Promising Sign of Life

I went out to see what, if anything, I could salvage of the rhubarb that got pounded by hail the other afternoon. It wasn't pretty, but I started at the edge and went stalk by stalk, cutting off the shredded leaves and the broken pieces, and then cutting the good parts into sections. I cut and cut, filling the bowl until it got to eight cups, which is enough for a double batch of rhubarb sauce. When I was about halfway through the mess, I saw two tiny leaves that survived the onslaught of frozen water. Yay! (they're the wrinkly, lime green ones in the middle)

 

I got through about two-thirds of the stalks so I left the rest to be cut another time. Maybe tomorrow because it's supposed to be in the 90s for the upcoming week. I can cut it and freeze it to be cooked at a later date.

 

Here's the bowl of rhubarb sauce that will grace my breakfast yogurt for the next few weeks. It makes me so happy!

 

The orange day lily plant that's in with the ferns survived the hail and opened its first flower today. I haven't gone around the yard to see how the other day lilies fared. I might do that tomorrow too.

 

I drew while the rhubarb sauce cooked. I added 5 minutes to the cook time to allow for the greater volume of... fruit? Does rhubarb count as a fruit? I don't know. Anyway, I drew undersea stuff. I like them all, especially the red crab, but then red's my favorite color, just like it's yours.

 

After supper, I got out my little paint set and small paper, used masking fluid to mask out a birch tree, and painted a little landscape that I made up. I was waiting for it to dry so I took a walk. That worked, plus the sun was lower in the sky so I didn't get too hot walking. That worked too.

 

When it was almost too dusky to take a decent picture, the pair of House Finches visited the grape jelly. I took one shot but the flash went off and made a glare on the patio door, so I switched the flash off and tried again. I've tried to keep an eye out because I thought I saw a Hummingbird speed off from the nectar feeder yesterday. For the longest time the birdie juice stayed at the same level and now within the last few days it's gone down a lot. I want to see one again but I'm just glad they or it seems to be back.

 

I worked on short stories again today and again today one got longer and longer. I'm trying to decide what's too long but have come to no conclusion. I guess the story's over when it's over. Tomorrow I'll get on Substack to schedule a couple more stories. I like to have five or six of them lined up, that way I don't get caught scrambling to post a story. And tomorrow I need to write my July email writing progress letter. I'm relieved that I thought of that just now because last month I didn't remember and ended up dashing it off on the 1st to be sent on the 2nd. Careless.

--Barbara 

Oh, Hail No!

I didn't think I had much hail damage and then I went out to fill the bird feeders this afternoon and saw this. The ferns got beaten up pretty badly. I don't know if they'll perk up or not, this has never happened before.

 

Then I turned around and saw the rhubarb. Or what used to be the rhubarb. I'll go out tomorrow to see if I can save any of it. I hope so because I love my rhubarb sauce on yogurt in the mornings.

 

The squirrel was back in the feeder this morning. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl squirrel, I just know it's very determined and stays in there a long time.

 

I worked on that short story from yesterday, made a few tweaks and refinements, and called it finished. Then I got out my little travel watercolor set with the short brushes and 4x6 pad of paper to paint something small. I couldn't think of what to paint so I did tulips because they're so easy, just three brush strokes, a stem, and a few leaves.

 

I didn't feel done art-ing, so I drew this page of Everything Baby. It's kind of silly but I enjoyed drawing these little things and coloring them with markers instead of colored pencils, just for variety.

 

The only other wildlife I saw today was the baby bunny. I probably saw both baby bunnies, one at a time, because every time I sat at the table, I'd see one zip by.  This one took its time. That's how I got the picture. I think the white spots on the patio are from Wednesday's hail.

 

Waiting until 6 o'clock to sign on to the knitting Zoom, I did something I haven't done in over a month. I drew a gratitude journal page. I cleared off a shelf at the end of the kitchen cupboards and made space for the basket of markers, pens, and the journal I use for the gratitude pages. I don't know why I let this slide so often. I have so much to be grateful for. 

