A Better One

I only saw one bird again today but it was a better bird, in my humble opinion. A Downy Woodpecker, one of my favorite birds, flew to the suet pellets for a little peck this morning just before I started doing my daily yoga and I have to admit that I would have stopped yog-ing to take the picture if I'd have had to.

One of the squirrels also enjoyed a suet pellet snack today. I'm surprised that they've left it alone for days since I refilled it.

I spent most of the day playing with watercolors. First I fixed the ferret, er, bird that I painted yesterday. I kept looking at it and it finally occurred to me how I could fix it with a few simple brush strokes. I think it looks much more bird-like now.

Then I practiced painting birds freehand. I painted two of them and this one turned out the best. I liked it so much that I cut it out of the paper so that I can collage it on another page in the sketchbook.

I learned today that I am not so good at freehanding things in paint. If I pencil draw a basic outline I can paint inside the lines and add some embellishments. When I painted these birds in my sketchbook I had simple outlines for the birds' bodies and just a curving line where I wanted the wings to go. That worked much better so I took my little 4HB pencil (which draws very light lines) and worked on some more pages to paint over the next few days. I confess that a couple of them involve fish. I ordered some craft punches that punch out different size circles. I'll use them to cut out circles from the sheets that I've painted to enhance pages or designs. (My enabler friend, MH, sent an email to a bunch of us saying that Domestika had nearly all of their classes on sale for $9.99. I might have signed up for a few of them.)

I drew a lot in my watercolor sketchbook and some practice designs in a drawing sketchbook first but I also drew a lesson out of the Draw Squad book. I realized today that I'm having less trouble making lines where and how I want them so I don't want to stop my daily drawing practice.

Tonight I knitted on the Black & White Sock while I watched TV. I need about another half inch before it's time to start the toe decreases then I'll have to find another knitting project.

Today's toss was a weird-ass vegetable peeler that Durwood bought that I could never make work. It slips over your middle finger and rests at the base of your fingers and you stroke it over the carrot or potato. It never worked for me. Then I found an old meat fork that belonged to my mother-in-law that I've never used and don't know why I've kept for thirty years. I should probably remove that whole drawer of gadgets and go through it. I bet I'll find all kinds of interesting things to toss.

I found a "lightened up" recipe for Pad Thai the other day on The Pound Dropper's website that has me drooling so when I went to the food store for my refilled Rx I got the ingredients that I need to make it, maybe tomorrow, on the weekend for sure. It makes 6 servings so I hope that it keeps well. Guess what I'll be eating for six straight nights.

--Barbara

One

I saw one bird today. One. And it hid in the shadow of the platform feeder but I took its picture anyway and I'm sharing it with you. I wish I knew what brings the birds and squirrels one day and not another but I can't figure it out. Sunny or gray? Cold or frigid? Windy or calm? There's no rhyme or reason to when they show up. The rabbits are the only reliable ones and even if I don't see them I see their droppings multiply.

Today was a kind of a blah day for me. I watched the watercolor videos again hoping for inspiration and I sketched out a possible fish picture for another day. It seems I can draw fish pretty well so that's something.

I turned to a couple blank pages in the watercolor sketchbook and painted some more scissors, not as successfully as the first time but not too bad. I tried adding a few little fish and birds but the one bird on top of the scissors ended up looking kind of like a ferret. But it's a bird--because I say so.

 

I added a couple inches to the Black & White Sock foot but it looks mostly the same so I didn't take its picture.

Today's toss was a couple books of diving stories. Those were easy to put in the box. Not so much sentiment attached to them.

--Barbara

Squirrel Antics

Today's wildlife show was all about the squirrels. No birds, just squirrels. Evidently the birds are on an every-other-day schedule. Or something. Anyway, this squirrel had just dropped from the cob corn with a kernel in its paws. Naturally I wasn't fast enough to catch it hanging from the cob holder all stretched out with its white belly showing so you get this squirrel-looking squirrel.

This squirrel wasn't having a good day. It was trying to shinny up the crook that holds the suet pellets but the Slinky has been pushed down the crook so there's a couple feet of un-Slinky-ed pole left to climb and it's evidently slick because the squirrel would slide back every time it tried to go forward. This is its "I give up" fall to the ground.

