Lots of Birds

But no pictures. I tried, I really tried, but every time I reached to pick up the camera all the birds flew away. The only interesting birds were a trio of Juncos that hopped around, veering off whenever a Mourning Dove got too close. Those Mourning Doves are like the brontosauruses of the bird world. They're big and clumsy and don't know their own strength.

This morning I mustered up my guts and went to three bookstores and the central library asking if they'd take some of my books to sell. I came home with the same number of books that I left with but got the information on how to get that done. Two of the stores will take books on consignment, the third won't take books but offered to host a reading and book signing, and I figure I'll donate books to the library if they'll put them into the collection and not just shoot them down to the book sale immediately. All in all, not a bad morning. Man, I was nervous.

Then I got a call from Aunt B who is in the middle of reading Horizon. She discovered that there are chapters out of order. They go 19, 21, 20. Arrrgh! I don't know how that happened. I called Kindle Direct Publishing to find out how to fix the problem. They told me that I need to upload the corrected manuscript and it will supersede the one with the glaring error. I will hopefully get that done this weekend.

 

In light of all that book excitement I didn't do one lick of drawing today. I did go out to take a picture of the beautiful autumn trees next door and across the street.

And the mums which are blooming up a storm in front of the house.

Tonight at Friday Night Knitting I finished the Ara Cashmere Cap

and the Guacamole Washcloth and still had knitting time left so I worked on the Get Off My Lawn! Sock but that doesn't look much different.

Today's toss was another kid's lap blanket that no longer lives in the car.

It drizzled most of the day and it's cold--36 degrees--10 degrees colder than normal, whatever normal is anymore.

--Barbara

Not One Bird

All the birds came to the feeders yesterday. None of them came today. I don't understand. There's still something in every feeder but the peanut wreath. Why? Maybe it was the drizzle?

I went to visit DS at Zambaldi Beer this morning. He was making biere de garde, a French style that I've never heard of. It smelled like a bakery in there though and I got to spend an hour chatting with my son. It was a win/win.

Then I went down to the library to sort books. There were a lot of books, boxes and boxes of military books that we fortunately didn't have to sort because they're already sorted by subject. Whew. Another Barbara came to sort so we worked our way through the other bags and boxes of books, lots of hardcover fiction books and fiction paperbacks which meant filling sorting boxes and stacking them with the others. It's sweaty work.

Today's bird in Draw Like an Artist was an Emu. It's an odd looking bird, isn't it? Lots of personality there.

I turned to the next figure in 10-Steps:Nature to find another bird, a Woodpecker. I'm happier with the tree than the bird but the bird's alright. I was hoping for a plant or a flower. I have a 10-Steps: Flowers book but I'm waiting to open it until I finish the Nature one.

Tonight I knitted to the crown decreases on the Ara Cashmere Cap. I could have started on the decreases but I decided to save it for Friday Night Knitting. I'll finish the cap and then knit on the washcloth or maybe the sock. It's such a shock to go from the cap to the sock, stepping down to the washcloth is easier.

As many words as I managed to write the last two days that's how few I cranked out today. I sat and stared at the laptop screen and eked out a measly 56 words. Tomorrow will be better, she says hopefully.

It rained off and on today, just enough to be annoying but not enough to water the plants. And it was cold. I don't think it got up to 50 degrees and it was breezy. I had to go to the grocery for a few things and wished I'd worn a heavier coat. Or at least zipped up the jacket I had on.

Today's toss was a lap blanket I made for LC when she was little and riding in the backseat of my car.

--Barbara

If You Fill Them, They Will Come

So for the last few days there really haven't been any birds or squirrels at the feeders because they were empty. I went out this morning and filled the peanut wreath and the tube feeder and, wow, birds came. First was a Hairy Woodpecker on the suet pellets that didn't stay long enough for a picture.

But the little Nuthatch worked its way around to the side facing me so that I could snap one.

Then a pair of Bluejays found the peanuts and gave the squirrels a run for their money. The squirrel would nab a nut and scamper off, then the Bluejays would take turns getting a nut and flying off, followed by another squirrel. They went around and around like that until there were no peanuts left.

