So Tired

I'm so tired of the chilly, dreary, wet weather. I'm sure everybody is. It's May. I'm not supposed to have to wear a long-sleeved t-shirt and a hoodie all day and then put a fleece vest on top of it to go to the store. I toughed it out and didn't put on mitts but my hands froze on the steering wheel. I hope it warms up soon or at least the sun shines. The sun came out for a few minutes this afternoon and it was like the angels sang, but then the clouds crowded back in and we were back to drear.

In spite of the crap weather things are growing in the backyard. I ducked out when it was only drizzling today to take a few pictures. First is the forsythia. I was afraid that the trim it got last Fall would mean it wouldn't burst out in flowers but it's blooming. It's so cheerful with its little yellow flowers on such a cruddy day.

The rhubarb is going great guns too. It won't be long before the leaves are the size of small umbrellas and the stalks are long and pink. Then it will be time to whip up some rhubarb sauce. Maybe I can put it on some plain Greek yogurt...

Also I noticed that the Bleeding Hearts are sprouting. They're up about two or three inches and soon they'll be two feet tall and sprawled all over themselves. 

The next figure in the 15-Minute Artist book was this daisy. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be and those petals aren't light enough. Too much shading and the blending stump transferred color to them. The directions said to use a white pencil to add highlights but I found that the opposite happened. Maybe my white colored pencil is defective.

Then I turned to the next item in the 10-Step: Nature book which was olives. I like drawing the plants in this book and I love coloring them in.

Today's toss was a couple cookbooks, mostly Caribbean cookbooks. I haven't cracked them open in years. Why am I keeping them?

I'm beginning to get nervous about the watercolor class, a slight case of cold feet, so I went online and finished paying for it so I can't back out. What if I'm the only rank beginner in the class? Like I used to tell my kids, I'm worrying too early. Wasting energy worrying too far ahead of the event. I'll wait for a couple weeks and then start worrying. I come from a long line of worriers.

--Barbara