Not a North American Goldfinch

I don't know where the people who made the drawing book I'm using live. Maybe England. Because the birds have familiar names but they aren't the same birds I'm used to. Today's bird is a case in point. It says it's a Goldfinch but the Goldfinches that visit my feeders on occasion are mostly bright yellow with a black cap and black on their wings. This bird is not that. It's got red on its face, brownish on its back, very little yellow, and a white belly. It's an okay looking bird, just not the Goldfinch I'm used to.

 

I didn't spend much time at the kitchen table today so I didn't spend much time looking out to see what kind of birds visited. A flock of Sparrows were on the feeder and on the ground when I was doing yoga this morning but I didn't stop to take pictures. Late in the day I did see this squirrel contorting itself around the suet nuggets feeder. It was doing a lot of moving around, head up and head down.

 

Yesterday's gratitude journal was easy to draw and color. I was most grateful for the ease of writing short stories, but taking a walk was good too.

 

Writing wasn't as easy today. I spent some time reading in the how-to book, then trying to figure out how to implement what I'd read. I also spent time playing with OneNote, a note-taking app (duh) that's part of Microsoft 365. It took some figuring out and some missteps, mostly until I asked it how to turn off Copilot the annoying AI component that kept suggesting words. I'd type a letter and it would assume the word I meant to write and that word would pop onto the screen. Gah! It was distracting when I was trying to complete a thought. It's turned off now. 

 

I waited until Jeopardy! was over to take a walk. It was cooler and there was a breeze. Also I felt very smart because I got the Final Jeopardy! The category was coins of the world so I figured I didn't stand a chance but as soon as Ken read the answer I knew the question. What is Gibraltar? That slightly makes up for the fact that the New York Times Connections puzzle usually kicks my butt every night. Once I got 11 in a row on Connections. Now I can't seem to string 2 solves together. But I keep trying.

Last night I read an article on Modern Daily Knitting about listing your video classes in your Bullet Journal to keep track of them and see if there are any you've missed. I went on Creativebug which is the site where I've got a few (I thought) classes piled up. Well. I opened up My Classes and started listing them. I have 20. Twenty! Mostly watercolor and drawing, but a few sewing ones too. I've at least started most of them, have finished a few, and had no idea that I owned some of them. It's a good thing I have a lot of credits so I don't have to purchase new ones I find. Can there be more? One of these days I'll search around to see if I can find more watercolor ones. Or I'll just repeat the ones I've already done. I'm good with that. I have a few classes on Domestika too but those I have to pay for individually and there aren't as many that appeal to me.

 

My doc told me last fall at my physical that I should keep writing because that would keep me from getting dementia. I'm not sure he's right about that, but I keep doing Wordle, Connections, Strands, Wordling, and writing stories and novels just in case. And I got a text from the pharmacy that flu vaccines are available so I guess I'll toddle on over in the next week or so to get jabbed.

--Barbara