Almost Done

I got this close to finishing Gray Bear tonight at Friday Night Knitting. I started the evening stitching up its inseam so that the stuffing quit poking out. Then I knitted on the scarf to tie around its neck and got done with the rows but didn't manage to finish the bind off before time to quit Zooming and start blogging. The scarf will have to wait a week to be finished or maybe I'll have time to bind off the rest of the stitches before I drive away tomorrow around noon since I'm mostly packed.

I filled all the feeders yesterday and it didn't take long for the chipmunk to figure out that I filled the cob corn as well. I know it's blurry but here's the chippie up on the cobs just filling its cheek pouches in preparation for winter. This is not the same chipmunk that cleaned up the pile of birdseed. Two different rodents, totally.

And the squirrel discovered that I filled the suet pellets feeder so it leaped up from the birdbath to the crook to the feeder for a nibble.

I drew these three sea creatures out of 20 Ways to Draw a Jellyfish this afternoon. I was getting cross-eyed looking at the computer screen trying to figure out what Rose's stakes are in The Seaview so I pulled up the manuscript and started skimming it. That was driving me crazy so I quit and went out to the table to draw. Much more relaxing.

After supper I drew a gratitude journal page. I didn't have a lot to draw but at least I made a page. I've been slacking off on them and I need to stop stopping and start drawing. When I get home.

I spent most of the day at the computer. I asked GetCovers to make the palm fronds green instead of yellow on the new The Seaview cover. I realized that the contrast with the blue sky is good but it looks like it's dying. Not the look I'm going for. My hands are aching from knitting for three hours straight so I'm going to wrap this up and hit the hay. Remember I won't be back here until Saturday, October 5. See you then!

--Barbara

New & Improved

Okay, not really new but definitely improved. I'm too excited to wait for the final files to show you the new cover for The Seaview. I can't believe how much better it looks without the ribbons and with better fonts. (Also less sky because of the naughty bits.) 

I filled the bird feeders this afternoon and was down to the bottom of the bag of the no-waste birdseed when I discovered that it was moldy on the bottom. Ugh. So I filled the feeder with the not moldy seed and dumped the rest of it out on the grass. I was coming back from putting cob corn in the feeders up on the retaining wall when I noticed that a chipmunk was already at the pile of seed filling its cheek pouches. It ran away as I approached. When I came inside and looked out I saw the chipmunk chase a squirrel away. That squirrel had to be six times as big as the little chippie but it was fierce and scared that squirrel away. By the time supper rolled around all of the seed except the very moldiest was gone. If it's still there in the morning I'll pick it up and toss it. I guess that means I get to scrub out the garbage can I keep the seed in when I get home after my week away. Oh goodie.

I spent most of the morning packing for my week at The Clearing. I updated the Fall Packing List and worked my way through gathering clothes and writing supplies. The last thing to be packed is this laptop. That'll happen Saturday morning just before I leave.

In the afternoon I worked through Video #3 of the Challenge videos in Author Ad School. This one was hard for me. One of the homework assignments is to write a hook sentence for the first line of your blurb. To be honest, I totally suck at it. Totally. Happily yesterday the coach picked out a sentence from my The Seaview blurb I have now so I could stare at it in hopes that inspiration would strike. It kind of did but not very well. If all else fails and I can't do it even with help I can always pay someone to do it for me. But I'll get it. I have faith.

After supper I drew a bit out of 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly. I kind of like the vulture in the lower left of the page. I like its curly ruff around its neck and the wings have Ws on them. W for wings. Makes me smile.

At 5 o'clock this evening I logged on to a Page Pals Zoom which is a quiet writing room through Author Ad School and spent an hour transcribing a diving scene into past tense and made it fit in the story. The funny thing is my Zoom picture is me underwater and another of the writers in the Page Pals room is also a diver and she saw it and asked to friend me on FB! I said yes. Funny the connections you make.

--Barbara

I Think My Brain Turned Off

I had the coaching session this morning on Zoom and I learned a lot. And learned that I have a lot to fix. I did get one positive comment about the cover of Horizon but the covers of The Seaview and Open For Business have to change. It seems that the ribbons of color that the words are on make them look amateurish which does not attract readers. Also the craziest thing I learned was that the Seaview cover that I just had changed has too much sky for a book with a steamy scene in it. The coach said that covers with lots of sky indicate a sweet and clean romance, which The Seaview is not. Crazy. Also all my blurbs need to be rewritten. I give away too much and don't entice the reader to want to read more. Fortunately she sent me a format to use as a framework to build a blurb around. I spent the rest of the day trying to get my mind to focus on the next video but it just didn't work. So I made a few keyword ads just to say that I did some writing work today.

