The cuttings I took of the morning glory bush are sending out roots and still giving me an occasional flower from buds that were already developed enough albeit smaller
When I got up this morning the predicted low for tomorrow (Tuesday) had dropped from 17˚ to 12˚. I don’t think it has ever gotten that cold here in my life. Now at nearly noon forecast has risen two degrees to 14˚ but still a 91% chance of precipitation, meaning ice or snow for Tuesday. Tonight only 25˚ and I can’t decide if I want to get the cats in the shed tonight or not. Today is cold, windy, and overcast. Whoever has been working on the house next door has been there every day for about the last week and a half but not today. The only thing good about this arctic air is that it will be short lived, really just one terrible day and night with each succeeding day warmer and warmer and nearly 70˚ on Saturday.
I’m not going to talk about the other terrible thing happening today.
I got my grocery shopping done on Sunday so I shouldn’t have to go out for any reason until Thursday, my SHARE day or to feed the cats. I worked on my painting yesterday, am working on it today. Currently waiting for it to dry and assess where I’m at.
You might remember that my electrophysiologist wanted another TEE (transesophageal echocardiogram) to check on the Watchman device in my heart three months after the first TEE in October after the procedure last August which showed a .2 leak (within the normal range) to see if it continued to heal up. Well, that’s been scheduled for next Monday the 27th and I hope to all the powers that be that this will be the very last time they go poking around the inside of my body.
We finished watching The Outlaws on Prime which we really enjoyed and I highly recommend and wrote about the premise here. Now we’re into the second season of Eureka (also on Prime), a small town of the most brilliant scientists and high IQ individuals doing all sorts of research at Global Dynamics around which the town grew up and in which things go awry with regularity and it’s up to the average IQ sheriff to get things squared away.
Not much else to write about.
It's supposed to be down in the twenties like five nights running here.
ReplyDeleteThat's all I have to say at the moment.
The predicted low kept rising and I think it actually only got down to 20˚ last night (Tuesday night). Getting warmer from here on.
DeleteCodex: Eureka is what I used to call sci-fi light. All the characters are likeable, no great meaning or depth, just light entertainment and relaxing. Are you enjoying it?
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about your health issues. I'd bring the cats in today just in case.
We started season 3 last night and yes, light and enjoyable with about a million plot holes.
DeleteIt was a snowball that started with a misdiagnosis but all is well now. And I'm glad to be able to get off the blood thinner. As for the cats, I had fed them earlier and when I went back to coax them into the shed only one showed up and the heater wasn't working anyway. They had shelter under the house and were all fine Tuesday.
Codex: You picked a difficult flower to paint despite it's simplicity. Doesn't even have well defined petals. Mix some ultramarine with the green you used (not to much pigment) apply it to the bottom of the petals. Light at first, you can always go darker later.
ReplyDeleteI think another commenter was right, you approach it like Glas art. Nothing you can do about it now but the stigma cheetos are too large. It's an interesting image though.
I think the fact that it is an extreme close-up, the angle, and larger than life image gives the impression that the stigma are too large. It is a tracing from an actual photo I took of the flower so they are the proportional size they were in that flower.
DeleteI'll try the green/ultramarine combo on a separate piece of paper first. And as I replied to a previous commenter, "Now that you mention it, you're probably right. When I filled a mold or made a diagram for the carved glass I always started with the thing closest to the viewer and that's how I've done these paintings." I've noticed in some videos of watercolorists that they do the background first.
Many different methods. Flower artists of Kew is a very good book. Endless possibilities so one never gets bored. Yes. That's the comment I was referring to. It's time consuming but let me know if you want some you tube suggestions.
DeleteCodex: P.S. If you have any transparency paper(not the plastic printing kind), you can lay it on top of a dried watercolor painting, trace the outline with pencil and add just the color in one area to see what it would look like
ReplyDeleteWe are currently at 2 and will be -2 overnight. Another day and night of this stuff. I cannot remember air this cold for years.
ReplyDeleteAnd the ignorant will point to these super cold fronts as proof against global warming.
DeleteI loved Eureka. We watched them all. It was entertaining, non-violent and just nice. Loved it. Are you awake when they check on the Watchman? It sounds really awful.
ReplyDeleteWe're enjoying Eureka, like you say, just nice even if full of plot holes. And no, they put me under for the procedure.
DeleteAll Hail Polar Vortex. Which is real. The Pleistocene, the past 2.5 million years, has been mostly ice ages. with brief stable warm periods of grace. We as a species evolved in this time, unfortunately as a tropical species. Which means we almost guttered out like a candle when the ice comes down. You will enjoy what I am enjoying and I want you to go out in it. Dress warm, and take a walk in Arctic paradise. It's like a reverse sauna you feel great when you come back inside.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I bundled up, put on my rubber boots and walked around in it for about 10 minutes which was plenty. Had to go out in it a few more times to fill the birdfeeder and the cats. I lived in Chicago one winter. Never again. You nordic types can have it.
DeleteIt’s cold here too - minus 17 degrees C right now. It’s easy to forget that this used to be standard winter weather and now it’s exceptional and provokes conversation. Darkness descended on the world yesterday. The clowns have arrived and the circus is not going to be pretty.
ReplyDeleteCold winters used to be your norm, warm winters used to be out norm. It's all topsy turvy now.
DeleteYup, racist misogynistic white christian nationalist (nazi) supremacist hate on full display.
Has not been above freezing here for seemingly ever - not true, but feels like it. But the birds are busy and noisy. I remember frost in Ireland and freezing water pipes in poorly insulated houses or houses whereb the water tank was on top of the roof. Hope you have a better set up in sunny hot Texas!
ReplyDeleteI stayed away from the coverage but got a glimpse on the German media of Musk doing the hitler salute and I must admit that it sent a shock through me that hasn't calmed down.
And our bought mainstream media is hosting discussions on whether or not it was a nazi salute...from a fucking nazi. And the ADL of all people saying it's just a moment in time and calling for grace and forbearance. I'm pretty sure the jews in Germany said the same thing until they started getting rounded up in cattle cars.
DeleteI dripped the faucets the last two nights but even so the hot water froze in the far little bathroom last night (I dripped the cold instead of the hot the night before). Hasn't thawed out yet even though it's above freezing. I sure hope the pipe in the attic didn't break.
It's so very cold here today -9°F right now but "feels like" -19°F! My son in Manvel said they had 2 inches of snow and so school is closed for 2 days but luckily they have not lost power.
ReplyDeleteThat's about all I want to talk about, too. ;)
Same here about the weather.
DeleteI am not envying you all this cold. It sounds miserable. I also have plants that flowered when I brought them inside. I guess the warmth fooled them into thinking the season was changing!
ReplyDeleteThe Brazilian button flower must have been putting on buds when I brought it in. It's warming up today and though it will get below freezing again tonight (Wednesday), most the snow should already be melted.
DeleteWell, wasn't this special? How much snow did you get? We got between 3-4 inches, and it really was pretty. For a while this morning there were huge flakes, and it was just cold enough for it to fall without melting. My neighbor's dog took a good bit of coaxing before he'd go out in it. The first time, he put his nose and one paw out the door and said, "NOPE!" I busied myself feeding birds and squirrels all day after I came in. We got some sunshine and melting this afternoon, which will refreeze tonight and make driving even more nasty, but in a day or so things will be back to normal winter: 40s and 60s. Good times.
ReplyDeleteSpecial? Um, no. Seen enough in my lifetime. We got two inches but no big flakes, more like snow drizzle. Minnie had to go out in it several times. Kind of amusing to watch her try to walk without touching the ground.
Delete