It Was Snowing When I Got Up

and it was snowing lightly when I came in here to blog. It snowed, light snow, off and on all day. I am so over this random spring/winter thing. Yesterday it rained then turned to snow overnight. I stayed inside thinking that there might be ice under the snow. In eleven days I'm going up to The Clearing with writing friends for a few days and I'd really like it to not rain or snow for those days. Pleeeeeeze!

This squirrel posed nicely on the suet pellets for me this morning. It spent quite a few minutes up there just nibbling away. I wonder how it gets anything through the fairly small mesh of the feeder but it must get enough to make hanging there worthwhile.

Then the Robins came. There were a couple of them fluttering around on the crooks and on the snowy ground.

Today's drawing lesson in the 30 Days book was contour tubes which isn't very interesting to look at. They aren't bad to draw just not much to look at. They don't make much of a picture. Not artsy.

So I pulled out the Drawing Cute book and drew the next two figures, a couple dogs. I think the pug looks kind of like a pig but coloring it brown helped.

I went out on a limb with today's watercolor. It's a picture looking out the big window of the Lodge at The Clearing when it was bright outside and dim inside. Can you say silhouette? I think it turned out okay. Sorta.

Yesterday I was very impressed that one of the roofers I called said he'd stop by this afternoon to check my roof. He didn't show. So I called and left a message for a call back. I lay awake half the night listening to the drip. I'm glad that it's not raining although I'd prefer that it was not snowing too.

Man, I want to go out into the kitchen and grab something crunchy but it's after nine o'clock which is too late to eat anything.

--Barbara

It I Was Faster

Or the birds were slower I'd have some lovely shots to share with you. The Red-bellied Woodpecker made a lightning visit to the platform feeder, the Cardinal spent a few seconds on the ground, and the Nuthatch made a snatch-and-grab at the tube feeder. *sigh* I didn't even take a picture of the ice pellets that covered the ground and pavement this morning. It melted slowly through the day and then it started drizzling. The bad news is that I think I have a roof leak. The last few times it has rained I hear a drip in the bathroom but all of the faucets are dry. I called a couple roofers today; one answered the phone and will stop over tomorrow afternoon. *double sigh* It's always something.

That just leaves art to share. Today's picture in the 15-Minute Artist book was a little frog. He turned out okay. I didn't get the angle of the head quite right but, still, it looks like a frog.

In watercolor news, I noticed yesterday that some bunny has eaten down all of my crocuses so I went into my photo files and found a picture of the crocuses when no bunny ate them. I'm very happy with the results.

The daily art page asked what is hiding in the reeds printed on the page. I thought and I thought and finally drew four tiny ladybugs climbing on the reeds. At first I planned to draw a snake but ladybugs are friendlier and I liked the idea that they're little and easy to miss.

 

And the biggest thing to be grateful for today was that I found gas for $3.91 a gallon. Woohoo! I wasn't the only one swinging into the gas station when those numbers dropped today.

I didn't find anything to toss today. I seem to have fallen out of the habit and I need to get back into it.

That Sweet Potato Cauliflower soup I made yesterday isn't going to last long. I've eaten it for supper the last two nights. It's really good. These crummy, drizzly days are real soup days.

--Barbara

Up Too Early

I had my alarm set for 6:30am which is waaaaaay too early to be getting up for this retired old lady. I had to get up early because the humidifier installers were coming at 7:30am and I needed to have both eyes open and be dressed when they arrived. The only good part about getting up that early is that I saw the pretty pink sunrise.

There were lots of Mourning Doves hanging around the feeders and on the ground today. One new thing is a couple of them managed to squeeze themselves onto the platform feeder. I don't know how they manage to get in there. Their wings have to hit the posts on either side of the opening and it's a wonder they don't bang their heads. At one point there were two of them in there leaving barely enough room for them to peck at the seeds.

The drawing page I turned to in the 3-D book was the beginning of the "I" figures which means that I draw five different letter "I"s. Not very interesting. I nearly convinced myself to skip them but then my conscience got the best of me and I caved. Hopefully tomorrow's figure is more interesting than a bunch of "I"s.

The daily drawing page said to draw the shoes I wore today so I took off my shoes, plopped them on the table on a sheet of paper, and drew my ducks. I used the wax pastels to color them in.