Even the Sparrows mobbed the tube feeder.

And a Downy Woodpecker landed on the edge of the birdbath for a drink. I was happy to see so many different birds today.

I took a picture of the street in front of the house because it rained last night and it was windy and a lot of red leaves blew off the trees and pasted themselves to the street. Shortly after I took this picture the street sweeper truck came by again and again vacuuming up all of the leaves. I can't imagine that they're going to suck up all of the street leaves in the city. I was sorry to see the pretty leaves go.

Today's figure in the 3-D book was Royal Ribbons. It was okay to draw but I made it too small for the page so I sketched a few random things around it. I'm getting less enthralled with the things in the 3-D book. They're too complicated and just plain weird. I'm glad I'm in the "R"s. Only a few more letters to go.

I realized this morning that I could sit and sign all of the books that I have on hand because people like a signed book and getting them all done ahead of time makes it easier on me. All done. I'm kind of sorry I put the Angermeier in there because I have to concentrate when I sign but I wanted people who knew me when I was in school to recognize the name. Ego.

This afternoon it was sunny for about an hour so I managed to drag myself around the block for a walk. Yesterday it got up to 77 degrees, today it was 54 degrees. It started out at 63 this morning when I got up and cooled off throughout the day. The weather guy said that it's supposed to be barely in the 50s for the rest of the week and weekend. Jacket and sweater weather.

I wrote a couple times today, totaling up just over 1,000 words. I'm inching every closer to my goal. I was wrong yesterday. My 2,000 words didn't take me to 70k, but today's words did. NOW I have 10k to go.

--Barbara

2,052 Words!

I had a couple doctor's appointments today (no big deal, just fasting labs in the morning and then a physical in the afternoon) so around them I sat myself down at the laptop and wrote. I came up with an unforeseen scene for Better Than Mom's which takes me up over 70k words so I'm only 10k from my goal of 80k. Whew. I hadn't made any big trouble for my characters in a while so that's what I did. I invented a big blizzard and a car crash. Exciting! Now I have to write the aftermath and recovery. That should be good for a few thousand words, shouldn't it?

Today's drawing was from the new Sketching book. I copied the little drawings on the page and added the syringe in honor of the flu shot I got this afternoon. I like the style of these drawings. Maybe I'm learning something new.

It got up to 77 degrees today and was sunny but also windy. So windy that some of the red leaves from the front yard made it around to land on the patio. One even stuck to my (red) shoe and came in with me after I took the trash to the curb. The prediction is that today is the last 70 degree day of 2022. *sigh*

This evening I knitted a few rounds on the Get Off My Lawn! sock. I am certain that this "heavy fingering" weight yarn is smaller than the "heavy fingering" weight yarn of the red and white sock I knitted in August. I ordered this yarn because I liked the weight of that yarn and hoped that it would be the same. Nope. Oh well, good thing I like to knit but this skinny yarn sure makes for some slow going.

I toss some aged 7-Up I found on the pantry shelves in the basement. Mostly I wrote and wrote and wrote today. The good news is that I don't seem to be having any side effects from my flu shot. I probably shouldn't have said anything but what the heck. It's been six hours and so far nothing.

--Barbara

Squirrel!

There was this squirrel up on the crooks this afternoon and it was really looking for something, I'm not sure what because it sniffed the suet pellets, slithered down the wire holding the tube feeder, put its front feet on top of the platform feeder, and climbed all over the suet cake feeder. It didn't stay long anyplace and it didn't find anything to eat, just jumped down to the ground and wandered off to do random squirrel stuff.

I was happy to see a House Finch back at the feeder today. I don't know where they've been all summer but I'm happy to see them back or at least one of them. Maybe they're here to give the Juncos a run for their money.

I was also happy to see the last lesson in You Can Draw It In 30 Seconds! today--Roots. I don't know what the point is but I will confess that I didn't draw all of the skill levels. I looked at them and just thought, nope.