Because I was so focused on writing I only took one photo today. Just before I came back here I sat down and drew a page of figures out of 20 Ways to Draw a Tree. I don't have a favorite today, they're all just okay.

Here's another one of Dad's roses. It nodded at me when I went by with the lawnmower.

Even though this is from yesterday I want to show off my son. He's such a nice man, a good husband and dad, and he even invites me to come visit when he's got an easier day at the brewery so we get a chance to talk. I'm really proud of him.

I went to lunch with those old neighbors that I reconnected with a couple months ago. We went to Olive Garden and sat and talked for hours. Then on the way home I stopped at TJ Maxx to return a top and a purse that I bought that weren't right for me. After that I did a little more ad making, then I went out and mowed the lawn once the sun was far enough in the west that it didn't fry me, although the weather has been outstanding the last few days. Let's hope it continues into next week.

--Barbara

Stuffed

After supper tonight I finished sewing up the other half of the Gray Bear, stuffing it, and cinching in the neck. Tomorrow night I'll sew up the inseams and then knit it a scarf. I'm calling it it because I don't know if it's a boy bear or a girl bear.

The Downy Woodpecker showed up on the suet cakes today. You can see how it hung from the bottom of the feeder to have access to the remaining chunk of suet cake. I've said it before, I don't know how they can be comfortable and swallow upside down.

In the morning I drove over to Zambaldi to visit with DS. He was cleaning the small tanks in preparation for a Brewer For a Day coming at noon. He's still getting people signing up! I took this picture so you can see the size difference between the regular tanks and the Brewer For a Day tanks. A batch of beer out of the little tanks fills 3 half-barrels and one quarter-barrel. They're by the big tank with the red hose hanging on it. A batch in the big tanks fills a lot more.

I was amazed to see that the walnut count in the grape jelly dish is down to one today. I can't begin to guess why the squirrel put them in there and why it's now taking them out. Will it take out the last one? Will another one show up? Stay tuned! The bees are really enjoying the grape jelly as you can see.

Since DS was brewing this afternoon I got to do the after school run. While I waited in the pickup line I finished knitting the Water Lilies Roll Brim Preemie Hat. It isn't preemie size. It's barely newborn size. But it'll fit some baby so I'm not worried.

The last gasp of Dad's roses continues. In the background you can see the flower that's peeking in the window at me.They're so pretty and they smell so good. Thanks, Dad!

I didn't draw and I didn't paint today. I spent all the time that I wasn't running around in the car sitting right here working through the Ad Challenge videos and posting the homework on the FB group. This is the fourth time I'm going through the videos so I'm just reading through the text and doing the homework. I think today I jumped ahead and used tools that are taught in the next video to do the the work but, hey, I knew how to use them so I did. This is not a graded course. Tomorrow morning I have a two-hour group coaching session on Zoom that I am really looking forward to. I'm even going to wear a new shirt! Man, I hope that I get one good comment among all the things that I have to change.

--Barbara

It's Not a Bird

I heard the hum of a machine, a big machine, when I was eating my yogurt this morning. I looked out the patio door and here's what I saw. The boom of a crane retracting into the base. I never did figure out or find out what it was doing over there but it sure was big.

I did see a bird. One of the Downy Woodpeckers came back and flew right to the suet cakes, not stopping off for a Slinky ride today. This one clung to the bottom of the feeder so it could eat from both remaining chunks of suet. 

In the afternoon I saw two Flickers in the grass by the birdbath. Naturally they didn't pose. One of them stayed behind the birdbath and the other one went over into the shadow of the chimney. I picked up the camera and got ready to take a picture and waited and waited for it to get out of the shadow. It finally did, halfway anyway. Such uncooperative birds.

 

I drew out of 20 Ways to Draw a Jellyfish this afternoon when I got home from errands. I'm especially proud of the lobster in the top left. The nautilus isn't bad either. All of the little figures today please me.

It's officially mum season. When I came home from chasing around to a couple print shops to get estimates to have a banner made I noticed that more than the purple mums are blooming. The most enthusiastic bloomer is what I call the bronze mum. I don't know what else to call it but I like it.

