So Happy To See Them

This morning I glanced out and there was a tiny little Downy Woodpecker on the square green feeder. I took a couple pictures that really didn't turn out. But then it flew over to get a drink from the birdbath and that's when I snapped this. It's been a while since a Woodpecker showed up. I was glad to see it.

 

On the other end of the bird size spectrum, look at what greeted me when I came home from Writers Guild this evening. It's the neighborhood hen Turkey enjoying the crumbs of suet nuggets that fall from the feeder. She's not foolish enough to try flying up to the feeder but is happy to reap the benefits of the other birds' and squirrels' messiness.

 

I was happy to see that the ISBN I assigned to Anneke's Legacy's audio files was approved overnight so I could go back in to update the metadata and get that quality assurance ball rolling. 

In the afternoon, I carried up the basket of clean laundry and the new Luhxe bag I bought for myself. I still have to fold clothes because I need to find another couple pairs of ankle socks to stuff in there but, aside from my toiletries bag and a second pair of shoes, I have everything I need in this bag. And there's still room. The bag has no structure, it's basically a leather-bound hanging bag. You put your clothes flat in the bag, then zip up the sides, and pack in the space made by folding and zipping it. I've got a pair of jeans, a windbreaker, five shirts, slippers, undies & socks, pajamas in there now. I'll add my toiletries and chargers on Sunday before I leave. It's kind of amazing.

 

Right on time, the five copies of Horizon I ordered arrived today. I ordered them because I updated the cover and wanted to have some with the new cover on hand. So I was less than thrilled when I opened the box to find the first book I took out had the old cover, but the other four have the new one. I took a picture of the old and new covers side by side. I think the lighter one looks much more appealing, don't you? The old one was was too moody and didn't fit the story. I think it repelled readers, making them think it was a sad story.

 

The only writing I did today was going over my (late) monthly writing progress email and sending it off to KM so she could get it sent out on MailerLite. I could probably do it myself but it changed since I set up the account and I get confused and frustrated. Better let KM do it and stay happy.

--Barbara 

Just a Glance

I was in the right place at the right time this afternoon to see the male Oriole at the grape jelly dish. He must have seen me see him because he took off as soon as my eyes touched him. Foolish bird.

 

The purple iris are still blooming and still standing. It hasn't been too windy so they're not falling over like they usually are.

 

And the bleeding hearts are nearing the end of their blooming cycle. The flowers aren't as bright pink and they're starting to wilt. 

 

I spent a lot of the afternoon uploading the chapters of Anneke's Legacy audiobook onto INaudio so the distributors aside from Audible, Amazon, and iTunes (like Chirp) can have it too. I almost got the forms all filled out and then realized that I'd forgotten to assign an ISBN number to the audio file so I have to wait for that to be processed. Then I can add it to the file and press "submit." I woke up today wondering why I hadn't heard from ACX that the audiobook was approved, checked their website, and it went live on May 28th. Perfect timing.

 

Today's drawing is a Seahorse. I think he looks a little startled. That isn't what I intended but I like the way the rest of him turned out.

 

I had my favorite breakfast and had to take its picture to show you. It's plain fat-free Fage Greek yogurt (I like it because it isn't soupy) topped with rhubarb sauce and cinnamon granola. Mm, so good.

 

Today was laundry day. I felt so smart because I put my hand-knitted socks and compression socks in mesh bags so they wouldn't be abraded in the washer. Well, one zipper opened up and spilled out the socks into the wash anyway. It took me a while to sort through the wet wash to make sure I hadn't missed one and put it into the dryer by mistake. I was hanging them on the line and realized I had only 11 and should have had an even number of socks. Pairs, you know. I went through the wet clothes in the dryer and didn't find it, then found it on the floor under the clotheslines. I must have dropped it. At least I found it before it got dried and shrunken.

I also completely spaced on the date and forgot to write my June writing progress email letter. KM sent me an email thinking she'd missed it. Instead I missed it. *head, slap* Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.

This afternoon I packed my watercolor supplies for next week and searched all over my computer for the packing list that I know I wrote up last spring. Do you think I could find it? No. I found a fall one but not a spring one so I had to make a new one. I saved it in two places so it doesn't go missing again.

--Barbara 

Sunday on the Road

I spent quite a bit of today driving to and from Sturgeon Bay (40 miles one way, door to door) because one of the bookstore owners that is such terrific support of local authors wrote a book and today was her launch party. I went to support her and also made sure I had books in the car just in case they needed any. Well. The other owner sold one of my books while I was there so I got to sign it to the buyer and then he asked me to bring in eight other volumes for inventory and paid me cash right then. I love this about them. This is her book. I look forward to reading it. I'll take it to The Clearing with me next week to read in the evening before bed.