I made a slow cooker full of WW Sweet Potato Cauliflower Soup today. It smelled really good while it was cooking. It has a chipotle pepper and some adobo sauce in it so it has a bit of a kick, not too much, just right. Once the veggies are all cooked you use a stick blender to cream it all then add fat-free half-and-half and some whipped cream cheese so it's creamy and delicious. And only 3 WW points per cup. Guess what I had for supper. Sorry that the cup is half empty but I was so into eating it I almost forgot to take its picture. You can load it up with crumbled bacon or shredded cheese or French fried onions or pepitas but those add points. I chose the zero points option of chopped scallions. Mm, good.

The watercolor today is a stretch of ocean floor with one little black and white Banded Butterflyfish almost swimming out of the frame. I don't know why this picture interests me so much but I wish I was in it right now.

After the furnace guys left around noon I zipped down to Zambaldi to visit with DS for a while.Today was a brew day and he was cleaning up so there was a lot of water getting sprayed around. Then he had to go into the taproom to get ready to open so I left him to his work.

Today's toss was a box of my mother-in-law's old sewing thread. It seems wrong to toss out what looks like perfectly good thread but I learned to my dismay a while back that it's weakened to the point that it continually breaks if you try to sew with it. Not worth the hassle. Not worth the house room. I did unreel a few wooden spools to keep for nostalgia and possible crafting.

My two best writing friends and one of my sisters-in-law called today which really cheered me up. I'm looking forward to spending a few days writing with friends in April.

--Barbara

Bird! Squirrel!

I saw wildlife today! This Robin visited the nearly-frozen-solid birdbath for a drink. It landed on the ice and shuffled around to the open water. There were a couple other Robins around in the yard too but this was the only one that did anything worthy of a photo.

The squirrel spent quite a bit of time dangling from its back feet on the suet pellets nibbling away at the bottom of the feeder. Don't you think the blood would rush to its head when it hangs there so long? Gives me a headache watching it.

Lesson 14 in the 30 Days book was to draw a lily, well, a bouquet of lilies. It's a pretty easy flower to draw and I like the shape of the leaves.

The daily drawing page was to fill in the color wheel. Since I seem to be on a colored pencil jag I sorted through all three sets I have to find the right colors to use. I tried coloring the green space with both blue and yellow pencils but it wasn't green enough so I dug out a green pencil and went over it. Blue-violet was the hardest pencil to find. That one I did color in with a shade of blue and then went over it with violet until I was happy with the color of it.

Today's watercolor is from an old photo of one of the poppies that grows in my garden in the early summer. Or maybe it's a poppy from the patch in front of Mertha's Cabin up at The Clearing. I don't remember which one but it's a poppy for sure.

After two days of no gratitude journal page I managed to get one made for today. I've been kind of in a bit of a funk the last few days so it was hard to muster up gratitude for anything.

When I had my friends over to knit last Thursday, KE brought me a bouquet. I've been staring at it thinking that I should draw it since then and today I give it a shot. I'm kind of happy with the way it turned out. Mostly I draw things from a step-by-step drawing book of one kind or another, this is one of the first times that I just sat, looked at something, and drew it.

Instead of finding something to toss today I took the tosses from the last few weeks to Goodwill on my way to the grocery this morning. It was sunny but cold today; it's supposed to get a little warmer over the next few days but be rainy and windy. Yuk. I bought ingredients to make Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Soup in the slow cooker. It's a WW recipe so I have high hopes for it's deliciousness. I'll make it tomorrow and let you know.

The humidifier installer is supposed to come tomorrow at 7:30AM. Ugh. That means that I have to set my alarm for 6:30AM, get up, and get myself dressed before he comes. I've gotten into the habit of lolling around in bed until 8 o'clock and then not managing to get dressed before 10. Tomorrow will be a struggle.

--Barbara

Not Even A Bird

All I have to show you today is art. It was such a chilly, windy day that I didn't see any noteworthy birds at the feeders and even the squirrels stayed on the ground poking around for fallen nuts.

I had a small assistant for most of the day and we spent a happy hour drawing Peepers. I just made a sheet of Peeper animals and Peeper people, OJ drew them a world. I wish I was as imaginative as a 5 year old.

