More Sprouts!

I went out this morning to fill the birdfeeders and was thrilled to see the little green spears of Lily of the Valley poking up in the flower bed next to the patio. They're a little hard to see in the leaf litter but it's been so cold nights that I've hesitated to uncover them. Lilies of the Valley remind me of my Grandpa and Grandma Stephan's front yard where a fir tree had a gap in it and the gap was filled with Lilies of the Valley. They smelled so sweet, almost too sweet, but I loved them.

After I filled the seed feeders, the suet pellets feeder, and the corn cob feeders, I went downstairs and brought up the Hummingbird feeder. I made birdie juice first thing so it'd be cool enough to pour into the feeder. I saw on FB last week that Hummingbirds have been sighted in the area so it's time to put the feeder out. It has been so chilly that I worry about those little birds but if they've been sighted I put mine out. To make room for it I moved the Finch feeder to the hooks up on the retaining wall and filled a second Finch feeder to hang alongside. Maybe lots of Finches will find them. I hope so.

The Daily Practice today was bugs. Bugs! Aren't they cool looking? This week she says we're painting bugs, birds, and butterflies. Should be interesting.

I remembered to do the Gratitude Journal for today and I even went back and did one for yesterday because I felt guilty about not doing it. The big thing today was the sun came out in the afternoon. I'm a big fan of sunshine.

When I was out filling feeders I walked around picking up the litter than blew into the yard the other day and noticed that the lilacs are a little more bloomed so I couldn't resist taking their picture. I pulled one of them to my nose and they smell great. Maybe the Hummingbirds will visit them, they are tubular after all.

Once I got the birdie juice made and cooling I went downstairs to sort and start the laundry. I only had three loads--darks, lights, and towels & undies--so it didn't take long.

I've been reading the FB posts of the latest Amazon Ad Challenge which ended yesterday and thought I should probably make a few new ads. So that's what I did while the laundry sloshed around. I made eight basic ads that will hopefully start producing impressions, clicks, and sales.

Saving the best for last, I spent the afternoon reading through The Seaview: Open for Business to find a place to slot in the conflict scene I wrote the other night. I found the perfect spot, copied and pasted it in, and added more to it. I had to change a few words before the scene but I think it's going to work where I put it. The only way to know is to start reading from the beginning and see how it goes.

If anyone reading this would be interested in a Promo copy of the audio version of either Horizon or Better Than Mom's in exchange for a review, please let me know. Comment on FB or shoot me an email or send a note on Messenger and I'll be happy to oblige. I even have URLs that you can use if you sign up for a free trial of Audible so, please, let me know.

--Barbara

Foggy Morning

I lay in bed and couldn't figure out the odd light seeping in around the shades. Then I opened the shades and it was foggy out there. Not dense fog but enough to make driving interesting. I'm glad I don't have to get up and go anywhere very often. I wonder what makes fog.

 

Look at what I found! It's five tulip buds in the front of the house. Five. I have high hopes that they'll survive to bloom. Fingers crossed.

 

Today's Daily Practice is supposed to be a wild garden. I tried to emulate her strokes and colors but I don't have the variety of greens she has and don't know how she manages to paint over things without having them bleed together. The next Daily Practice is abstract art using "leftover" gouache paint. I don't have any leftover gouache, I cleaned my palette when I was finished painting the daisies the other day and I don't really understand abstract art. I'm skipping that one.

 

I found this recipe for Egg Roll in a Bowl on the WW website the other day and printed it off. Then when I was at the grocery yesterday I bought the ingredients to make it. I only needed ground pork, scallions, and a bag of coleslaw mix. I had all the rest. The recipe says to scoop a serving of the hot meat and sauce into a bowl and then pile on 1 1/2 cups of the coleslaw mix. That's too much. What you see in the picture is one cup of slaw mix. It was just right. Oh, and the store only had 1 1/2 lb. packages of ground pork so I made a batch and a half because I didn't know what I'd do with a frozen half-pound of pork. While I was browning the pork in the skillet there must have been something greasy in the drip pan because it caught on fire. I can't imagine what it was because I barely cook but there it was burning merrily away. I thought it went out soon enough but still the smoke alarm went off. At least I know it works.

 

This morning I called ACX to find out how to send Promo Codes to people who've agreed to listen to my audiobooks and leave reviews in exchange for a freebie. I was connected to the nicest Customer Service rep who talked me through step by step and even sent me an email with the steps so I could print it out. There's also something called Bounty URLs that are for sending to people who aren't on Audible. They can sign up for a free trial month and if they stay on Audible I make a little money. I'm wracking my brain trying to think of who I can send those to.