 

On my way back home I stopped at Zambaldi because LC was supposed to be there doing glitter tattoos for the kids and I wanted a tattoo. Well, she did tattoos for 4 hours yesterday when they collected pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House charity, so she stayed home to study and fold laundry. DIL1 came to Zambaldi to do the tattoos. One cool thing was that DS had a Brewer For a Day today so I sneaked a photo through the taproom window into the brewery. He's the bald guy just to the left of the kegs. Instead of a beer, I had a root beer and an order of soft pretzels with cheese spread and homemade mustard to spread on them. Yum. When I left the brewery I zipped by their house and got to spend a few minutes with LC and OJ.

 

A squirrel discovered that I filled the suet nuggets yesterday so it hung by its back legs and ate so enthusiastically that crumbs fell from the feeder.

 

This male House Finch found the refilled grape jelly and had a little snack. You'd think their beaks would get sticky.

 

 

A Bluejay visited under the cob corn to see if it could find any fallen kernels. I've got lots of loose kernels in the bottom of the bag the cobs came in. Maybe I'll put some under the feeder.

 

The irises are still blooming. There are more purple ones than yellow ones and I don't know which I like better. Maybe the yellow ones.

 

The flowers of the perennial purple salvia are hard to see but they're very slim spears of purple on top of long straight stalks. Someone should probably weed around the flowers. I really should find a gardener to do that for me. I can reach some of the weeds but I'm too short to reach back to the fence. At least that's my excuse.

 

When I went out to fill the birdbath and take flower pictures I saw something odd in the backyard. I went over to see and found the back third of a rabbit, tufts of fur, and something slimy on the grass. I haven't figured out what to do with it all yet so I just left it. Maybe the Hawk or Owl will come back and finish the job? Yuk. There are no pictures.

I didn't do any art today and the only writing I did was going over the critiques for tomorrow's Zoom with cda. I think she sent me the real end of the story this week with a little epilogue tacked on. Maybe she's closer to being done than I thought. 

--Barbara  

Writing Outside

It was such a beautiful day that I took my laptop, mouse, notebook, and pencil out onto the patio to work on Amazon ads this afternoon. I sat there for about an hour but I was in the shade and the breeze was brisk and a little chilly so it wasn't all that comfortable. So I went back inside. But I tried. I'll do it again when it's over 72 instead of 67 and breezy.

 

I've always known that keyword ads worked better for me than auto ads or category ads and today I got proof. I made twelve ads for Horizon, Better Than Mom's, and Island Dreams. I was taught to make separate ads for kindle and paperback books so each list of keywords gets made into two ads. By the time I got to the eleventh and twelfth ads the previous ten were already delivering Impressions. No Clicks yet but at least my books are out in front of more people scrolling through looking for something to read. My ad count went from 115 before I realized what the problem was to 25 after I archived the inactive ones, and now I'm up to 81. I'll feel better when I get a few more keyword ads made.

 

And I figured out how to put the new Horizon cover on the audiobook file on INaudio. I've sent them two "help" emails and haven't gotten a reply but I went on the site this morning, poked around, and figured it out. All by myself. I'm still trying to figure out how to change the cover on Chirp. I sent them another email just now.

 

The House Finch pair visited the orange half and the male stopped for a few dips into the grape jelly later. Still haven't seen another Oriole or Hummingbird. I refilled the Hummingbird feeder with fresh sugar water yesterday so I'll watch to see if the level goes down. At least that way I'll know a Hummer is visiting even if I don't see it.

 

Today's drawing is a Badger. Wisconsin's state animal is a badger, also Bucky Badger is the mascot of the UW-Madison sports teams. (He's not gray and black, he's red and white.) So it's an appropriate thing to draw. I used markers to color it because I have a better brownish gray marker and don't have a colored pencil that color.

 

As a writing break, I made a batch of rhubarb sauce so I'll have it to put on my breakfast yogurt tomorrow. It looks a little foamy in the pan but that seems to go away as it cools. It tastes so good. 

 

I worked some more on the next next manuscript and on the critique I need to have done for Monday's session. I really need to read the how to write a cozy mystery book I've got on the shelf to see if there's something I'm not doing that I should be doing. There probably is.

The neighborhood dogs are extra barky tonight. I wonder what's going on. 

--Barbara 

Approved

First thing this morning (after breakfast, yoga, and getting dressed), I skimmed through The Seaview one more time and pushed the "Approved" button. So now it's in the hands of the approvers at IngramSpark. They say they'll get in touch in a few days to let me know what happens next.

I'm determined to leave my latest (and maybe the last) Seaview Series manuscript alone for a few days/weeks but I missed writing, so I unearthed the very first manuscript I ever wrote and started working to maybe make it into something I can publish one day. It's a cozy mystery so now I have to learn how to write that. I have a how-to book.

 

It was lawn mowing day! The dandelion stalks were getting tall so I figured the mower and trimmer guys would be around. And they were. I'm so impressed with the speed and thoroughness of their work. I'd be surprised if they were here for 30 minutes. It feels more like 20. Maybe I'll time them next time.