 

At Friday Night Knitting, I knitted the arms and most of the head of Teddy Bear #1. The head is so big because it's both the front and the back of the head. You fold it in half. So after four more rows, comes the arms again, then the belly, and finally the legs. Then comes the fun of sewing it up, stuffing it, and giving it a face. For the next one, I think I might go down another needle size to make the holes between stitches even smaller. We'll see how that works. It might be too hard on my hands.

 

 When I got home from OJ's soccer game last night I grabbed the Windex and paper towels, went into the garage, and cleaned the inside of my windshield. What a difference! I went to the grocery store this morning and suddenly realized that the world wasn't foggy, it was clear. I don't know how the glass gets so dirty, I don't smoke anymore and no one else but the grandkids rides with me regularly, and they for sure don't smoke. Anyway, it made a world of difference. I highly recommend it.

--Barbara 

A Different Woodpecker

This one is frequently seen on the ground, according to the Cornell Lab website, and it's a Northern Flicker. I saw it fly over from the roof and land in the grass. At first I thought it was a Mourning Dove, but then I saw the patterning on its back and knew what it had to be. It tracked across the backyard and I kept taking pictures, hoping that one would turn out. And it did.

 

Only one Sparrow took a bath, but I was lucky enough to catch it. In years past, a whole bunch of Sparrows would bathe together and splash out most of the water, but lately it's been just one bird at a time. Evidently communal bathing is out of fashion.

 

I refilled the square green feeder the other day and word must have gone around in squirrel-land, because this one was ensconced in the feeder and vociferously defended its perch when another squirrel dared to come near. 

 

This afternoon I was quick enough to snap a picture of this male House Finch enjoying an orange snack. The female had been there but she flew off as soon as I got the camera up and ready. Oh well. Her loss.

 

One of my knitting friends is expecting two grandbabies later this year. Two! But not twins, both of her children are expecting, so I need to knit teddy bears. I went downstairs to look for yarn I could use and noticed this really soft and fuzzy superbulky yarn. I have two colors of it. Coincidence? Maybe. I'm knitting it on smaller needles so that the spaces between stitches are smaller and the fabric is firmer. Not that it's firm exactly, it is extremely soft and fuzzy. It'll make good bears. I hope. This is a fun pattern. You knit the whole bear in one piece, like a pelt. It gets folded in half, sewn together, stuffed, the face gets embroidered on, the ears get stitched across, and a scarf is knitted to cinch in the neck. I knit them in acrylic yarn and stuff them with polyester so they're washable because we all know babies have no control over their bodily secretions.

 

I took a walk this morning. I'm slowly getting better at it. Then I spent the afternoon working on a short story. This one got long--over 8 pages--so I worked to wrap it up without it sounding like I just slapped "The End" on it and quit. I have a hard time with the "short" part of short story sometimes.

OJ had another soccer game tonight and they didn't win. It wasn't even close but OJ is playing hard. There are no games next week, two the following week, and two on the next Saturday. Then the soccer season is over for another year. I enjoy going. It's nice to sit outside in the evening and watch a herd of boys run around. I even missed the rainy game because I was at The Clearing. Whew. 

I didn't go to bed quite as early as I talked about last night but my light was out before 10 o'clock.

--Barbara 

Oh, Hail!

Today was a stormy day. Off and on. Mostly off but when it was on, it was REALLY on. The most impressive storm involved huge raindrops and penny-sized hail that pounded everything. It bounced off the patio and hit the patio door so hard I was afraid the glass would shatter and the hail on the three aluminum birdseed cans sounded like some sort of percussion section. There was a lot of thunder before the rain and hail and I just heard thunder again so maybe we're in for another round. There are leaves all over the street and the yards that the rain, wind, and hail tore off the trees. It was kind of scary.

