Brrr

Alexa told me yesterday that there was a freeze warning for last night. I wasn't sure I believed that it would freeze but when I was making the bed I looked across the street and there was frost on the roofs. So I went out and checked the birdbath. Yep, frozen. It thawed out pretty quickly once the sun hit it but it was definitely frozen overnight. BTW, I was very glad that I'd put the heavier blanket on the bed.

 

Today was a Downy Woodpecker day. The Red-bellied Woodpecker showed up too but only stayed a nanosecond so there's no picture of it. The first Downy that I saw was hanging on the bottom of the suet cakes feeder just having a nice breakfast.

Next came this one (or maybe the same one) that hung out on the Slinky waiting its turn on the suet cakes. It had a little ride on the Slinky when it landed. A few Sparrows kept flying over and the Downy waited patiently until they were gone before flapping over to have a snack.

Then in the afternoon this Downy (not the same one) landed on the platform feeder and explored the seed in there. That surprised me because they don't usually have anything to do with birdseed but I guess this guy is a rebel.

Today's drawing was out of 20 Ways to Draw a Butterfly or Things With Wings. I like the way the eagle in the upper left turned out. The rest of them... meh.

This bunny was peeking in the patio door but as soon as I grabbed the camera it turned away as if I wouldn't notice it. I wonder what they see when they look in. Can they even see through the glass or are they looking at their reflection?

And I drew a gratitude journal page after supper. I wish I could draw the upper part of a body as easily as I can draw the legs and shoes but I can't so I don't.

As if the frozen birdbath wasn't enough of a sign there were about six Juncos in the backyard this afternoon poking around in the grass looking for birdseed. Juncos come down from the Arctic to winter here so they're another sign that Old Man Winter is on the way. I took a picture but it was blurry.

I had trouble getting down to writing today. I worked on a critique for Monday in the morning and tried my darnedest to get some manuscript work done in the afternoon but didn't have much luck. I did a little piddly editing but didn't add anything new. Just haven't been inspired lately.

There was the monthly Zoom meeting of the Book Marketing Support Group through Wisconsin Writers Assn. tonight. They talked about figuring out who your fans are and how to reach them. Very daunting. But I have the first real meeting with my virtual assistant tomorrow morning so I hope I learn ways that she can help me reach out.

--Barbara