A Good Day

Due to circumstances beyond everyone's control I didn't get to spend time with my family today but DD called this morning and we had a lovely long chat. I got to see three fourths of DS's family for a while yesterday but they had unavoidable commitments today. It's a good thing that I don't have to celebrate on THE day. We can have Mother's Day another day when everyone is well and not working. But I had an enjoyable day despite being by myself.

I managed to capture a picture of a Chickadee at the birdbath. They don't usually hold still long enough for me to grab the camera and get it up and running but today I managed.

I saw a glimmer of yellow up by the retaining wall and there were the first dandelions of Spring. I read an interesting article about dandelions a couple weeks ago. Seems that they add nutrients to the soil so if you have a lot of them your soil is poor. I have a lot of dandelions most years, I guess that's what comes from living on an old landfill.

Yesterday I drew a pattern for a Zoom Squirrel for OJ and today I cut it out and sewed it together. It's quite a bit bigger than the Knuffle Bunny I made last week but I have a lot more tan fleece so I could make it bigger. I found the Bunny already tucked in OJ's bed so I guess he likes it. Hope he likes Zoom Squirrel too.

I did a lot of drawing today. The next figure in Lesson K of the 3-D book was Kayak Kid. It was a quick and easy draw.

Then I drew two pages in my gratitude journal sketchbook. One is of things I saw in the backyard today...

and the other is of Spring flowers I picked from the yard. I rewatched the videos of the Illustrated Life Journal class I took on Domestika online and got inspired to fill more pages with things, not just the gratitude pages, which I have fallen down on lately.

I was happy to catch sight of a Robin having a bath. I love watching them bathe because they enjoy it so much. When they're finished the patio under the birdbath is soaked and I have to go out and refill the thing but it's worth it to see their pleasure and enthusiasm.

Instead of tossing anything today I stopped at Goodwill and dropped off the tosses I had been collecting, then I drove to Michaels and treated myself to a handful of new brush pens in colors that I didn't have. I had a $5 voucher that was burning a hole in my pocket.

It was partly sunny today and warm-ish, mostly cloudy until just before sundown. When I closed the shade at 9 o'clock I was surprised to see there was still light in the sky in the west. It's supposed to get up to near 80 degrees by Wednesday. Yikes! What a change.

Have you seen a replay of the Kentucky Derby yesterday? I wish I'd had a little wager on the winner because it was the long shot and paid out 80-1. Imagine if you'd bet $10, you'd have raked in $800 bucks. The video I saw was taken from above and you can see Rich Strike moving up fast from back in the pack, through and around other horses, to catch the front runners just at the winning post. Amazing!

--Barbara