Must Be Why I Stayed Home

Since Sunday I've been wondering why I stayed home instead of going to The Clearing for another watercolor workshop. (Aside from not needing that rich food for another week, that is.) Well, this afternoon I figured it out. I spent the afternoon working through the steps and designing a cover then submitting my novel, The Seaview by Barbara Angermeier Malcolm, as a Kindle eBook! It's out there! People can see it and decide to buy it. Buy it! I also worked through the steps to publish it as a Print-On-Demand paperback which means I don't have to lay out money to have a bunch of copies printed, they print them when they are ordered through Amazon. The Kindle eBook is available now and the paperback should be available on Amazon by the weekend, if all goes well in their in-house review which I don't know why it wouldn't. As soon as I got the email that the Kindle book was available I bought one and now I have it on my phone and my Kindle. Just like a real book. (You can't see me but I'm doing a happy dance.) Oh, I found a photo of the real Seaview I took years and years ago, cropped it, and used it for the cover art. It's exactly what I wanted even though it didn't scale up quite as sharp as I'd hoped.

This morning I took the tosses to Goodwill and then went down to Zambaldi to visit DS. He was brewing Maple Brown Ale so the brewery smelled great, like a neighborhood bakery. He's excited to have maple syrup from Bear Paw Boy Scout Camp where he went when he was in Scouts to add to the beer. He uses locally sourced ingredients when he can. Here he's getting a tank ready to have the raw beer pumped into it so it can ferment and turn from flavored water to beer. It's science.

Then instead of racing straight home I went down to the library and found a nice little table full of books to be sorted. They were mostly withdrawn from the library and mostly children's and young adult books so all I had to do was haul them down to the other end of the room where the children's sorting area is. There's a special crew that deals with the kids' books. I worked for about an hour and got them all sorted and the table cleaned off.

I didn't get to drawing until after supper what with spending the afternoon submitting my manuscript and mowing the lawn so I only drew a couple of the skill levels after the Blocks lesson and then drew one of the embellishments that made me smile.

When I was doing the daily art page in 365 Days of Drawing I used the markers and noticed that I hadn't done a gratitude journal page in a couple months so since I was feeling pretty good about myself I did one. I was surprised at how easily I drew the little pictures. I guess all this drawing practice is paying off.

I had a busy and productive day going to Goodwill, Zambaldi, the library, the grocery, publishing an eBook and POD paperback, then mowing. I even knitted a few rows on the washcloth while I watched a little TV. Whew, I'm bushed, but it was a great day. I spent the time mowing wondering if I have more novel manuscripts that I can tidy up and publish. Hmm.

--Barbara

A Sunny Day!

 After three days of clouds and rain today was a sunny day. It cheered me right up. Seeing this Bluejay on the fence in back and having my "hail mary" shot be clear rather than blurry cheered me up too.

Just before I finished yoga a Downy Woodpecker showed up so I shortened my last pose to snap a photo of him. It was almost time to be done, honest.

I spent most of the day back here finishing the next reread and line edit of Island Dreams. For as many times as I've read through this thing lately I'm amazed that I keep finding typos to correct and contractions to contract. I did manage to open a blank document and tried my hand at some new writing, seeing if I couldn't figure out how to end the darned book. I've got nearly 82k words, you'd think I'd be coming to The End one of these days.

So it wasn't until after supper that I pulled out my sketchbook and tackled the timed skill levels at the end of the Blocks lesson from yesterday. I managed to get through half of them before I ran out of paper and steam.

But in the morning I got out my watercolors and tried my hand at painting a version of the Seaview, the beach hotel from one of my novels. I went on the website Fiverr looking for a freelance artist/designer to design a book cover for me. I sent a description of what I want and included a photo and a drawing. What I got back was a thatched-roof bungalow on a beach. Not what I was looking for but when I replied asking for a different design all I've heard is silence. Guess I need to look at another freelancer. Anyway here's my poor attempt at a painting.

Since I finished the Big Wool hat the other day and the Teal Meadow washcloth I was thinking I needed another washcloth on the needles so I searched out a simple free pattern, dug up some yarn, and cast on. It's hard to see in the picture but it has a zigzag pattern or it will when it's farther along.

Today I loaded the tosses into the back of the car but I didn't go to Goodwill. Maybe tomorrow.

