Sprouts

Things are sprouting in the backyard and alongside the house. It's very hopeful to see the little green shoots getting taller and the leaves poking out of the stubble of last year's plants. Here are the day lilies that live behind the house. They're in a place that never gets sun, there's a privacy fence between them and the sun for most of the year, and yet they sprout up every year happy to be out in the fresh air after a winter under the soil.

These are poppies alongside the house which faces west so they get late day sun. They got snowed upon on Monday but they're bursting forth with their spring green-ness just the same.

And one of the Turkeys came back this morning. Seeing three Turkeys and how big they are made me look at the Robins with new eyes. In the past I've though that Robins were big birds, now they look so small to me.

Mourning Doves look small too except when one of them manages to cram itself into the platform feeder to peck at the safflower seeds. I'm always amazed that they don't knock themselves silly trying to get their big selves into that small opening.

I had fun with today's drawing. She showed using old letters and old book pages as collage materials but I didn't have any of that stuff. What I had was a bowl full of construction paper triangles and watercolor paper circles so I got out my glue stick and got to work. It's quite a bit more colorful than the example but I like it. I like the fantasy flowers drawing on top of the collage too.

I'm not nearly as pleased with today's painting of a series of fruits in bags, boxes, and bowls. I liked the fruit when I was painting it but I'm not a fan of the bag/box/bowl overlays.

I spent a little time rereading the manuscript today. I'm still finding places where the POV didn't change and other places that Rose can't have witnessed or heard so it needs to be changed or eliminated. I took a walk around the block. My legs did okay, my breathing not so good. Man, I'm out of shape. And it's supposed to rain for the next 2 days so I'll have to wait for clear weather to walk again. I've always been a sedentary person but I think I've crossed over into extremely sedentary. Not good. And the leftover deli cheese slices are tempting me to snack on them. They're very loud and insistent.

--Barbara