So I pulled out Drawing Cute to find a bee and a butterfly to draw and color. Much better than the odd and boring Roots.

I got to spend a little time with small people this evening, read stories, and tuck them in. After that I sat and knitted on the Ara Cashmere Cap. The colors, even though there's a lot of blue, please me quite a bit. Maybe it's the black cashmere yarn that I'm carrying with the colorful thick and thin wool. I don't know if you can see it in the picture but there are random pops of yellow showing up and I really like them.

I delivered a bag of hats to LB this morning so that she can include them in the box to the Seamen's Church Institute for their Christmas at Sea program. That's where all the colorful caps I've been knitting lately are going. It makes me happy to think that someone will be warm because I made a hat.

--Barbara

Mostly Knitting

That was my day, mostly knitting. I knitted in the morning while I watched CBS Sunday Morning (slow news for old people, according to DIL1!) and finished the ribbing and got into the body of the cap. I love the colors even though I'm not much of a blue fan.

 

Then tonight I went to knit with friends and knitted past the middle of the Guacamole Washcloth. It's all downhill from here. You decrease one stitch on every row and it doesn't take long to get back down to three stitches which is where you start.

 

I only drew one picture today. It's a cuckoo. I don't know how they're supposed to look so I'm middling pleased with how this turned out. It looks pretty much like the example.

 

When I came home from knitting just now the moon was big and bright in the sky so I took this picture with my phone. I have absolutely no idea why it made that glare but I think it looks kind of interesting. You can see that the leaves are turning too. The bad news is that I could see my breath outside. Brr.

 

I spent most of the middle of the day reading Better Than Mom's, copying my 2020 NaNoWriMo writing into a single document so I can see if there's anything worth continuing there or if it sparks an idea, and then writing a short scene of about 675 words for BTM's. Hey, I'm happy to be writing again and will take what words I can get down.

--Barbara

Rude Awakening

This morning at 1:47AM the smoke alarm in the hall outside my bedroom started to chirp its "low battery" sound. For a nanosecond I thought that I could sleep through it but knew that I was doomed. Luckily I had some 9-volt batteries in the cabinet so there I was in the middle of the night dragging a chair down the hall to stand on it to change the battery in the stupid chirping smoke alarm. Tomorrow I'm going to put new batteries in the rest of the smoke and CO alarms in the house, just in case. Or maybe I'll go do that right now while I'm thinking about it. I did go back to sleep, thank heavens.

I was amazed to see an orange day lily blooming today. I was sure that any remaining buds would have given up the ghost with the frost we had the other night but there were actually two pale orange flowers today. The cat was on the retaining wall when I went out to take this picture and it hurried away but not too fast. It kept looking back to see what I was up to but by the time I got into the house it was gone.

I confess that I skipped the next figure in the 3-D book and went on to draw this rose. The other one was a maze of ramps and roads all woven together that I didn't get farther than the third frame before I collapsed in frustration. I do not draw to be frustrated so I moved on. The rose isn't bad, not great, but not terrible.

Then I got out the 10-Steps: People book and drew the next four facial features, this time the side view. I don't think that the nose looks like a nose but I'm happy with the eye, ear, and mouth.

While my supper was heating in the microwave I looked out and there was a single Junco pecking around in the seeds with a few Sparrows so it was a darned early-arriving Junco that I saw the other day. Hopefully this one is a scout and it'll be a while before the rest of them come dragging winter behind them.

I got out the paints and made this watercolor of a sunset that I saw when I was up at The Clearing week before last. It's not too bad. A week ago today I came home from TC and already that week up there seems like it was longer ago than that. Time sure flies. My neighbor, LJ, commented the other night that life is like a toilet paper roll, it goes faster the closer you get to the end. So true.

I knitted a few rounds on the Get Off My Lawn! Sock tonight but I just couldn't get into the groove so I went downstairs and dug out a bag of yarn leftover from a shrug I knitted years ago and cast on another one of those big yarn/big needle caps that I've been cranking out the last few weeks. I can't stop!

Today I tossed a pair of pants that just doesn't fit. That's so annoying.

--Barbara