I ate the last of the Red Lentil Soup with carrots and red bell pepper today and was too lazy and too cold to go to the grocery for lunch food so I whipped up another batch of North African Red Lentil Soup with tomatoes and onions. Yum. I made it today so that it has overnight for the flavors to meld. This gives me another four or five days until I have to venture out for lunchmeat and chopped salad for the wraps I like when I don't have soup. Maybe I'll make more soup when this lentil soup is gone...

I played with paint again today. I'm to the point in the class when she's talking about filling in the blank pages in our watercolor sketchbooks and I have a lot of pages to fill. So I painted two sheets of paper to use to cut out shapes for pasting into the pages and I cut out my practice fish so that I could use those to link techniques and themes. (I'm learning. It's only taken me three times watching the "Connecting Ideas" and "End Pages" videos to get with the program.)

This is my first attempt to get things together. The blocks of green paint are practice diluting paint to make lighter colors and on the right page are the tests to see if the colors I mixed were right for the pictures I had selected later in the sketchbook. The pages before and after this one have painted circles and the ones after this page are the contrasting colors wet-in-wet like the fish. (See? Links!)

 

And I got to draw a fish in the 3-D book today. Woohoo! This is a crazy fanged fish, not a happy friendly fish like the ones I've painted but still a fish. (Are you sensing a theme today?)

 

Today's toss was more old travel guides. It takes a while to get these books in the box because I have to page through them and find the places we visited and the sites we dived.

--Barbara

Back To The Cold

The high temperature today was 18 degrees but it spent most of the day in the single digits and it was breezy. I tried not to go outside except to get the newspaper that the new carrier tosses into the driveway instead of on the porch. Grr.

Birds came today though. It was sunny, cold, and windy so, of course, the birds came to the feeders. The Sparrows came to the ground under the tube feeder except for this guy. He was elected to sit on the perch and toss seed down to those on the ground, er, snow.

Just as it was getting dark I saw a bird shape on the platform feeder so I inched open the patio door and took a picture. It was a Cardinal! I knew they sometimes came late in the day but I'd never seen them in the dark like that.

Then I had to take a picture of the bunny hopping around hoovering up the fallen birdseed and leaving behind drifts of rabbit raisins. Thank goodness for the "red eye" correcting function on the photo app because he looked like a Franken-rabbit with a glowing red eye.

I drew the next lesson in the Draw Squad book this afternoon. I keep thinking that I'll go back to the 30 Minute book or maybe the 30 Days book to find more grownup things to draw and yet every day I crack open this book or the 3-D one and just draw what's next.

 

 

 

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I got started on the foot of the Black & White Sock. I think I'm about halfway down the foot.

Today's toss was a few old travel guides. I'm never going to go back to Seattle or London or Palau, I don't think, so why am I keeping them.

I wrote a prompt about "transfer" this afternoon and ended up writing about my transfer from wife to widow. A writing friend's mom is teetering on the brink and another's mom passed last week so the talk at writing this afternoon was about that transition.  Not very cheerful but necessary to talk about.

--Barbara

Not One Stinking Bird

It was cloudy and warmer today (it got up to 28 but with a cold wind in the afternoon) and not one bird came to the feeders. That I saw. And I was watching. A few squirrels visited the peanuts and I watched one unbury a nut from the snow but that was all the wildlife I saw today.

I worked on a watercolor collage today. First I picked out a double page in my sketchbook and painted a sandy bottom and some blue water. Then while it was drying I traced and cut out fish shapes on the two sheets I painted yesterday and started planning.

After lunch I went to ALDI and bought ALL the fruit. I got Pink Lady apples, navel oranges, red grapes, blueberries, bananas, and baby guavas. And chocolate ice cream. Can't run out of that. I don't dig into the ice cream like I do other snacks. I portion it out so that I get a little every night instead of eating it all in one sitting, which I would like to do but would make me sick.

When I got home the paint was dry so it was time to get the glue stick and get to making my collage. The pages were slightly buckled and the pieces of the fish were bent too so I took a piece of tracing paper and a heavy book and weighted them down so they'd dry flat. I was even smart enough to check after a half hour or so and unstick the tracing paper so that I could remove it without removing the collage pieces. I think it turned out pretty okay. I probably should have painted some sponges or more coral before gluing the pieces but I didn't. Maybe another time.