 In the afternoon I sat here and wrote the May 1 writing progress email that I send out to my email list every month. I have no idea how many of the 28 people signed up actually read my emails but I keep sending them nevertheless. I'm stubborn like that.

--Barbara

Just Enough Rain To Be Annoying

But not a downpour. It started spitting rain about 11:15am and waxed and waned the rest of the day. It'd rain for a while, then slack off, then rain again. It was annoying. I went to the grocery for lunch food and a few other items and it was raining both when I went in and when I came out. I have timing like that. You can see the raindrop rings in the birdbath but just a few. That's the way the day went.

Today's Daily Practice was to paint a succulent. She had it in front of her but again she hadn't included a pdf of it in the packet of pictures so I nabbed the fake succulent out of the bathroom and painted that. I'm happier with it now than I was when I painted it.

Then there's the Gratitude Journal for today. I had a lot to be grateful for starting with it raining and not snowing because the temperatures this week have been all over the thermometer. Down below freezing overnight a couple nights and then up to 80 yesterday so we could still have snow. The latest I remember shoveling snow was May 2 back when we still lived on Liberty Street. Naturally Durwood was out of town so guess who had to shovel. Little old me.

I made up my mind tonight to bring up a blank page and just start typing to see if I couldn't rustle up a confrontation scene. And I did! It isn't a knock down, drag out fight but it's the island woman accusing Rose of stealing HER man and setting up a business on HER island. It's two pages and I'll probably go back and write more in the middle because I didn't give Rose much to say to defend herself. At least I got something. Now to figure out where to slot it into the manuscript. This authoring gig is hard. I also need to go back to using my laptop stand so I don't sit all day when I'm writing. My knees don't like it when I sit for so long.

The middle of my day was the best part of my day. Last Saturday was OJ's 8th birthday and today was his birthday shop. He had thought about where he wanted to go and what he wanted to buy when we got there so it was a very efficient shop. The first store he wanted to go to was Barnes & Noble where he found two Dog Man books that he didn't have in his collection and a replica of Ron's wand from the Harry Potter books. They're reading the HP books as bedtime stories a chapter a night as a family. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? We went to McDonalds for lunch. After lunch we went to the School House where he had a blast picking out little things like small plastic animal and insect figures, a little Lego Star Wars X-wing Fighter kit, and some squishy things shaped like cats. He's an excellent conversationalist. I love the one-on-one times I get with them.

--Barbara

Tulips The Bunnies Haven't Eaten

Yet. I glanced out the kitchen window and saw that red tulips are blooming up on top of the retaining wall. I'm astonished that the rabbits haven't eaten them. I probably shouldn't say this out loud. They'll hear me. Watch, they'll all be gnawed down in the morning.

I saw this flash of red when I was eating breakfast and there was a Cardinal on the platform feeder. He stuck around for long enough to have a few shots taken so that I could pick the best one and then flew away.

Today's Daily Practice watercolor is a bouquet of flowers. It was a challenging picture to paint because we didn't have a pdf to look at and the camera didn't spend a lot of time on the bouquet. Naturally they spent a lot of time on her painting but it was kind of frustrating not to have a picture to look at and sort of copy. I think it's okay.

I was drawn back here to the laptop this morning to finish going through LL's comments on The Seaview: Open for Business. I took a break for lunch and got done in the early afternoon. I added about four pages of improvements over the last few days--a little here, little there. It adds up. One thing that I haven't added yet is a confrontation between Rose and an island woman who had designs on Iggy and now is spreading rumors about Rose. I'm not good with confrontation and I don't know where in the story to put it. But I'll figure it out.

Once I was done writing I went out with a paring knife and 4-cup measuring cup and cut rhubarb stalks to make a pan of rhubarb sauce. I used Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener instead of sugar so it doesn't "cost" any points and I can have it spooned over plain Greek yogurt which also is a zero points food. It isn't the most attractive thing I've ever made but it sure tastes good.

We had crazy weather today. It was sunny, very windy, and got up to 79 degrees. Seventy-nine! It's supposed to rain all day tomorrow and get up to 50 degrees. It's a wonder we don't all have colds with the crazy yo-yo-ing weather we've been having. You'd better bet I put the sunshine and heat on the Gratitude Journal page, along with the rhubarb sauce and my painting.

I'm so excited about the way my manuscript is going. I feel like every pass through takes it up a notch. One of these days it'll be ready. I can't wait.

