At Least the Rain Held Off

For most of the day, it wasn't raining so I could go out and take flower pictures. I'm sure you're getting tired of a near-complete diet of lilies but that's what there is to see with a couple exceptions. I'll start with Dad's Rose. I can't look at them enough. They're my favorite color and they remind me of Dad and his mother who grew rows of roses of every color in her garden.

 

Up on the retaining wall one of the hostas has flower stalks and a few buds. They'll be pale lavender when they bloom but I thought I'd start with the promise of flowers.

 

I took a little time and cleaned the birdbath. It was looking very swampy so I tipped out the vile water, scrubbed away most of the crud, and refilled it with clean water. Now it's getting overflowed with rain. And it was sunny in the morning.

 

I decided to choose one day lily to post today instead of one of each color. This yellow one is very plain, without other colors to make it fancy, but I like the way the petals glow in the sunlight.

 

This morning I finished the Kindle edit of Summer of Blue Black Nights (or maybe Anneke's Legacy or something else entirely). Then I came back here and started transferring the edits to the manuscript. That feels really good. Now I can let the manuscript rest for a week or maybe a month, then go back to it with fresh eyes.

 

I was lucky enough to see a House Finch pecking on the fresh orange half I put in the Oriole feeder. Haven't seen any Orioles in over a month but the House Finches love the orange and the jelly and that one squirrel gobbles the jelly too.

 

Today's drawing prompt was Birds. I used a pencil to sketch a couple birds but I did it on watercolor paper instead of in my sketchbook. Then I used my little watercolor palette to fill them in. Once they were done I spattered them with the brown and orange. I like the way spatter makes the pictures look arty.

 

The other day I got a call from my friend CS saying that she had some boxes that might be good for storing extra books when I go to book fairs and craft fairs. I want to have more in the car so if I'm getting low of a title I can zip to the car for more. I said I'd take one and picked it up this afternoon. In the rain, of course. But once I got home and in the garage where it wasn't raining, I loaded the box up with books and it's just right. It holds quite a few more books than I thought it would and will make a good "car box" that I can sell out of and then refill before fairs. Don't the books look pretty all lined up like that? Thanks, CS!

 

My online assistant, KM, reformatted my business card so it fit on the hang tag blank on GotPrint so I ordered 100 and paid for faster shipping hoping they'll be here for the book fair on the 26th. I want to hang them on the keyrings I give away so people have something to remember me by. Fortunately I found precut strings on Amazon. I swear, you can buy anything on there and they'll ship it to your door. Yesterday I ordered a table runner that looks like the edge of a beach and the shallows of the ocean to drape across my sales table. It's supposed to arrive on Friday. I'll show it to you.

I managed to be in the middle of a long, high bridge over the river when it was windiest and raining the hardest this afternoon. I stayed in my lane and kept both hands on the wheel. It was a little scary.

I called the plumber. He's coming on Friday at 7:30am. God, that's early but I need him to fix that faucet for my tenants. I asked him if he could come a little later and he said he'd try. Watch, we'll be ready at 7:30 and he'll come at 9. I don't care, just as long as he comes.

--Barbara