Another Pass Completed

I spent a lot of the late afternoon and early evening finishing the latest pass through the manuscript of The Seaview: Open for Business adding a few phrases here and there and I'm happy with what I've got so far. The next rereading I will be looking for places to add sensory detail--smells, tastes, sounds--that will put the reader even deeper into the scenes. With all the cooking I have in there it should be easy to find places to add that stuff.

I just happened to look out at the right moment and saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker on the suet pellets feeder. It stayed long enough for me to snap a few shots and this one was the best. One of these days the bird will cling to the front of the feeder and I'll be able to get a picture of its back and head instead of a side view and a slightly blurry one at that.

Instead of taking a shower and getting dressed this morning I went downstairs and made a couple batches of lotion. I've had it in mind to buy lotion because I'm not thrilled with the lotion and cream that I have right now but then it occurred to me that I can make lotion, that I have the ingredients on hand, and I have the containers for it so why buy when I can make. Right? I discovered that I have a bag of 16 oz. bottles so I can put almost all of a double batch of lotion in one bottle. One batch I made smell like grapefruit and the other one smells like clementine. Mm, citrus fragrances are my favorite. I combined the little leftovers of the two batches into one 8 oz. bottle which will smell like grapefruit and clementine mixed.

Once the lotion was cooked and cooling I sat down and pulled out Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers and drew this pitcher plant. I think it turned out pretty well. I used my newest colored pencils which are softer and therefore make darker, more vivid colors. I like 'em.

Then it was time to paint. I turned to the next exercise in Free-Spirited Watercolor and did my best to replicate the leaves in the examples in the book. I still don't have much control over the way the dagger brush makes marks on the paper but I think I'm getting better at it. I'll keep trying.

It wasn't until after lunch that I finally got around to showering and while I was in the shower it was raining so hard that I heard it over the sounds of the shower. That loud rain made an easy entry into my Gratitude Journal page along with the lotion making, painting, and my shower. I thought about drawing myself in the shower but decided that was something that no one needs to see. Besides I'm not very good at drawing people.

Man, it's windy. It's been windy all day, but it did get up to 57. I didn't go out, though, there were too many fun things to do in the house and I didn't need to go anywhere. And I had to finish listening to my audiobook. I got caught up in the story and had to finish it. I did not expect the ending.

--Barbara