 

I watched the clouds and managed a halfway decent shot of sundown. It's staying light longer in the afternoons and the sun it shifting position too. It comes in the windows in a different place these days. I love sitting in the sunshine in the afternoons. Indoors, that is.

After supper I knitted on the Black & White Sock and made the heel. Next I have to knit around and around to make the foot and then it's on to the toe.

Today's toss was a ceramic bowl filled with seashells. I tried to draw the seashells but had absolutely no luck so I put my drawing things away and pouted.

--Barbara

Lots of Birds & a Squirrel

Despite the below zero temperature this morning and, to be honest, most of the day, the birds flocked to the feeders today.  The one I was happiest about was a Red-bellied Woodpecker that visited the tube feeder and harassed the Sparrows that like to sit on the perches. It tolerated Sparrows on a couple of the perches but when a third bird tried to land on a perch the woodpecker would lunge at it and drive it away. The Downy Woodpecker came to the suet cakes too but was in deep shadow and didn't really show up in the picture.

I was equally happy to see the Nuthatch. It spent some time on the suet pellets and then moved down to the tube feeder where it posed nicely.

The Cardinal was the first arrival and spent quite a bit of time on the platform feeder. I guess it's a good thing I refilled all the feeders yesterday.

A squirrel noticed that the peanut wreath had nuts in it and spent a bit of time harvesting them one by one. It got good at shoving two nuts in its mouth to carry away and I watched it bury one in the snow. Not the best place to hide nuts.

I decided to play with paint today. I watched the next video and dug out a couple bigger loose sheets of paper. She demonstrated painting all over the paper with a few colors and then using different things to create effects, like sprinkling salt or dripping alcohol and sticking bubble wrap or cling film onto wet paint and letting it dry. The next step is to cut out shapes to make a collage or two in our sketchbooks. She drew frogs but I may do fish. I kind of like painting and drawing fish.

Speaking of frogs, that was the next drawing in the 3-D book, two frogs on a lily pad. It was fun to draw.

Today's toss was the last of the diapers, only 2 years after the last diaper wearer was around.

This evening my brother TW stopped over to drop off some canning jars that they no longer need. I was glad to see him to reassure myself that he really is okay or at least getting there.

--Barbara

So Cold

It is bitter cold today. I think the temperature might have topped out at 5 degrees today. That "warm" part of the day is when I went out to fill the feeders. I bundle up in boots, coat, hat, and gloves and still am shivering by the time I get back indoors in about 10 minutes. It was sunny today and that's what fools you into thinking that it must be warm but no, it isn't anything close to warm out there. I thought about going to the grocery for fruit but I have a little left and will wait for a couple days because it's supposed to get up into the 20s by Friday. (No birds, just filled feeders in the picture.)

The birds still visited even though it was frigid out there. The Downy Woodpecker has been making daily visits to the suet cakes and finally today she landed on the side facing the patio door so that I could take her picture. And the sun has moved enough so that the feeder was in the sunshine.

Not so much sun on the ground where the Sparrows were clustered feeding on the seeds that their compatriots had flung to the ground under the tube feeder but I was glad to see them anyway. They're so lively.

I've gained 10 lbs. since last summer and decided yesterday that gaining weight has to stop. So I'm focusing on not having un-WW-like snacks. Today I resurrected a recipe for apple "fries" with PB/yogurt dip. It's made with powdered peanut butter with the fat mostly removed and then I took out the honey and substituted an equal amount of Splenda to take out extra points so I can have this every day if I want to. Once I buy more apples, that is. I have a couple more but need to restock. The recipe says to cut the apple into "fries" shapes but I can't be bothered. Slices work for dipping.

Today's drawings started out with beginning of the "F" lesson in the 3-D book. That means I drew six different versions of the letter F. I won't bore you with that but then I dived into Lesson 19 in the Draw Squad book and enjoyed drawing a creature he calls Pigasus. I also drew a little platter of fruit while I was at it. Any deviation from what's shown in the books is progress.

Today's toss was a "Wreck This Journal" book. I had two copies of it and kept this one thinking that I'd get loose and daring enough to follow the directions in it. Nope.