Nearby is the yellow gold mum. It's about half bloomed but is covered with buds so I expect it to burst forth any day now.

After a walk I sat down and embroidered the face of the Gray Bear and
then sewed up the first half. I regret carrying along the thin variegated yarn because it's white and really shows my whip stitches but I'm not pulling it out and starting over. His eyes aren't exactly the same size either but it looks okay. It'll be a good pal to someone who needs a friend.

I spent hours today working on Author Ad School videos and researching categories and keywords so I can do the homework for a couple of the videos. I also got a ticket (you get one a quarter) to a Group Coaching Session which is the primary reason I joined Ad School. One of the coaches will look at three of my sales pages and give me comments and recommendations. Luckily there was space in the session this coming Wednesday so I don't have to wait too long. I'm kind of nervous and kind of excited. I also spent time reading posts on the Students Only FB page and realized that I didn't understand about half of the things people were talking about especially when it came to ad performance. Hopefully that's something I can learn.

--Barbara

I Didn't Draw

But I painted. Not well, but at least I made the effort. These are poppies. They don't really look like any poppies I've ever seen or grown but that's what the author said they are. The one in the middle kind of reminds me of a poppy with the dark center surrounded by red petals. I like the stems. They're not precise but I kind of like that the paint isn't confined in the lines. And, yes, those splotches are supposed to be there.

A Downy Woodpecker came over for a ride and a suet snack. I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of it on the Slinky but I did manage to snap a photo of it when it leaned away from the suet to clean its beak.

Today was the last day that the replay of last week's Amazon Ads webinar was available so I cued it up and watched the parts that confused me the other day. I was able to pause it and write down the web addresses needed to download the Deny List template and the Save Your Time upload, put them together, and load the whole thing into Amazon so they'll stop putting my ads on sites like Pinterest and Goodreads where a click only costs money but isn't in a place where people can buy the book. I also signed up for the Author Ad School for a few months. I've been tempted the last couple times I did the free Ad Challenge and today I decided that I'd do it. I'm afraid they'll tell me that my covers, blurb, keywords, and EVERYTHING is wrong with my books but I guess I'm willing to take the chance. It's only money. And my (sometimes fragile) ego.

 

I drew a Gratitude Journal page for today. I started to do it this morning for yesterday before realizing I'd already done one last night so there wasn't as much sunshine and there were a lot more clouds than it looks like in this drawing. I'm most grateful for chocolate ice cream today. I splurged on a pint of super-premium at ALDI the other day and portioned it out immediately when I got it home so I wouldn't be tempted to just get a spoon and dig in.

 

The clouds thinned out late in the afternoon and the blue sky and pink sunset clouds were irresistible. I didn't even go out to see where the sun was I just opened the patio door and snapped a picture of the sky. Happy first day of Autumn!

I spent most of my writing time today watching that webinar video and the orientation video of Author Ad School. I did manage to eke out two pages of actual writing. I introduced a new character the other day and realized that she needed a little fleshing out. Of course I had to then make up other guests that week for her to interact with. This writing thing gets complicated. As cda said, "Writing was so much easier when we didn't know what we were doing."

--Barbara

Two Nuts

When I was doing yoga this morning I looked out at the grape jelly dish on the Oriole feeder and thought it looked different. It looked like there was another black walnut in there. After I yog-ed I went out to look and there were two nuts in there! When did that happen? Will more nuts show up? Stay tuned!

A different Downy Woodpecker showed up today for a short ride on a Slinky and then it flew over to the suet cakes. Naturally it perched on the back side so I could barely see it and barely take its picture.

I drew a zebra today. It isn't bad. I made the body too long so it looks a little misshapen but I was impressed with my striping. That took some real concentration.

And I drew a gratitude page today too. I was glad that I went to ALDI because I love the Boston lettuce they have there. It's the perfect topper for my nightly BLT. I've got two tomatoes left from my farmer's market haul (a couple of them went bad) so I needed more lettuce. I can't just have a BT!

 

It started raining this afternoon. I looked out at the birdbath in time to take this picture of one big raindrop's ripples in the water. It stopped raining for a couple hours but it's raining again now. That's okay, we need the rain. We really need the rain.