--Barbara

Working Hard

I spent almost all of today working on the manuscript of the sequel to The Seaview. I tried taking a picture of a Cardinal but it flew away. I filled the birdfeeders but I didn't see any birds, probably because I was sitting at my laptop focused on reading LL's comments and incorporating them. So this was my view for most of the day.

I did take a short break to paint. This is not watercolor. It's a thicker, opaque paint called gouache. It's water soluble but not as translucent as watercolor. It reminds me of acrylic only thicker.

Usually I have lots to report but not today. I didn't draw. I didn't do a Gratitude Journal page and I didn't do anything in the yard. I just worked on writing, talked about writing to a whole bunch of people, and took a shower. I did that first.

So that's it. That's all she wrote. Th-th-th-that's all folks!

--Barbara

Still Grateful

I went out into the backyard this afternoon to pick up the litter that blew into the yard the other day when it was so windy. I walked around picking up trash and putting it into my bag. Then I walked around more picking up fallen twigs and branches and carrying them down to the curb. As I walked back up the hill to come in the patio door I realized that I was walking and breathing and not having to stop every few feet to catch my breath. I know it's been three months since I was in the hospital and got 4 units of red blood cells but I'm still grateful every day that I'm well.

While I was trash picking I had to get really close to the lilac bush to get a piece and noticed that one little sprig of lilacs has started to open. It's not the festival of blooms and fragrance that it will be when it all gets going but it's a start.

The rhubarb is going great guns. The leaves are big and vigorous and I can see that I need to dig out my rhubarb sauce recipe and make some to put over plain Greek yogurt. It's so good.

Today's daily practice painting was this leafy branch that looks like a protea. I felt confident painting it and like the way it turned out. I'm glad I decided to retackle this daily practice class.

The Gratitude Journal for today chronicles the beautiful sunshine, a yellow bird on the feeder, being able to breathe, and my painting. It was an easy one.

And here's a picture of the Goldfinch female on the finch feeder. Some birds have evidently found this feeder because in the last few days the level of seed has visibly diminished. It isn't going down fast but it's going down. Thank heavens. And I heard that Hummingbirds have been sighted in the area so I guess I'd better go downstairs and fetch the nectar feeder and make sure it's clean and get it hung out. It seems like it's still getting too chilly for the little birds but I guess the scouts are showing up.

This afternoon I happened to catch sight of a Robin having a bath. It walked around the rim of the birdbath looking for just the right place to jump in and flutter around in the water. You can see that he'd been flapping around by the disturbed water around him.

I spent time today on a couple critiques then dived into the critique comments from LL, the group facilitator, on the last 200 pages of my manuscript. Some of her comments and suggestions I adopted, others I'm either going to dismiss or think about later. I feel like every time I go back into the manuscript I make it better. I'm determined not to take 15 years to get this sequel ready to be published like the original one did.

And it was Sock Washing Day! I don't wear compression socks every day anymore but I do wear them every once in a while so it was time to hand wash them and hang them on the shower rod. It's so convenient to use the no-rinse wool wash so I can just dunk them, swish them around, wring them out (gently), and flop them over the rod to drip dry.

--Barbara

Car Knitting

I had the opportunity to do a little car knitting the last couple days and today I finished the Field of Dreams warshrag that I've been slowly working on. I played a little yarn chicken with this one. Fortunately I forgot to knit the three rows even in the middle or I'd have run out of yarn before the end. As it was I ended up with about 2 yards of yarn left. 

My eye was caught by this squirrel feasting on the fallen seed. Most of the squirrels' tails are stretched out but this one had its tail curled over its back and I thought it looked kind of cute.

Goldfinches have been hanging around the feeders lately. Not on the finch feeder much but on the round feeder. I saw one little female on the finch feeder today but usually it's the Chickadees that light on it and have a little peck.

It got down below freezing again last night so the birdbath was frozen this morning but the sun was shining bright and thawed it out within an hour. So I didn't have to go out to pour warm water on it so the birdies could get a drink. It only got up to 48 today. Chilly.

I started a different daily practice watercolor course on Creativebug today. I wasn't sure that I'd like putting ink over a painting but I think that it enhances the flower. I've done this course before last year but I'm trying to get my hand in for next month's watercolor class at The Clearing. Don't want to be the worst in class.

I got brave tonight and ordered author copies of Better Than Mom's hoping that the printers have the new cover. I'll be so disappointed if they come with the old cover. If that happens I might see if Amazon will do something to fix it. I've got a signing event on May 11 and want the new covers for that.

