Bird Feeder Joys

We've had some wonderful visitors to our bird feeders this winter, and I just decided to try to take some pictures. Several of them have been quite unusual. They have a bright pink spot on their heads! I'm pretty sure there must be a research project going on somewhere nearby, because to me the spots look like they may be artificial and I can't find them on any birds like this in my bird books. Anyway, one came near enough to the kitchen window to take a decent picture today. I have to say I agree with Bob Sargeant, though- they are ALL beautiful!

I'm so proud!

Well, since I have a cold and didn't want to share my germs with anyone, I stayed home from Bible study this morning. Dh took ds to his Bible study and I picked him up. When he got to the car, he handed me a piece of paper with a drawing on it and asked if I knew what it was. I looked and immediately saw a submarine. I looked again, and Lo! it is a drawing of the Hunley! Several months ago we watched a show about the Hunley on the Discovery channel, and did about an hour's further research online afterwards. He remembered all that detail since then! Wow. I am so impressed.

Busy, busy...

Well, okay, so I have not been very good about keeping up with this blog! I hope to do better. Meanwhile, I'm fighting a cold and praying hubby and son don't catch it.

About a week ago, I got all motivated to paint, so I got out my stuff and did a little 9x12 painting of a scene in Ukraine. I took the reference picture in the summer of '05 from the window of a train. It's a monastery at sunset, and I would love to see the place in full daylight! It was beautiful at sunset.

Surprise visits from relatives...

... make great opportunities to clean up my house in a hurry! As usual, we had several projects underway, including 4 boxes in the living room to fill and ship to Ukraine, clean laundry waiting to be put away, etc., last night when we came home from church. We discovered we had a message from dh's cousin saying they were in town to show their son the local university campus.

We had a very productive morning! haha... and now my house is freshly vacuumed, cleaned, and straightened. The only drawing I've done today was during my son's swimming lesson this morning. Here is a sketch from a swim lesson last Thursday.