In response to overwhelming public demand, I did mention “Saturn Devouring His Children” although with the caveat that it was very weird and scary and I would never put it on the wall for fear of getting up in the night to get a glass of water and having a heart attack, and offered a James Christiansen piece as an alternate. We’ll see.

I was working on an oil pastel piece, and I think I may abandon it. I got one really great section and a bunch of not very great sections. I am, however, quite enamored of the sketch, so I may start over, do it in acrylic, and then use oil pastel for a few areas where it’ll shine. We’ll see how it goes. Mixed media, thou art a harsh mistress.

My new holy grail for the feeder is a cardinal. I have practically everything else in the yard, but have not succeeded in attracting a cardinal. Moving another feeder within my line of sight, (which means I remember to fill it regularly!) got me Carolina chickadees, more titmice, and some gold finches in winter plumage, but the cardinal remains obstinate. One hopped thoughtfully along the deck, cocked its head, and sampled a seed, then flew off. I may have to stock up on black oil and safflower mix. I do not have any low hanging limbs on which to erect a fly-through feeder, which they are said to favor, and anyway the squirrels would have it tipped over in a trice–I wonder if I could rig some sort of pedestal thingy.

I can see how people become obsessed. I’d like to think I’m not, but I’m definitely standing on the edge of the abyss, looking down. It’s probably a good thing I don’t have my own home, or I’d be hammering nest boxes up on every available surface. (Man, I wish I had my own home! Oh, well…someday.)

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