--Barbara

And It's Still Raining

According to the weather on my computer here the "rain is stopping soon." We had light rain all day today and, let me tell you, it was chilly and damp. I ended up putting on a hoodie and then a vest over that. I was cold! Last week it was in the high 80s and humid and I wore capris, sandals, and a short sleeved t-shirt. This week I'm in capris, a short sleeved tee, a hoodie, socks, and tennis shoes--and I'm still chilled. It's eight degrees colder in the house than when the a/c is on but I'm not turning on the furnace. Gotta love Wisconsin weather.

This morning these three Goldfinches landed on top of the crooks. I can't decide if they're three of this year's fledglings or they're mature birds that have turned to winter color already. I'm hoping that they're fledglings. I'm just not ready for the winter colors to come quite yet. But I suspect that the Hummingbirds are gone for the year. I refilled the nectar feeder the other day and the level hasn't really changed. I'll leave it up for a few days just in case there are some stragglers.

The pink sedum is really blooming. I wish I could figure out how to paint this but so far I haven't figured it out. Maybe if I try drawing it first...

I went out to lunch with my classmates from St. Agnes Class of '65 and then spent the afternoon starting a second rewrite of Island Dreams, last November's NaNoWriMo manuscript. I got smart and re-saved it with a new name so that I'm not changing the original. It's always better to keep the old stuff just in case.

But first I dragged out my drawing stuff. Today's lesson in the 30 Seconds book was Blocks. I drew the stack of three but then was lured to draw an illustration on the page that doesn't have anything to do with blocks. It's a kind of penguin on an ice floe with a shark in the water. Why can't I figure out fun stuff like this?

Then I drew the bunny and the deer which were on the next page of Drawing Cute. I pulled out a bigger 8" x 10" sketchbook and discovered that it's not as easy to draw things on the bigger page. I'm so used to the smaller 5.5" x 8.5" pages that my critters got a little misshapen when I tried to draw them bigger. Next time I'll be better.

I need to load the tosses into my car and swing by Goodwill later in the week and donate them. Maybe if I have empty boxes I'll be more motivated to find something to toss. This evening all I did was watch Antiques Roadshow on PBS and try to guess whether things went up or down in value. Mostly I guessed wrong.

--Barbara

Now It's Raining

It was cloudy and drizzly all day and started to really rain like it was supposed to in the afternoon. I just threw something out in the garage and heard raindrops on the roof. So we're finally getting the flowers watered. I went out this afternoon to take a few flower pictures and you can see that it had rained a bit by the drops on the Stella d'Oro lily, the only one blooming. I have eleven plants across the back retaining wall and only one is blooming.

I managed to snap a picture of a Chickadee trying to open a seed at the feeder. Those little birds are so fast it's hard to catch them sitting still. This isn't the greatest picture but it'll do.

The next figure in the 3-D book was Question Queue which is nothing more than a line of blocky question marks. I tried to draw the lines like in the book but got the perspective all screwed up. I managed better just winging it on the fourth one in line.

Next in 10-Steps: Nature was Toadstools. They were fun to draw and fun to color with colored pencils. I'm going to be sorry when this book ends but maybe I'll just go back to the beginning and work my way through again. Can't hurt.

Yesterday I got an email from Knit Picks extolling the virtues of their new super-bulky yarn and they offered free patterns to knit with it. I didn't care for any of the colors but I liked the pattern and have plenty of yarn to knit with so I put the pattern in my library and dug out some fancy wool yarn I got at Goodwill a few years ago. I cast on the hat this morning and ended up finishing it after supper. Big needles + big yarn = a fast hat.

 

I grabbed a handful of baby carrots to cook at suppertime and found this three-legged mutant among them. I ate it.

It was hard for me to resist signing up for another watercolor class that's going on at The Clearing this week. I could afford it but my jeans can't. Since I'm going in 2 weeks and will be at the mercy of the food that they serve I can't eat that way two weeks in one month. Two weeks in a year, yes. Two weeks in a month, no. But I can't get it out of my mind that I could be up there with my paints getting another week's instruction. I'll be alright.

--Barbara

Just Enough To Be Annoying

It was supposed to rain all afternoon and evening. It started drizzling in the afternoon and never really got it together to rain. It's been dribbling around which was just enough to be annoying. I say if it's going to rain then rain so that the flowers and plants get a good soaking. Don't just spritz around making things damp and not doing any good.

Before the drizzle started I went out to take a picture of the new Dad's rosebud. The cane that it's on is very tall and I'm not very tall so the rosebud is silhouetted against the soffit. I'll have to bend it down to take a picture of it when it blooms.

