile in order to get any sort of realistic measurement. Then I worked on Scrap Hat #2 and my worst fear was realized. I don't have enough of the green yarn to complete the hat so I had to knit the last two stitches of the round with some oatmeal colored thick yarn that's not quite the same thickness so now I need to figure out what else I can carry along to approximate the green stuff. I'll think about that tomorrow when it's light.

 

I spent some time working on my manuscript. I have a very difficult time finding places to add sensory and setting details. I'll find a place and then it interrupts some dialogue that I like so that's not the right place after all. 

I'm glad I don't have a book fair or vendor show this weekend. Not selling anything last Sunday really knocked me for a loop. My next book fair is a week from tomorrow at the Lakefly Writing Conference down in Oshkosh. I'm looking forward to it except we'll have to leave at about 7am to get down there to set up and be ready when the show opens at 9am. That feels early, especially since it's about an hour away. It'll be a long day but hopefully I'll sell a book or two.

--Barbara 

Can't Make Up Its Mind

There was too much for the squirrel to investigate today. First it leaped from the suet cakes feeder to the top of the square green feeder. It looked over all four edges of the roof/lid, tried reaching down to the perch, and fell off.

 

Then it was on the suet nuggets happily nibbling away and dropping crumbs for the ground feeders.

 

After that it tried the square green feeder once again. This time it managed to grab the perch and swing itself up to get under the lid and into the seeds to dig for peanut halves. Success!

 

I decided to do laundry today. I had sheets that needed washing and a chute full of dirty clothes, socks, and undies that needed washing too. I'd ordered a three-pack of mesh bags that I put my hand-knitted socks into so they didn't get roughed up in the wash. That seemed to work just fine. So fine I put doing laundry on the gratitude journal page I drew this afternoon. It seems I don't need to wait until the end of the day to draw one of those. I can do it in the afternoon when I've still got the energy and motivation to do it.

 

After lunch I took a walk up to the stop sign and back. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and 80 degrees, so it was a good day for a walk. 

 

Today's drawing is a Hummingbird. It's even a Ruby-throated Hummingbird which is the kind that hangs around here.

 

I also made time to paint Muscari, also known as Grape Hyacinth. This is way bigger than the real flower. It's a tiny little thing, maybe six inches tall, but it seems the rabbits have eaten all of mine this spring. 

 

This morning I made a new document of my manuscript and started rereading it and adding things like sensory details and physical descriptions. I need to weave in references to the antagonist and Rose's worries about her business to keep the tension building. That's hard for me because I'm so conflict averse in real life, I have a difficult time making trouble for my characters.

While the wash was flopping around getting clean and dry, I spent a couple hours just listening to an audiobook. It's Project Hail Mary. MB, my cleaner, recommended it so I got it and started listening. It's good, engrossing. Not my usual preferred book but I'm liking it. It's a long one, 16 hours and a few minutes, seems like it's worth it. I'll let you know.

--Barbara 

 

Just a Fluffy Tail

The squirrel was back in the square green feeder today but somehow the feeder had turned its back on me so all I could see was a swish of a fluffy tail. I waited and waited but the squirrel didn't peek out so I could take a picture of more than the fluff.

 

I was lucky enough and fast enough to take a picture of a Goldfinch on the crook. It didn't stay long and didn't partake of any of the goodies on offer but looked around and then flew away.

 

Most of the daffodils are in clumps but this one is all by itself. Usually I planted a few of them together but this one escaped and stands alone. I like the two-tone color of it.

 

Today I painted rather than drew. It's a dahlia and I like the way it turned out. She doesn't have us paint the background but I like it so I add it. Naturally I touched the wet green paint in a couple places so there's a paint bloom but that's okay.

 

And I decided to try carving a flower stamp on a pink eraser. It's going to take a lot of practice to get good at this carving thing but I need to think of simpler shapes to try. Maybe I'll get some ideas from the drawing book.

 

Just before coming back here to blog I drew another gratitude journal page. I was most grateful for my phone hotspot because my internet dropped an hour and a half into a two-hour Zoom this morning so I was able to boot up my hotspot and get right back into the meeting. I called Spectrum and she helped me get it back up and running but I'm not happy about this. My internet behaved on Friday and Monday and today when it really mattered, it dropped. Grr.

 

I should have taken a walk this afternoon but I didn't think of it and now it's too late. Maybe tomorrow.

--Barbara 

A New Visitor

The square green feeder had a new visitor today. I think this bird is called a White-crowned Sparrow. It was all alone at the feeder this morning, having a snack before flying away. It's smaller than a House Sparrow and less common.

 

In the morning I went down to visit DS at Zambaldi Beer. He was making Meatball Man Amber. In this picture he was reattaching part of the mash tun. I think it was the part the ground grain went through. When I got there the floor was wet all around the brewing deck, there were even tiny droplets hanging from the mesh that caught the light and looked like little lights under there. Brewing beer is water intensive. He took me out front to see that his hops were sprouting. He planted them last summer to shade the patio in the afternoons when the sun is up later and there's nothing to keep it from blinding and baking people. His hope is that eventually they'll grow up and make like an arbor over the end of the patio.

 

For the first time in a month I drew a gratitude journal page. I don't know why I keep forgetting or neglecting to do it but I guess it isn't a priority. It felt like the thing to do today.

