Smells So Sweet

Dad's rose is blooming. The first bud opened. I saw it when I went out for the mail today and snapped a picture. It's beautiful and red and smells great. And there's more to come!

 

On top of the retaining wall in back, the Stella d'Oro lilies are blooming too. It's surprising to lookout and see so many flowers on one plant. Maybe it's all the rain we've been having that's encouraging them to pop out more than one flower at a time. They're small but pretty.

 

There were too juvenile squirrels wrestling on the patio this morning. They were too fast for me to take their picture but one of them sat in the shade of one of the birdseed cans thinking deep thoughts and waiting for its opponent to return.

 

I wish the perennial purple salvia was more visible. It gets lost in front of the tall, wildflowers that pop up behind it.

 

This morning I went down to Zambaldi to visit DS. He was cleaning one of those big big fermenter tanks in preparation to filling it with the hazy IPA he was brewing. He was making a small batch--only 300 gallons. We went out front to check out the hops vines he's growing up sisal rope to try making a leafy pergola over the end of the patio. This is the second year for about half of the vines and they're growing like weeds. It'll be fun when they get bigger and thicker and make shade. 

 

Today's art was another tulip painting. It's a fast and easy one that KA taught us last week. The paper I'm using isn't the high quality stuff I used in class. It buckles more when it's wet, but it's okay for the quick, fun paintings I'm doing.

 

And I got a new art toy! It's a heat gun that takes the place of using a hair dryer. One of the students last week brought a similar one for us to use. It dries paint a lot faster and it's way quieter than a hair dryer. I'm gonna really like it. 

 

This afternoon I had a Zoom with KM, my assistant. She helped me make Universal Book Links for my books so that I can enter them in sales and newsletter promos on a website called Book Funnel. I found a "Beach Reads" eBook sales one that I entered Anneke's Legacy, Island Dreams, and The Seaview in after our meeting. Yesterday I found one for audiobooks. Now I have to find it again so I can list some of my books in that one. Doing Book Funnel promos is a pretty painless way to market my books.

OJ had a soccer game this evening and I got to take him because his parents were both working. He's a great kid and ran his legs off. They don't have too many kids on the team so most of them end up playing the whole game. Their team didn't win but I think the ref was a little biased. Turns out the ref's dad was the coach of the other team. Not saying he wasn't fair, he was very strict, blowing his whistle at every little infraction. I wish I knew the rules better. All that whistle blowing is confusing.

--Barbara