Naturally Perfect Day

The morning birds sweetly sing a late summer melody as the sun rises in the sky...

 the Zinnias sway back and forth with the slight breeze.

Up early as usual, the buzzing of the bees melds softly and easily with the summer melody of the birds. There is a calm order to nature this morning and it is especially intoxicating.

 Enter the thief...whose mere appearance upsets the natural order of the day.
 
The thief/bee-master sends wafts of smoke into the hive to confuse the hard-working bees.


Stop thief!

The bees are about to be disturbed...angry and disturbed. With nearly 50,000-60,000 bees per hive, you do the math...that's a lot of grumpy bees.

The goal is to remove the frames of honey and load them into the plastic bins without removing any bees from the hive. That's the goal...albeit optimistic!

On this frame you can see that the busy bees have filled and capped about half of the frame with honey.

You'll notice I don't have any photos of what happens next...that's because I'm watching safely from inside the house. Remember this is the tricky part...removing all the frames and not the bees! But you can simply imagine what the photo looks like with thousands of angry flying insects all intent on stinging the thief who steals their honey. And you wonder why I am in the house?

The honeycomb is a marvel of insect engineering; a perfectly formed hexagon made from wax the worker bees produce. Then filled with that glorious amber colored ambrosia! This section had not yet been capped with wax.

Melted by the searing hot knife, the wax cap easily slides the top of the honeycomb off.

 

The aroma of melting wax and warm honey is incredibly enticing at this point. Anticipating this moment...I had fresh bread baking in the oven.

The thief has changed his attire and preps the spinner for the heavy frames.

Getting ready to spin....

Round and round and round she goes...the centrifugal force of the spinning propels the honey from the comb while leaving the comb intact.

And just like magic...the honey begins to flow into the waiting buckets. It's exciting! This is the bee-master's favorite day of the year...next to my birthday of course. He is nearly giddy with excitement as the honey begins to flow into the waiting buckets below.

The honey will go through a filtering process to remove any remaining wax caps as seen in the top of this bucket of Freddy Mercury's honey. Another fabulous honey harvest for the bee master. Here are the results of this year's harvest.

Queen Lady Gaga-2 gallons (Her hive was knocked over by the elk living in our back yard all winter).
Queen Richard Parker-6 gallons
Queen Freddy Mercury-8 gallons
Queen Kate Middleton-7 gallons
And Queen Zella-11gallons of honey! You go girl...best queen ever!

As evening approaches, the bee-master returns the empty frames for the honeybees to clean and repair any comb that was damaged in the havesting process. The bees seem to have forgotten that the thief stole their honey, and are now licking their little bee lips at the messy honey-coated frames returning to the hives. All is well and forgiven and the natural balance is restored once again.

A Teddy Bear Picnic

queue the music...

If you go out in the woods today

 
You're sure of a big surprise.

If you go out in the woods today

You'd better go in disguise.

 For every bear that ever there was

 Will gather there for certain, because

 Today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.

 The little teddy bears are having a lovely time today.

 Watch them, catch them unawares,

And see them picnic on their holiday.

 See them gaily dance about.

 They love to play and shout.

And never have any cares

.At six o'clock their mommies and daddies
 
Will take them home to bed

 Because they're tired little teddy bears.

 Hip hip hooray for Olivia's First Birthday Teddy Bear Picnic!


In case you are wondering...yes I did make Olivia a new quilt for her first birthday!

A Year Filled With Olivia

Who has sparkly blue eyes, chubby rose-kissed cheeks, lots of shiny new baby teeth, says Mama and Dada, a 6 month old baby brother named Henry, loves avocados and sushi, and is having a first birthday?


Why Olivia of course!

One year ago, Dean and I were wandering purposelessly through our local Farmer's Market wondering what to do with ourselves...we were nervous and anxious...waiting for any kind of news. Olivia was on her way and we were about to become Nana and Papa! Albeit joining our family in a special way, we straightaway fell in love with this baby girl!

And yes it's true...we have become those kind of grandparents!

You know the kind...overly doting, snuggling, baby talking, crawling around on the floor, sewing quilts, buying every sort of baby thing imaginable...that's the Nana and Papa we are!

Admittedly, I can scarcely believe myself how fast and the degree I fell head over heels for her. If you haven't had the opportunity to be a Nana yet, just wait...you're going to love it. I promise you!

I know that some people believe Olivia healed our hearts, shattered from the tragic loss of Jocie. But the truth is...nothing or no one can heal a broken heart...you have to fix that one all by yourself.

But now, Olivia along with baby brother Henry...they are the frosting on my cupcake; the sparkle in my diamond, and the joy of my life!

We have had a year of delightful dreamy days getting to know each other...Olivia and I!

 Chasing down giggles and storing sweet memories away.

Olivia has taught me to quietly examine the fine elements of life...getting up close to inspect exquisite details I might otherwise have missed. I still do not like to taste rocks like she does though!

She has taught me that when you're tired, all you need to do is simply rub your eyes and just like magic...someone who loves you will pick you up...and snuggle you close for comfort!

Every single moment of Olivia's first year of life has been filled with new experiences and adventures. The touch of grass under tiny toes, falling snow, splashing water in a pool, tasting delicious new foods and becoming a very little, big sister!

With an over abundance constantly showered on this baby girl, no child could feel more loved...from parents, grand parents, Aunties, Uncles, all kinds of family, and loads of friends too! I simply can not imagine this past year without having Olivia part of my days!

Without further adieu...

Happy First Birthday to my gorgeous, adorable grand baby girl Olivia!!!

And now for some cake...

Freshman Vocabulary

Do you remember the
21st night of September?
Love was changing the minds of pretenders
While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing
In the key that our souls were singing.
As we danced in the night,
Remember how the stars stole the night away
                                September-Earth Wind & Fire

It's September; he made it through the first week of his Freshman year in high school. Just a few of the 9th grade vocabulary words The Teenager will need to know...

Amenable...Although his alarm sounded off approximately five hours earlier than he had been waking during the lazy days of summer, his demeanor was amenable and cooperative.

Cessation...Comfortable summer routines of reading books on Kindle, playing with chickens, tossing around lacrosse balls with a constant barrage of friends, and making banana pancakes came to a complete cessation.



Early morning faces and lighting

 Erudite...Erudite discussions of Algebra, geography, and biology will soon be at the forefront of his thoughts.

Gregarious...There is something about being in high school that releases gregarious swagger in young teenage boys...all to impress the girls.

Ingratiate...He was determined to ingratiate himself with upperclassmen...to prevent getting pounded or stuffed in a locker.

Garrulous...Returning from the first day of school, a garrulous young man spouted quips of lunch, girls, classes, buddies...and more.

Volition...Of his own volition...he started straight into homework without being reminded.

Following dinner...The Teenager and I lay in the cool evening grass chasing the fluffy white clouds with our eyes. We chatted about his first day of high school...friends, hot girls, teachers, and everything else. For a split second I considered running to find the camera to capture the moment. Instantly, I realized I already had.

It is definitely looking to be a winsome year for this new Freshman.

"Ba de ya - say do you remember
Ba de ya - dancing in September
Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day"