 

In happier news, there was a Bluejay hanging around today. I took three pictures of it. The first one it was flying away and was a blur of blue and white. The second one wasn't much better. And here's the third one that finally looks like a bird instead of a smudge.

 

Two Downy Woodpeckers showed up at the same time. One claimed the suet cakes and the other one sat on the birdbath waiting its turn. That one wasn't very patient. It flew away before the other one left.

 

Before any rain came to beat them up, I went out and took pictures of Dad's roses. They really seem to be liking the weather we've been having because they're blooming like crazy.

 

I went out back to pull up the world's tallest thistle (probably not, but it was at least two feet tall), and noticed that the orange day lilies are starting to bloom. I took their picture between rain storms so they're a little bedraggled but not as bad as I'm sure they are now after the hail onslaught.

 

Next to the day lilies, the milkweed is getting ready to flower. I've got a nice patch of milkweed but have never had a Monarch Butterfly move in. *sigh*

 

 Before any of the rain, the lawn mowers came and zipped around mowing, trimming, and blowing. I'm impressed every time how quickly they get the job done and they do an acceptable job of it.

 

Today's drawing is a Frog. I know I've drawn it before but that's where the book opened and I wasn't unhappy with it so that's what I drew.

 

I was right. I finished a short story yesterday and jumped right into another story start. Some of them seem to almost write themselves and others it's like pulling teeth. Today was pretty easy. 

And it's raining again. I'm glad I live near the top of a hill, otherwise I'll bet the street is flooded down at the bottom. I am also extra-glad that OJ didn't have a soccer game tonight. They'd have been playing and would have called the game and we'd have to drive home in that hail storm. No thanks.

Is 8:47pm too early to go to bed? I feel like I just want to crawl in and fall asleep to the sound of rain on the roof. I'll stick it out until at least 9:00pm. Really I will.

--Barbara

Painting Practice

I decided to practice painting birch trees today so I taped a piece of watercolor paper to a plexiglass board, sketched in some trees, land, and water, and got busy. My sky and water are too pale, I think. The color barely shows and there IS color there. I masked out the birch trees and like the way they turned out. That bent one looks weird but I'll straighten it out next time. I don't know what happened there.

 

The only thing the mail carrier brought was a little cardboard box from Journey Arts with three tubes of paint in it. I've bought paint, paper, and palettes from Cheap Joe's Art Stuff over the years and was sad to learn that they went out of business at the end of last winter. I'd gotten a few of my favorite color paints from them and thought I was out of luck. Until about 10 days ago when I decided to google American Journey paints. There they were! So I ordered a tube of Skip's Green, one of Red Hot Mama, and one of Taylor's Flamingo. I mean, who wouldn't want to paint with those last two? 

 

A Robin spent time poking and pecking around under the feeders. I keep hoping to see one pull up a worm but I've only seen that once and didn't get a picture of it, dang it.

 

More Stella d'Oro lilies for your viewing pleasure. I'm waiting for all eleven plants to have flowers on them at once so I can take a long shot of the whole retaining wall.

 

And Dad's roses are still showing off. I took a little sniff tour of them today and can honestly report that each one smells better than the last one. So sweet, so rosy.

 

I cut and pasted a couple chapters of Sailing the Seas, the manuscript I'm working on with cda, and realized that the two chapters together were 42 pages. Waaay too long, especially for "one more chapter" before bed. So I spent the afternoon rereading them and dividing two chapters into four. Much better. Much easier reading. 

 

OJ's soccer game tonight was pretty much of a rout and they weren't on the winning side. But they played hard and will give it their all again on Thursday. We went to Smart Cow which was close to the soccer field for frozen yogurt to console the feelings of the player we love. I think he might have had more toppings than frozen yogurt in his cup. I just had chocolate sprinkles and boba on my chocolate and peanut butter yogurt. I was restrained.