This evening I knitted on the Water Lilies Rolled Brim Hat. I cast it on thinking it was a preemie hat but it definitely isn't. It's going to be a regular newborn size. That's okay. I just started the crown decreases so it'll be quick to finish and I can move on to finishing something else--like the Zauber Crazy Sock that only needs a toe.

I didn't manage to write any more than a couple sentences today. I printed off Chapter 1 of Spies Don't Retire to take along for critique next week and I made up a sample of a card to hand out at the market telling people about the Writer's Guild. And another member commented on my blog post the other day that she thought we had a banner. I checked a photo from winter 2022 and we do have a little banner. Saved myself $50. Now I just have to find out who has it, but I emailed LW and suspect he either has it or knows who does.

--Barbara

A Clear Shot

I don't know when I've gotten a clearer shot of a bird than I got this morning. The Downy Woodpecker was back for a Slinky ride and then a suet cakes snack. I took a picture of her on the Slinky and one on the suet and the Slinky one is so sharp and clear I can't believe it. Why can't all my photos be that sharp? You can even see the gleam in her eye!

Instead of writing today I read through an Anguilla Travel Guide I got on Kindle a while back and made copious notes. One thing that never occurred to me was if Rose needed a visa or how she would establish residency so I did some online searching too and found all kinds of information. You can find all sorts of stuff on the interwebs!

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished knitting the Gray Bear and clipped it together so it looks more like a bear and less like a pelt. Next I'll embroider on the face, then sew it up almost all around, stitch across the corners of the head to make the ears, and then stuff it. Then I'll knit it a scarf out of the variegated yarn to tie around its neck. I have to remember to make the scarf longer than the pattern calls for because I used thicker yarn so the bear is bigger.

I went off and got a haircut today and then stopped to pick up a couple Rxs on my way home. The pharmacy tech asked if I wanted to get a flu shot and COVID booster while I was there and I said, "Why not?" So I hung around for about 10 minutes, got the shots (one in each arm), and came on home to eat lunch and then Zoom with my writing friend cda until her physical therapist showed up.

After that I decided that I'd take the first chapter of Spies Don't Retire along to The Clearing to read when it's my turn to get critiqued. Now I just have to print off 11 copies of 8 pages and I'll be ready. Well, except for packing and stuff like that.

I'm reading, well, listening to Richard Osman's new book, We Solve Murders. It's not one of The Thursday Murder Club books, which is a disappointment because I like them so much, but once I got past the first chapter, where he sets up the story and it's a little confusing, I'm enjoying it.

--Barbara

Woodpecker Rides

There's one juvenile or female Downy Woodpecker that regularly lands on a Slinky and rides the bounce before flying over to the suet pellets or suet cakes. It came today and I managed to get a picture of it on the Slinky. It investigated the empty suet pellets feeder then went over to the suet cakes for a snack. The Flicker came back too but I only saw it in the grass and it was too far away for a picture.

I watched a squirrel leap up to a crook with a black walnut in its mouth and couldn't figure out what it planned to do with it. Squirrels are scampering all over with the nuts burying them here and there. This one got placed in the grape jelly and abandoned. Will it come back later to retrieve it? I'm not leaving it in there for long but I'm curious if the squirrel will come back.

The UPS guy brought my Amazon order today, not an Amazon delivery person. Maybe it was too heavy for Amazon. It was one of those white 6' folding tables and it was way heavier than I thought it'd be. I took the advice of the woman in charge of the Military Business Assn. at the farmer's market last week and ordered the brand she recommended as being more durable. Good thing it has a handle or I'd never be able to haul it around. I didn't think where I'd keep the danged thing so I just slid it in front of the car in the garage. If I took it downstairs I'd never get it back up!

I didn't have a lot of motivation today so I just pulled out 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly for things to draw. I like the chicken and the hummingbird I think because they're colored and because they look like cartoons. I like the dragonfly too but the hang glider, the heron, and the flying pig are just okay.

I went to an Amazon Ads webinar this afternoon and I swear I don't know if there's any way the guy who leads these things could talk faster. He skates over the information so fast that it's impossible to take notes. I stuck it out through the "commercial" where he tries to sell his Author Ad School which I am sometimes tempted to join but I'm a little afraid of what I'll learn that I'm doing all wrong. I'll probably sign up one of these days and knuckle down to learn if my blurb, covers, and keywords are helping or hurting my sales (what few of them I have). I only bailed on the Q & A at the end. He said they'd send out a replay; maybe I'll watch again to see what I can glean when I have the ability to pause it and make notes.