Let's see, what else did I do today? I went to the craft store to pick up some brushes I'd ordered online (because they had 30% off on online orders even if you picked them up at the store the next day), to the grocery for bananas, clementines, and pineapple (gotta have my fruit!), and the pharmacy to pick up a couple prescriptions. That's pretty much it.

--Barbara

The Wisconsin State Flower

Is alive and well in my backyard. I know that the traditional color for violets is purple but my backyard is a drift of white violets today. They're so pretty and every time I look at them I think that if I sprayed weed killer on the lawn they'd die. I don't want that.

 

When I opened the drapes this morning a chipmunk was perched on the patio step peering in at me as if to say, it's about time you got up. They have such cute and worried faces. Too bad they're such birdseed hogs. I saw one had climbed up the cob corn feeder crook and made short work of the corn on one whole cob. I don't know how it even got up there.

I spent most of the morning sitting here making a character list for Island Dreams to send to my new audiobook narrator. She was thrilled when I sent the one for The Seaview yesterday so I buckled down and got the other one done today. I feel bad that I didn't have one for Horizon or Better Than Mom's although they weren't filled with different accents like these other two are. I thought that Island Dreams had fewer Caribbean accented people. Wrong! I ended up with over 2 pages of characters and most of them have accents of some sort. I hope TH can deal with them. I'm sure she can.

The watercolor lesson today was a landscape. *sigh* I tried my best but it's not great. I like parts of it like the sky and the trees on the horizon on the left, but the other trees and bushes look out of place to me. I'm going back to painting flowers tomorrow or maybe the next day. I've got a bunch of errands to run tomorrow.

The House Finches' feathers have brightened considerably over the last week or so. They used to be a pale raspberry but today I noticed that their feathers are a deep reddish pink and the males are throwing their weight around with each other. They're fun to watch.

I finally broke down and folded the basket of clean laundry that's been languishing in the guest room for a week or more (definitely more!). I hauled the basket into the living room and folded while I watched TV. I haven't done that in years. I was so proud of myself I put it on my Gratitude Journal page along with raking the patio leaves in a gale. (They flew away very nicely once I got them out of the shelter of the house. Now the neighbors down the block can deal with them. It's very windy.)

And that's it for my day. I spent a while going through some of the comments from my last critique submission. One of the members gave excellent suggestions, I used almost all of them. Then I started working through the next chapter that I'll submit for session 4. That chapter's too long so I had to find a place to stop because we only submit 10 pages. It's a lot of critiquing when you consider that 6 other people send you 10 pages too. Good thing I'm retired!

--Barbara

Looking For Worms

I looked out this afternoon and watched this Robin walk across the backyard. It would cock its head and look at the ground, then move on. I hoped I'd see it yank a worm out of the ground but it flew off before it found anything. Rats.

I emailed one of the narrators who submitted auditions for The Seaview and Island Dreams last week to tell her that I wanted to work with her. She and I emailed back and forth setting out dates, etc. Then I called the Help line at ACX (the arm of Audible where you can have audiobooks made) to make sure that the previous contracts for those titles were cancelled. My first narrator and I agreed to cancel them because she couldn't get the Caribbean accent and neither of us wanted to put out a substandard product. Then I reposted the projects, the new narrator accepted them, and we're in business. I just uploaded the manuscripts to her and sent the character list for The Seaview to give her an idea of who's who. I have to work up one for Island Dreams this week and get that sent off too. Anyway I'm back in business and she said she'll start in June and can have them both done by the end of July. Woohoo!

Today's watercolor is an all-over floral. This was kind of fun to paint and I like the way the colors look together. I still can't use the giant brush that she uses but I'm happy with the medium giant brush that I feel I can control better.

I thought about waiting until tomorrow to grill the marinated chicken breasts but then I checked the weather for tomorrow and there's a chance of rain. There was no chance of rain today so I fired up the grill and got it done. Oh, they smelled so good and I cut off a little piece of one so I'm certain that they taste good too.

While the chicken was grilling I pulled out Draw 500 Fabulous Flowers and found this page that looked like waterlilies to me. They turned out alright, if I do say so myself.

The Gratitude Journal for the day was short and sweet. Just sunny and warm, grilled chicken, and a new audiobook narrator. Fun pictures to draw.

I took one of the booster seats out of the back seat of my car because LC is tall enough and just about heavy enough to ride without one. Still can't ride in the front seat but this is a big step.