The purple mums below the rose are still blooming. I'll be interested to see if they keep blooming now that actual mum season is approaching.

Another mum is starting to bloom. It's covered in little whitish buds and this one gold bud that's just barely opening. This plant has the season figured out.

I dragged myself to my sketchbook and made myself draw the remaining skill levels of the Pencil lesson. I have no confidence that I can draw these things right. They're all out of whack and are misshapen. Pencils are my nemesis.

This evening I sat on the couch watching "Maine Cabin Masters" reruns on Magnolia Network and knitting on Another Teal Meadow washcloth. I finished it with a couple yards of yarn to spare. For a while there I thought I might run out but when you're decreasing you use less and less so I made it with yarn to spare.

My new Zauberball Crazy sock yarn came today. It's called Change of Scenery and I won't be casting on a sock with it until I order a new sock knitting needle. This yarn is thinner than some so I need a smaller needle. I can't believe that I don't have the one I need but I don't. Good thing DD gave me a Knit Picks gift card for my birthday.

I spent most of the day rereading The Seaview for the umpteenth time and still I found things that needed changing and a few typos. Will I ever read through it and not find booboos?

--Barbara

Drawn

I had trouble finding time to draw today. This morning I went to the pharmacy for one of the new booster shots. I'm off to The Clearing in 2 weeks and want to ensure that I have the strongest resistance built up. My appointment was in the middle of the morning so I didn't really have time to draw before since I kind of fart around in the mornings and afterwards I got hooked on reading an old manuscript that I keep meaning to publish on Kindle but I have to get all the typos and errors out. Then I had my Friday Women's Spirit Zoom with writing friends but after that I finally settled down to draw.

The next lesson in the 30 Seconds book was pencil. I know it seems odd to make a whole lesson about drawing pencils but I confess that I struggle with perspective and angles drawing them pointing this way and that. These drawings are the first half of the skill levels. I'm saving the second half, the harder half for me, for tomorrow.

Next in Draw Like An Artist was a Sandpiper. I think it turned out okay but I seem to have the same difficulty drawing feathers as I do drawing or coloring fur. But I'll keep trying.

When I opened the drapes this morning this Downy Woodpecker was on the suet pellets posing ever so nicely. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

This past week I worked through knitting the heel of the Villasol Sock (I need to focus when I knit a heel so talking is out) so that all I had to do tonight was knit around and around working my way down the foot. This is about 5" of foot from the back of the heel and I need to get to 8" before starting the toe.

We talked a lot about food at knitting tonight. About cookies and tamales and squash soup and chocolate mousse cake. Now I want to eat it ALL. Instead I had a few plums which are good but not as satisfying as a handful of cookies. Oh well. I don't have any cookies so I'm saved. And I'm not making any.

--Barbara

Sorted

I had my post-cataract surgery appointment this morning (everything is great) and then I took my dilated eyeballs down to the library to sort books. Reading glasses helped immensely. I
was pleased to see a bunch of bags and piles of books to sort. In the hour that I worked I got through all the paper grocery bags of gardening books, the piles of books on the table in front, and two or three of the canvas bags of books. An hour's about my limit of sorting, especially when I have to shift fully packed boxes of books to the piles of boxes of sorted books. Those things are heavy, good thing there's a cart.

The next figure in the 3-D book was Queen Bean. She was easy and fun to draw. I realized today that I'm finding things easier to draw. Daily practice is paying off!

Then I pulled out the10-Steps: Everyday Things book and drew art supplies. Again it was easy and went well. Go, me! Watch, tomorrow's pictures will be a pain and need a lot of erasing.

The rosebud on Dad's rose has opened up. It's too tall for me to take a picture head on but I like the way it looks from the side too.

Below the rosebush this crazy chrysanthemum is just blooming away even though it's hot, sunny, and in the 80s these days. Last weekend was perfect--low humidity and temps in the 70s--that ended on Tuesday (which was why I mowed then) and it's been hot and sticky since then. I would like the heat and humidity to leave so that it'll be cool and dry when I'm at The Clearing in 17 more days.

I took another stab at painting an orange day lily today. It's okay. It's the right color and the fence color is right too. I should probably have added some leaves for more green. Ah well. It'll do.

The eye doc prescribed Xydra to see if we can't stop my eyes from burning and tearing a few times a day. The pharmacy called to tell me that a 90-day supply cost over $500 so did I want to start with a 30-day supply to see if it works. Yes, yes I did. The stuff better be amazing for that price. I start tomorrow. I'll report.

--Barbara