--Barbara 

Squirrel's Back

Only this time it's a juvenile squirrel that can't figure out how to get to the seed in the square green feeder. It spent quite a bit of time leaping from the back of a patio chair to the top of the feeder, leaning down looking at the seed and the perch, and then giving up or falling off.

 

This is a terrible picture, but in the center is a brown and beige smudge that is the back of a hawk in the tree. It flew over the yard being chased by a bunch of smaller birds that kept mobbing it and generally throwing a fit while it sat in the tree until it gave up and flew away. 

 

The male House Finch posed on the square green feeder in the sunshine so its bright head and breast were shown to their best advantage. He didn't visit the orange or the grape jelly...

 

But the female House Finch (or a juvenile) had a nice grape jelly snack a while later.

 

I am crazy about these ostrich ferns. They spread underground and are moving around the flowerbed, crowding out other ferns, and shading the peonies. I couldn't even see if a peony bloomed there are so many ferns in front of them.

 

Today's drawing is a Daffodil. I know Daffodil season has passed, but it caught my eye and I thought I could draw it and not screw up too badly.

 

Like I said the other day, the Stella d'Oro lilies are exploding into bloom. This plant has about ten or so flowers in various stages of opening or closing and more buds than I could count. Well, that I stood around counting. I could have counted them if I'd stood there longer.

 

Today's easterly breeze brought the fragrance of Dad's roses to me here at my desk this afternoon. It's a much more appealing aroma than Burger King which is also borne on the wind, but from the west. See, there's a Burger King a block away and I'm downwind when it blows out of the west. Sometimes it's almost impossible to resist the allure of charbroiled beef, but I manage.

 

I took a little walk today but I'm impatient for my physique to catch up with my imagination. I imagine that I can walk without huffing and puffing and having my lower back ache, but so far I can't. I am not giving up. I can tell that I'm a little better and maybe by the time I go back to The Clearing in October I'll be a lot better. If I don't give up, that is. But I won't. Promise.

I worked on a different short story today before critique Zooming with cda this afternoon. I might have finished the story today. Maybe. I'll have to reread it tomorrow to see if I'm right.

--Barbara 

I Got a Lot Done Today

My to-do list kept getting longer today but I kept up with it and got it all done. "Blog" is the last item on the list and here I am. I took a walk. (notice my socks don't match) That got crossed off. I washed the sheets. Crossed off. De-stemmed and washed the grapes. Check. Ran the dishwasher. Check. Wound the antique clock. Crossed it off.

 

Today's art is another watercolor of Iris. Actually there are two of them, one big and one small. They each have their good points but I think I'll post the big one tonight. I like that I thought to add leaves to them. Makes them look a little more real.

 

The writing today was working on a short story that keeps getting longer. Maybe when I figure out where it's going I can cut some of it and make it shorter and stronger. I do tend to run off at the mouth, er, fingers.

 

A Downy Woodpecker was back on the suet cakes. I can't say if this is the same bird coming day after day. It's the same kind of bird but whether it's the same one, that I don't know. I like the way it blends into the suet cakes and the grid of the feeder.

 

I was lucky enough to catch sight of a Chickadee and quick enough to nab a photo. It isn't a great photo but it's a photo of a bird that's tricky to get a picture of.

 

Last but not least, there's Dad's roses. They're exploding into bloom. I'm especially enamored of this cluster of flowers and buds that I think looks like a bouquet. For a fleeting moment, the breeze carried the fragrance to me here at my desk. And they smell soooo good. 

 

Wherever you are, thanks Dad, and happy Father's Day! This is Dad with his little brother Walt in 1944 when he was in the navy. Doesn't he look like just a kid?

 

Happy Solstice! Today is the longest daylight day of the year. From here it's all downhill as far as hours and minutes of light goes. Too bad we aren't having a beautiful sunset to commemorate it.

Edited to add: We are having a beautiful sunset! I saw it out the west window coming back from the kitchen. It's not the greatest picture but it's better than nothing. 

--Barbara