Today's drawing is a Monkey. Once again it's taller and skinnier than the one in the book but that's okay. I like the hands, feet, and coloring. It has a nice smile too.

 

At suppertime this evening, the teenaged bunny hopped up onto the patio step and raised up to peer inside as if it was saying, "What are you doin' in there?" "Ain't doin' nothin'. Just eatin' my teriyaki chicken breast and broccoli."

 

At Friday Night Knitting I finished the third and last Melt the ICE hat/toque. I don't have enough of this red yarn to make another one. I've sold two of them and offered to give this last one to a knitting friend who said she might need a rebellious hat.

 

Then I cast on an Antipasto Chemo Hat in a soft nylon and acrylic yarn that has been kicking around here for at least a decade, maybe two. This yarn is leftover from a baby blanket I knitted a while back so there are partial skeins laying around in a bag and maybe an unused skein or two. It's nice and soft but it doesn't have a lot of give so it's a little hard on my hands. I'll take my time.

 

Last night when I was driving to OJ's soccer game, I turned a corner and there was a hen turkey strutting across the main east-west street in the city. I'm sure the guy behind me thought I was an idiot because I stopped in mid-turn but there was no way I was going to mow that huge bird down. I waited patiently for it to cross and then went on my way. My tenant/neighbor was nervous when the turkey went through the yard last week. She was afraid that it would nest in the lilies again this year but I checked and could reassure her that it wasn't hiding in the tall leaves. I liked the idea but it frightened her.

--Barbara 

Sixth Time's the Charm

I buckled down today and got through the proof of The Seaview and am confident that this sixth review is flawless. Or as flawless as I can make it. I found a few inconsistencies, like things that didn't translate to the later books in the series, and some formatting glitches. This writing thing is a lot of work. Never-ending work.

 

I got out my watercolors this morning and in between working on the manuscript proof (drying time) I painted these irises. I think I did a better job on the yellow one but I like them both. I'll try painting them again because I want to use very watery Payne's Gray to represent the weathered wood fence behind the irises on the retaining wall.

 

Since I spent so much time focused on the proof, I didn't see many birds. During supper I saw this pair of House Finches on the orange half. She's pecking the fruit so isn't as visible as he is. I haven't seen a Hummingbird in about a week or an Oriole either. *sigh* I should make fresh birdie juice to put in the Hummingbird feeder. I'll do that tomorrow.

 

But the ferns have really grown this week. I'm sure the warm, sunny days and Tuesday's rain encouraged them. It seems like they've really spread out this year and I wish they'd back up and fill in the empty spot next to the house. There is that one lone fern on the far right of the picture. Maybe I should loosen the soil there.

 

And my favorite springtime ferns are the ones that are still unfurling. I don't know what it is about those little coils of green, but they just please the daylights outta me.

 

Tonight was OJ's first soccer game of the season. (Tuesday's game got thunderstormed out.) His team dominated the other team, scoring way more goals. They still look like a scrum of boys chasing a ball but this year they manage to get it into the goal more.

--Barbara 

Yellow Iris

I was pleased when I looked out this morning and saw that the yellow iris had bloomed. I don't remember whether my grandma had yellow irises or only the purple ones.

 

I do remember that she called the purple irises flags. And I was surprised to find only one purple iris had fallen in last night's hard rain. The flowers are so big and heavy that the stalks tip over from the weight of them.

 

Here are the two small buds on the Christmas cactus. I don't know if they'll grow and bloom or not but I'm happy to see them.

 

Today's drawing is a Koala. I didn't have to erase too much to make it this way. Often I draw, erase, and redraw but today I only erased the part where the arm crosses the body.

 

A male House Finch spent a little solo time on the grape jelly. I looked all over the area but didn't see a female anywhere. He must be a bachelor.

 

I've added a few rounds to the Melt the ICE Toque. I know the big protests are out of the news and it's not the season for a woolen knitted hat, but I had it half knitted and thought I'd finish it before starting something new.

 

I'm sitting on a long line of Oriole pictures from the other day so here's another one for you.

 

I was just outside talking to a neighbor and a mosquito bit me on the knuckle of my right ring finger. Man, does it itch! I put After Bite on it and that's helping but I feel its itchiness on the back of my hand too. Of course, it was just at sunset when the skeeters come out to feast. Poor planning, but it's trash night and I had to put out some stinky trash, then my neighbors on both sides were out so visiting had to happen.

This morning and afternoon I went through The Seaview on Atticus, fixing things and getting it ready to export and then upload to IngramSpark. Within an hour or so I got the proof email so I started reading and scrolling through. Naturally I've already found a major booboo. I fixed that and will wait until I get to the end before reloading it. I'll get this done if it takes a week. I'm stubborn that way.

--Barbara