The other thing I drew today was this flamingo. It turned out okay.

 

 

Today's daily art page said to fill the page with leaves. I didn't fill the page with leaves but I spread some around on the page. And added a small pterodactyl at someone's suggestion.

The watercolor for today is a pitcher plant that I found on a walk in the woods one year. I don't remember where.

We played soccer and football and baseball in his backyard and I nearly froze my fingers off but I managed to run around a little and keep a small boy happy for a while.

--Barbara

Not Much To Do

I didn't have anything much to do today except run to the store for milk so I spent the day making art. A lot of time was spent drawing. First I spent time filling a page with Peeper animals just to amuse myself, then I opened the Drawing Cute book I got the other day, drew a duckie and a horsie, and colored them. They're so cute that they deserve cutesy names.

The daily art page said to draw the statue that the people printed on the page are looking at. I thought about it a long time, decided against a long-dead general on a rearing horse, and drew an owl hoping to like what I drew better than yesterday's owl. I used pencil and colored pencil, not charcoal, so I had better luck with erasing things.

The last figure in the H lesson of the 3-D book was Huge Hug. It's a person hugging Planet Earth. I was intimidated by the thought of drawing in the distorted continents but they turned out okay.

Another of the drawing books I bought this week was 10 Step Drawing Nature so I turned to the next page in my sketchbook and gave it a go. I can tell this book is by a British artist/author because this bird is called a Blue Tit and I am confident that this is not an American bird. (I just Googled it and it's Eurasian. It's very pretty, too bad it doesn't live over here.)

Then after watching an episode (or two) of the new season of Bridgerton on Netflix, I painted today's watercolor, number 13. It's another sunset over water, this time from the Lodge at The Clearing in Ellison Bay, Door Co., WI. I concentrated and managed to keep the horizon line straight this time. Whew.

After a long day of art-ing I added a couple rounds to the Ashes Cast Sock that I started last night while watching a couple episodes of All Creatures Great & Small on PBS Passport. That show sure has beautiful scenery.

 

In today's bird news, we woke up to a dusting of snow on the grass but the sun shone for just a few minutes. Luckily the Cardinal male was on the feeder when the sun came out and posed in the sunlight. Look how bright he is!

 

In the afternoon this Downy Woodpecker showed up. He had his back turned so that I could see the red swoosh across the back of his head and you can see that the snow gradually melted except in the really sheltered spots.

I didn't find anything to toss today. I seem to be in a tossing slump. Don't worry, I'll get back to it in a day or two.

--Barbara

Just Eating a Peanut

I glanced down at the patio step this afternoon and there was a chipmunk sitting up on its haunches eating a peanut and really enjoying it. This is the only wildlife that I got a picture of today. No noteworthy birds showed up to the feeders, not even after I filled them late in the day.

In the morning it was sunny so I took a quick walk around the block and then I did a little editing of the beginning of last November's NaNoWriMo manuscript to figure out what I'll take along to The Clearing next month when I go up for a few days of writing retreat with a bunch of friends. Hopefully when I reread this in a week or so it'll still be what I want to take to be critiqued.

On Wednesday I found a book called 365 Days of Drawing in Barnes & Noble and brought it home. Today was the third day and I had a blank page to draw trees. I used the watercolor pencils, mostly because I like the range of greens and browns, and I'm pretty pleased with the results.

In The 15-Minute Artist the next figure was the Wise Owl and she said to draw and shade it with charcoal. That was the first time I used charcoal and I'm not much of a fan. You can't erase charcoal. The owl turned out okay.

I used a photo I took when I visited DD in England during her study abroad. It's an old brick archway on her university campus. I like the way it turned out too so today was a fairly satisfying art day.

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished the Ashes Charisma Hat (Charisma is the name of the yarn; Ashes is the colorway.) I knew that I'd finish it so I made sure to have the right size needles on hand to swing right into knitting a cast sock with the remaining yarn.

I didn't toss anything today. I did call the heating company to ask about the other humidifier and when it might be installed. Tuesday, she said, and she didn't say anything about yesterday's snafu.

And it's snowing.

--Barbara

Spring Signs

That little micro-climate in the front yard is sprouting green. Those few warm sunny days we had really pushed the daffodils and hyacinths up out of the ground.

