New Lilies & A Weed

I went out this morning to take pictures of the new lilies blooming and took pictures of three varieties of lily. The newest bloomers are these dark red & yellow ones. There's a few plants in a row on one end of the retaining wall and a couple more near the opposite end.

 

Their opposite counterparts are on the west edge of the lot and have been blooming off and on for a couple weeks. These dark yellow & rust ones are pretty, aren't they? I keep trying to paint them but haven't tried this year yet. Maybe that's what I'll do tomorrow. Or maybe I'll figure out how to do them using the ink & wash technique. It'd be great if there was some help in one of the books.

 

And the pale yellow lilies are blooming intermittently. One day I look out and all I see are the orange ones and then the next day there are a bunch of yellow ones alongside.

 

While taking the picture of the dark red & yellow lilies, I noticed a very tall weed growing out of one of the plants. It must have been pretty small when the weeders were here a few weeks ago or they missed it. I pulled it out. 

 

The black butterfly was back on the orange rind this morning. There were drops of grape jelly on the orange rind which is what I think it was after, since the rind is pretty much dried out. Tomorrow I'll go get the butterfly book and see if I can't figure out what kind it is.

 

After the butterfly left I went out to refill the birdbath, grape jelly, and orange half. I had to laugh at the squirrel. It climbed up the crook and perched there looking at me looking at it. We had a fairly long standoff before I took a step toward the patio door and it dropped to the ground and scampered away. So far the orange is still in its place. We'll see where it is in the morning.

 

The male House Finch visited the grape jelly once I'd filled it. He's a big fan.

 

Today's flower is Bird-of-Paradise. It was interesting and challenging to draw, but I loved coloring it and think it really turned out well. 

 

I learned today that it REALLY paid to make a DMV appointment to renew my driver's license. I registered online, then filled out and printed off the form I needed to take along. I got there early, walked to the desk for people with appointments to check in (avoiding a long line of people without appointments), got my picture taken right away, had barely sat down to wait when they called my number. All I had to do was take a vision test and pay. It took about 15 minutes (instead of the usual hour+) and I was out of there before my original appointment time. You'd better bet I'll be making an appointment next time I need to go there. 

On my way home I stopped at the pharmacy for a prescription and was informed that I was due for a tetanus shot. *sigh* Not what I wanted to hear but as long as I was there I went ahead and got poked. Then I went over to the deli and found cooked chicken breast which I went there looking for last week and they were out. I bought two containers and they're now in the freezer so when I want to make chicken tacos or chicken salad or farro salad I've got the main ingredient. Then I went to a different, slightly less expensive grocery store for fruit, milk, and yogurt. Doing my part to boost the economy, although I did find out that the bag o'salad I like best is from the corporate farm that's ground zero for the current bacterial outbreak. Guess I go back to Dole next time.

--Barbara