I sent off my next submission for the Novel Writing critique group today. I've gotten one of the other members' submission and read through it once. I'll go over it again before our next meeting. Only four more to come.

Sounds like it's starting to rain a little.

--Barbara

Below Freezing Overnight

It might be April and the second half of April at that, but it still got into the mid-20s overnight. I didn't know how cold it had gotten until I looked at the birdbath this morning. Even though the sun was up and shining brightly the water in the birdbath was frozen solid. I went out about an hour later to top it up and the ice floated so it was starting to thaw. But still, I keep hoping that we're done with below freezing temps.

Freezing temps don't deter the daffodils and grape hyacinths from standing tall. Someone said recently that they have antifreeze in their veins. I believe it. I went out this afternoon to pick up the windblown sticks from the lawn and it was warm enough in the sunshine but it was chilly in the wind. That sunshine fools me this time of year.

Today's watercolor was not quite as successful as the last two were. The red and pink blob on the right is supposed to be a peony but I think it doesn't look like one at all. I think the dahlia and the rosebud look okay, the peony not so much.

And the Gratitude Journal for today. I forgot about putting in the sunny day but I managed to put in that I found two more Little Free Libraries and put out a couple more Better Than Mom's with the old cover. I'm going to hang onto the rest of them for now just in case I can't get the new covers in time for the May 11 book signing. And I included the chicken breasts that I'm marinating in teriyaki marinade for grilling in a couple days. A family pack of boneless, skinless chicken breasts gives me 12 suppers for under $15 that I have with steamed veggies I already have on hand. What's not to love?

I got the final files of the new cover for BTM's today and wasted no time getting it loaded up on the Kindle and paperback files on Kindle Direct Publishing. I'll wait until next weekend to order author copies to make sure that the printers have the new cover design.

--Barbara

Still Have Spring Flowers

Lots of things are sprouting or throwing out buds around here. First I have to show you the daffodils and grape hyacinths that are still blooming and still beautiful out front. Who knew that yellow, purple, and green would look so good together? I look out every day and enjoy them. Turning into the driveway and seeing them makes me smile.

In front of the daffodils is this little bunch of wild violets. I think they're wood violets, the state flower of Wisconsin, and they're spread by birds. There are a few purple ones in the side yard but I was getting too chilled in the wind to go around the house to picture them.

I was happy to see that Dad's rose is starting to sprout. I love the burgundy color of the new growth and can't wait until the beautiful and fragrant red roses start to arrive.

The Pacific Sunset Maple tree in the front yard is budding out too. I tried to take a better picture of the buds, one where you can see the spring green and yellow of the buds but the camera kept focusing on the big tree across the street so you get this dull shot of the buds against the cloudy sky.

I only had three things to put on the Gratitude Journal page today but I really enjoyed them all. First I went out back and "chased" the weeds that were growing way faster than the grass. Dug them little suckers right out. Then I painted and after that I toured myself around town finding Little Free Libraries to stuff copies of my books with the old covers into. I found eleven of them. I knew where a few were and happened upon others on the way.

Speaking of watercolor painting, here's the peony I painted today. I really like the way it turned out even though I've never seen a peony with that much yellow in it. Well, come to think of it Lala and I saw an entirely yellow one the last time we went to the botanical garden. Anyway, I'm so happy that I decided to re-watch these lessons on Creativebug. I'm having a lot more success this time around.

And after supper I decided to do a little drawing. I'm so glad that I pulled out the 20 Ways To Draw... books again. I really enjoy the figures and try to challenge myself to draw a different one every time I go through the book. There are 20 examples of each figure in each book so there are lots to keep me occupied. I don't have a favorite today.

I got the second narrator's audition recordings today and she's willing to negotiate the price for doing two and she can do them back-to-back in June. I think I'm going to bite the bullet and go with her. I'll listen to the recordings again tomorrow and then make the decision. I think.

In one of the Little Free Libraries I found a pristine copy of Alex Trebek's biography and spent the afternoon reading it. It's a pretty good read.

Last month I ordered five copies of Better Than Mom's with the old cover. *sigh* I got the new cover files today and approved them so I should be able to change the cover sometime this week. I've still got eight copies with the old cover on them and I only know of one more Little Free Library I didn't hit today. Oh, but there's a LFL app so I can look them up on my phone. That should help me find them and I can ask my knitting friend MW where he drops his books. Maybe he knows ones that I didn't find today. I want to ditch the last few copies of BTM's before the next book signing event in May so I can go with all the right covers on my books.

--Barbara