And there were two Robins cavorting in the backyard this morning. Naturally by the time I got the camera up and ready there was only one of them left but the picture turned out clear so I'm happy.

The second daily art was a page of diamonds that said to color them in and it suggested that you might make a rainbow. I didn't want to make a rainbow, I wanted to us every one of my colored pencils, one pencil per diamond, to color the page so that's what I did.

Lesson 13 in the 30 Days book was Advanced-Level Houses so he led us through drawing this L-shaped house with trees and a mailbox. It gets easier to draw things every day which makes me feel good and kind of surprised because I always thought that I couldn't draw but I'm learning.

The watercolor today is a Dwarf Lake Iris nestled in the leaf litter up at The Clearing when I was there one spring. Today I took a pen and sketched out the shapes of the flower and leaves and then painted. I think it worked out.

Tonight three friends came over to knit and one brought me this bouquet. I made roasted red-pepper hummus and put out a round of Camembert. They brought fruit, nuts, and glasses of yummy, dreamy, chocolate mousse with Bailey's stirred in. Oh, and there was Zambaldi Beer. A fine time was had by all.

I knitted on the Ashes Charisma Hat all evening and think that I might be at the point of the crown decreases. I'll have to dig out the other hat that I made with this pattern to check if it's time to start decreasing or if I should knit on even for an inch or so.

I didn't toss anything today. Instead I cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, mopped the floors, and dusted so that my first guests in 2 years didn't think that I was as slovenly as I usually am.

Oh, and the humidifier installation was a disappointment. When I called the company I asked to have a salesman come to visit but she noticed that the tech had told me about them when he was here in December so she said we could just order over the phone. Turns out that was a mistake. The model humidifier that he brought wouldn't fit on my furnace so he had to patch the hole he had already cut in the furnace, take the unit back, and order a different kind. They will have to reconfigure some of the ducts so that they can install it. The only bright spot in this whole thing is that the charge will remain the same. I spent the rest of the day marginally peeved but at least I haven't paid anything yet so that's good. Hopefully they will get the correct humidifier in quickly and get it installed in good time. Fingers crossed.

--Barbara

One More Cook

I thawed out the extra ground turkey and made a half batch of BBQ-Glazed Mini Meatloaves. Man, they're good. I kept one out of the freezer to have for supper so now I have 52 suppers in the freezer. Woohoo!

It rained or misted all day. Blah. I went to the School House to look for Easter basket prezzies for LC and OJ (I had coupons), then went to Hobby Lobby and Barnes & Noble looking for drawing books. I found some in HL, two on sale, and picked up a tube of black watercolor paint. Found another drawing book in B&N. Kind of spent my allowance for a good long while.

 

One of the books is entitled "Drawing Cute" so I tried my hand at a couple of the first figures. They're colored too so I got to dig out my colored pencils and play with them.

The next figure in the H lesson of the 3-D book was Huge Hand. What a silly thing but it was surprisingly easy to draw. I added a few Peepers too.

 

I painted more water and sky today but this time the water is one of the pink salt pans in Bonaire. As the water evaporates and the salt concentrates tiny shrimp live in it and it's what makes flamingos pink. I'm especially happy with the clouds.

 

A Downy Woodpecker landed on the feeder this afternoon and I managed to get a picture. It stayed for longer than I thought it would but I was glad it was on the tube feeder and wasn't hiding from me.

 

The Red-Bellied Woodpecker visited the feeder twice today too but I didn't get a picture so I added it to my gratitude page. I was grateful that it was raining instead of snowing.

 

Today's toss was a baggie of tiny seashells. I think that I had them to make some sort of wire bracelets, maybe from a kit, that never got made so out they go.

Tomorrow morning the installer is coming to put the humidifier on my furnace--now that it's been rainy and damp so the humidifier isn't running so much and emptying itself so fast. Oh well, I've been meaning to do this for at least a year so it'll be good to get it done. Tomorrow evening I have friends coming over to knit, the first gathering I've had in 2 years. I've been dithering around for days trying to remember how to entertain. I made a batch of roasted red pepper hummus this afternoon and I bought a small wheel of Camembert to serve, and I'll go to Zambaldi for beer. They'll all bring something so we'll have too much food and drink. It'll all work out. No need to be nervous.

--Barbara