 

The drawing today is of a Macaw. It turned out okay.

 

These are the last daffodils to open and there's one pink hyacinth tucked back behind them. They are the old fashioned flowers with yellow petals and a yellow trumpet in the center. None of those fancy ruffly centers for these flowers.

 

After supper I knitted a bunch of rounds of ribbing on the Scrap Hat #2. The green yarn is so bulky that I have to find skinny sock yarn to carry along with it so I don't have a plain green hat when I'm done. There's not a lot of give to the green yarn so knitting it makes my hands ache. But it'll be a good hat when I'm done.

 

I ordered 10 copies of Better Than Mom's on Sunday. They came today. That's the fastest I've ever gotten author copies. I'm not complaining, I'm kind of in awe. Maybe people are boycotting Amazon, so they had time to print them right away. I haven't sold a book on there all month or had any Kindle Unlimited pages read, which is unusual.  

 

I got to do the after school run today and it was locker clean-out day so OJ came to the car burdened with two shopping totes and an overstuffed backpack. He had so much stuff that he asked to dump it all in the wayback of my car because there wasn't room for it in the backseat with him and LC and her backpack and lunch bag. He's an energetic guy, but by the time he hauled it all to my car, he was dragging.

It got up to 71 degrees today and was sunny with a light breeze. A perfect day. I had the windows open in the house and the car to let springtime air in. It felt great.

--Barbara

Into The Feeder

The squirrel that's figured out there are peanut halves in with the birdseed was back today. It had a lovely time for quite a while this afternoon. Most of the time only the tip of its tail hung out but I managed to catch it leaning out holding a peanut and gobbling it up.

 

Another squirrel leaped up onto the crook holding the suet nuggets, thought a while, and then lowered itself down to partake of the luscious nuggets. It started out head down and then switched to head up, probably because it's easier to swallow when your mouth is higher than your stomach.

 

This Robin was pecking around under the suet cakes feeder. I think a bunch of Starlings have been visiting there, too quickly for a picture, but causing crumbs to fall to the ground for birds like the Robin to enjoy.

 

Here's another daffodil picture. Like I said, I can't get enough of their springtime yellowness.

 

After supper I finished Scrap Hat #1. It's small. I tried it on and it's a little like a skullcap because it doesn't come down much below the tops of my ears. I like the colors and the squishiness of it. Someone will love it.

 

Then I cast on Scrap Hat #2. I switched to bigger size US15 needles and dug out the green super bulky yarn leftover from knitting a shrug/sweater years and years ago. Then I found some very skinny sock yarn to carry along just so I'd have more than only green. I suspect the sock yarn will run out before the green stuff does so I'll have to find another little ball of something to carry along. I don't think I have enough green to make the whole hat so I'll have to figure out what comes next. It's an adventure!

 

 I spent all of the afternoon working on critiques for Wednesday's Novel Intensive group meeting. I've been in a bit of a tizzy over needing to do all that work in just today and tomorrow, but I took a deep breath and buckled down and got through all three of them. I'll read through them one more time tomorrow morning before the cleaning lady comes so I'm ready for Wednesday's Zoom.

So I didn't draw or paint today. I feel like I'm falling down on the painting front especially but tackling this Novel Intensive group has consumed my month. Maybe in May I'll unlimber my paintbrushes.

--Barbara 

Not My Day

Today was not my day. I spent nearly 5 hours at the Authors Among Us book fair and didn't sell a single book. I talked to a lot of people, mostly women, and not one of them was motivated to buy one despite my clever patter and winning smile. Oh well, there's always next time.

 

The squirrel that climbs into the square green feeder came back today. Either that or another squirrel figured out that it can push up the feeder lid and climb in to dig out peanut halves. And look how green the grass has gotten in the last week! Well, what passes for grass in my pitiful lawn. I think the lawn mowers cut it too short every week last summer so it didn't hold up. When you look at it closely, there are a lot of gaps.

 

When I got home I sat down to draw after unloading my books, etc. from the car. I flipped the back pages of the book and found these "by the sea" creatures. I made them bigger than the last time I drew one of these groups of things so there isn't as much white space around them. The whale might be my favorite, but I like them all.

 

Tomorrow is OJ's tenth birthday and the grandparents were invited over for supper and a little celebration tonight since it worked better for everyone's schedule. OJ requested Chinese take-out for his birthday supper and this is my plate. I held off on heaping it so I'd have room for cake. It was all delicious.

 

Here's the cake. It was a chocolate tuxedo cake from Costco, also at OJ's request. I can attest that it was a wise choice. Mm, melt in your mouth good. OJ and I made a date for next Saturday for his birthday shop. He's already got one item picked out. It's a little stuffed cat curled up like it's sleeping and it looks like it's breathing. They're kind of creepy but that's what he wants. And it's within his budget. He's wanted one for years and this year he's getting one.

 

My next show is on May 1 at a local senior residential apartment. A knitting friend lives there and I got invited to participate in their vendor show. Then I have to restock my gear and drive it over to GBB's house to load into her vehicle because we need to drive away at around 7am to get to Oshkosh to set up for a 9am show opening on May 2. It's attached to a writing conference so it should be a good venue. She says hopefully.

--Barbara