--Barbara

Sparkly

We got a couple inches of light, fluffy snow overnight and when the sun came out it sparkled. I tried taking a picture to snow the sparkle but I don't think I managed. This is the mailman's path across the yard to the neighbor's house. I could have shoveled but I used the snowblower because I wanted to do the renters' driveway too. He shoveled mine yesterday so I wanted to return the favor and then too I could move the snow out of the street so the plow didn't make such a big drift when it came by.

This Sparrow had a lovely time on the platform feeder. I'm impressed that you can see a seed in its beak.

I drew the elephant a couple times again today. I'm getting there, and then I drew whatever the last E thing is. He called it an environmental something. I just copied the picture.

This morning I whipped up a batch of Red Lentil Soup. This recipe has carrots, a red bell pepper, and a bunch of spices in it, unlike the red lentil soup recipe I made last week which had tomatoes in it. Neither recipe calls for onion. Is it even soup without onion in it? I'll put some in next time.

In the afternoon I knuckled down and watched the end of Don't Look Up! on Netflix. The last hour was a bit better than the first hour and a half but I still don't recommend the movie. It was odd. Then I watched the first episode of Ozark. That might have possibilities. I knitted on the Black & White Sock while watching and added at least an inch to the leg.

Today's toss was a couple old fridge magnets that I realized have lost their meaning to me. Begone!

--Barbara

Sunday Birdies

The birds were active today. First I saw a pair of House Finches in the platform feeder. Then a Downy Woodpecker landed on the other side of the suet cakes feeder and all I saw was the end of its tail. I waited and waited hoping that it would decide to move to my side of the feeder but it didn't.

A pair of Chickadees landed on the crooks before swooping in for a couple seeds. I managed to capture one of them perched on a crook but the other one flew away on me.

This Sparrow flitted from the birdbath to the Adirondack chair and then to the honeysuckle where he finally sat long enough to have his picture taken.

I drew the Elephant again today. I'm determined to ingrain it in my memory and hand so that I can draw it when I want to, then I drew the Eagle which was easier than I thought it would be when I looked at what was next. I am so glad that I have one of those stick erasers because I do a lot of erasing when I'm drawing.

Today's toss was another plant book, this one a thick volume of annuals and perennials.

I didn't do the prompt today. Instead I portioned out pretzels and M&Ms into 2 point snack bags and listened to an audiobook.

We got an inch or so of fluffy snow overnight. I planned to shovel it but my neighbor did my driveway when he did his. He said he liked being out in the sunshine and was bundled up. Wasn't that nice of him?

This evening I went on Netflix and cued up the new movie, Don't Look Up, with Leonardo diCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence. I stuck with it for an hour and a half and finally had to turn it off. Not my kind of movie.

--Barbara

I Remembered

Every time I go to DS's taproom, Zambaldi Beer, to knit with friends I intend to take a picture of my knitting with my mug of beer and every time I forget. Except today! Today I remembered to lay my knitting down on the table and take a picture of it with my half mug of hazy IPA. Just so you don't think that DS isn't a good brewer, it's supposed to be cloudy not clear. It's the style. I like it because it has a strong grapefruit aroma and taste.

I finished the Sunset Doublethick Washcloth at the taproom. I knitted until I thought I had just enough yarn to bind off. I wasn't too far off, I had about a yard left.

Then I picked up the Black & White sock to work on that. I'm on the leg which is seven inches of knit, knit, knit, around and around until I get to the heel flap, heel turn, and gusset before another seven inches of just plain knitting for the foot. I'm in no hurry.

After knitting I pulled out the 3-D drawing book and drew the next few figures in the E lesson. I don't know what the flying thing with arms is but then there's the Elf Ear and the Emotional Eye. Kind of creepy.

This morning I spied a House Finch all fluffed up and huddled against the tube feeder. Every once in a while he would turn and peck at the seed but mostly he just sat there fluffed against the cold. I don't blame him one bit.

Today's toss was a teddy I found in my drawer that I will never wear again.

For the prompt I wrote about the sky. Okay, I confess that I wrote this yesterday but I like what I wrote an awful lot so I'm claiming it.

--Barbara