Survivors

Dad's roses are the ultimate survivors. They were bowed after Wednesday's storm but most of the flower petals are undamaged and none of them fell to the ground. I was sure those delicate flowers would be trashed but they made it. Look at that rosebud just opening. Isn't it gorgeous?

 

A few of the Stella d'Oro lily flowers ended up on the lawn but since the flowers only bloom for one day it wasn't a big deal. The buds survived and they're opening just fine. If you look closely at this open flower you can see the black ant crawling around in it.

 

The more I looked at yesterday's watercolor, the more I realized that it wasn't done. So I retaped the paper to a plexiglass board and added leaves on the tree. Much better. I started with a sea sponge but it was too wet so it just made little puddles. I sopped those up and shifted to a deerfoot brush which reminds me of a stenciling brush, and that made the dots and splotches I wanted. NOW it's done.

 

After refilling the Hummingbird feeder, I got out the drawing things and drew Autumn... Harvest, maybe? Anyway autumn things like leaves and acorns and corn, also a pie.

 

The orange day lily patch is blooming. There are actually two patches that are doing a fine job of decorating the west side of the lot. They bloom a lot earlier than the day lilies up on the retaining wall. I don't mind, it spreads the flowers out more.

 

The pair of House Finches visited toward evening. She was on the grape jelly but he stayed up on top of the crook. He never flew down for a snack, but flew away after she did.

 

I belatedly discovered that having a Roku TV means I can watch movies on Roku for free. So I watched a movie tonight. It was the original Twister. I enjoyed it again. One thing about rewatching a movie is that it makes it easy to knit while you watch. You don't have to pay such close attention to the movie and you can knit something fairly uncomplicated while you watch. I made it through the second set of Teddy Bear #1's arms and am into the second belly. Or is that its butt? Whatever. The wide section between the arms is the front and back of the head. It's a fun, quick knit.

 

Part of the day I spent watching a how-to video about setting up an account between BookFunnel and Square so I can sell eBooks and audiobooks direct to customers on my phone. First, I added all my digital and audio books to Square. Then I followed the instructions on setting up and linking accounts. Where things went awry is when it came time to set up the delivery part. I watched the video a few times, rewinding and rewatching, but gave up and scheduled time next week with KM, my assistant so she can help figure it out. 

Then I sat down and pounded out the July writing progress email letter, added a couple pictures, and then emailed it to KM so she can upload it to my newsletter mailing service which I can't figure out without grinding my teeth and spewing profanity. It's much simpler, and less stressful, to just have her do it.

It wasn't too hot this afternoon so I took a walk up to the stop sign and back. It's getting a little easier and my breathing recovers a bit faster so I'm encourage to keep up. Not for the next few days, though. It's supposed to be beastly hot and I'm not going to walk in that. Not unless it really cools off just before sunset.

--Barbara