I walked today. Good girl, Barbara Sue! Thank heavens it cools off as soon as the sun gets close to the horizon. I'm waiting for fall weather to arrive and I hope it shows up before or when I go to The Clearing at the end of the month. I'd like it to be cool please, not hot and humid.

--Barbara

Flicker!

I saw a flash of movement on the patio and looked out to see a Flicker land. Woohoo! It's very rare for one to land there. Usually they're out in the grass and far enough away that they're just a brown lump in the grass. I got a picture as it was flying away so I went back in my archives and found a holding-still Flicker picture so you can see it instead of a brown and gray blur.

 

The Sparrows worked very hard to completely empty the suet pellets feeder. They've had the assistance of the juvenile Starlings on occasion but most of the work has been done by Sparrows, usually two at a time. When three of them get on the feeder they fight because the level of pellets is low so there isn't a lot of room.

 

This afternoon I sat down to knit a little since I had a Wisconsin Writers Assn. Marketing Zoom this evening. (Lots of good info. Many notes were taken.) I should have gone out for a walk too but it was another hot, windless day and I didn't want to sweat up my freshly showered self. I finished knitting the head of the Gray Bear; next comes the arms on the way back down to the second pair of legs.

I realized as I took a picture of today's drawing out of The 15-Minute Artist: Drawing Nature that it took me an hour to do what she says should take 15 minutes. Heck, I spend more than 15 minutes on the final shading.

And that was my day. I got up late, showered, and goofed around on Canva trying to design a banner to take to the winter farmers market. The website guy sent me the jpg of the Writers Guild logo but the file isn't big enough to scale up to banner size and stay sharp, dang it. So I had to just make it up using similar colors and a graphic I found on the Canva site. I sent him the proof to see what he thinks.

I had a chat with DS this morning and worked on the manuscript in the afternoon. I was at a kind of standstill in the story but then I checked some notes I made out of an eBook guidebook about the island and got an idea for the next "worry and trouble" scene. Whew.

--Barbara

An Expensive Fall

I went to Michaels and I fell down on my credit card and bought a bunch of stuff that I didn't intend to buy. I intended to buy a skein of yarn and that was all so I didn't get a cart or a basket. The skein of gray yarn (if I need it for the Gray Bear) is twice the size of the one I started with so I'll for sure have yarn left over. Too bad about my yarn buying diet. This is the first yarn I've bought in over a year. That should tell you how much yarn I have on hand.

They they had a price reduction on sketchbooks so I picked out one of those. But the big fall was at the art books rack. I found this watercolor/ink book for beginners so I picked it up, then I saw the 15-Minute Artist book and it was on sale so I picked that up too. 

When I got home I pulled out my current sketchbook and turned to the first page of the 15-Minute Artist book. It was an elephant. I had to pull out the tin of drawing pencils and a kneaded eraser and plunge in. It didn't turn out too badly. I think that the drawing is better than the shading.

I was going to turn to the first page of the new watercolor book but then I thought that I really should finish the last few paintings in the Ink & Wash Florals book, so I taped paper to a plexiglass panel, wet the paints, and gave it a go. It's peonies and lilacs. It's okay. Better than I thought it'd be. While the paint dried in between steps I came back here and worked on finishing the scene I started yesterday and finding a place to slot it into the manuscript. That's okay too.

I had to go to the grocery for bananas today and when I leaned down to grab a shopping bag saw a fuzzy white ball next to the basket the bags are in. It was an escaped skein of novelty yarn! I'm not going to chase down the lady I gave it all to, I'll just have one skein in my stash instead of a bin full.

The two skeins of Red Heart Soft yarn in the color toast that I ordered when I didn't think I'd have enough to knit the first bear came today. I had enough yarn for that bear so now I have two more full skeins in case I want to knit another Toast Bear or something else with that color yarn. It's a good yarn for chemo hats and preemie hats because it's so soft. It won't go to waste.

When I was almost done doing yoga this morning I saw this Goldfinch land on the crook. It stayed long enough for me to finish the pose, take the picture, and then do the last pose. I can't decide if it's a juvenile from this season's nests or a male that's already changing color. I hope it's the first reason and not the latter.

I took another walk tonight. That's two in a row. I'm on a roll!

--Barbara