Liquid Gold

 The day finally arrived when we "robbed" the hive and harvested honey.  It is important to leave approximately 80 pounds of honey for the bees to consume during the winter so we only gathered honey from the supers.  One hive had honey for the taking and we managed to harvest approximately 18 pounds of the liquid gold.

Imagine, it takes the lifetime of 12 bees to produce one teaspoon of honey!  Realizing that, the golden nectar becomes even more valuable than it
actually is for, believe me, this honey is

priceless. 

The gifts of beekeeping are many....I enjoy sitting and watching them as they come and go from their hive.  They do that little "bee dance" at the hive entry to advise their sisters of the best sources of nectar and pollen.  To help them out, I've started planting "bee friendly flowers" in our yard.  I think the bees struggle in Silver Springs to find enough nectar to keep them going.  I also want to thank my neighbors for contributing to the adventure by growing gardens and planting flowers.

 I enjoy watching the bees at their local watering hole, the bird bath and am delighted to see them returning from gathering pollen with their "baskets" full.

I think beekeeping makes me slow down a bit as I watch the bees and enjoy the flowers.  I am thankful for the honey they gave us this year and look forward to the next season.  Now it' s time to prepare for winter; put up the mouse guard to keep themrodents out of the hive, test for vorra mites and feed pollen patties. 

 I'm so very grateful for my dear friend, Debbie, who has walked me through my first year as a beekeeper.  Her knowledge is immense, her patience is equally as large and she shares without reservation.  So, as I write this my first beekeeping season is coming to an end and I'm thumbing through books... looking for more flowers to plant and anticipating the adventure of a new year.

Sorry, Sudoku....you've been replaced.

Sorry, Will Shortz, the Sudoku puzzles no longer appeal to me the way that Zen Doodling does.  As I put that Sharpie pen to paper, I am enchanted with the designs that flow.  Although I'm currently limiting myself to paper and pens, I anticipate sitting at my machine with rich colored Aurifil thread on solid cotton fabrics.  Oh....to imagine!

Food Truck Friday in Reno

She moved seductively, hips swaying as she belted out a Nora Roberts song.  She rubbed up against his leg, and nested on his shoe, knowing how much he loved her!  This was my introduction to Food Truck Friday, a puppeteer well versed in his craft. Cheyenne selected a Vietnamese sandwich from the Dish Truck and Bill tried out ribs from the Saucewagon.  Noah had a burger and fries from Fatburger and  I tried the Asian Tacos from Kenji's...the pork were especially delicious and priced at $1.50/each - best deal of the evening.  Beer from Great Basin Brewery and home-made chocolate ice cream with chunks of chewy chocolate and almonds made the evening perfect.  Then we headed over to Chey's house and watched Freddy Frogface with Noah.  Cheyenne brought out movie candy and offered popcorn to end a fun night with our grand kids.  Check out Food Truck Friday (the first Friday of each month) on their facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/RenoFoodTruckFridays

Birthday Placemats...a year long project.

As you may imagine, my family has lots of birthdays from the oldest, William, to the youngest, Willa Rose, we manage to fill up calendar pages, month after month with reasons to celebrate.  I think the only months we get a breather are February, June and December.  But, if you agree with me, December definitely does not qualify as a "breather."  I decided I wanted to make individual placemats, celebrating what makes each of us unique, so I began in May with Max and Sam's 11th birthdays and followed in July with Larry's 35th! Molly is next, the end of August and then I charge head on into the fall months with celebrations for Chaja, Willa, Marcel, Dylan, Rachael, Scott, Ivan and Olivia.  I'll be so glad to have December "off" for January brings four more birthdays!  I'll be posting pictures of the placemats as I finish them.  Since I'll be doing the little grand daughters closer to their 3rd birthdays, Willa and Olivia will have a wait.  I think this will be a  very long, drawn-out adventure in figuring out how to capture each person's personality in a placemat.

The Best of Dandelion Wine

Queen replacement bee

I'm listening to Ray Bradbury's semi-autographical recollection of a small-town summer in 1928, Dandelion Wine.  This quote is magical  "...searching out the smell of the gold fuzzed bees that hung around our back-porch grape arbor.  Bees do have a smell you know and if they don't, they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers."

Placing the queen in the frames.  The bees will eat through the candy nougat plug and release the queen.  By then they will accept her because of the pheromones she releases.

The Backside Offers the Best View!

Now, I guess that really depends on what you are looking at, doesn't it?  For me, the backside of quilts typically offers the best view of the quilting and the work I enjoy the most.  Rachael, when she and her family visited over spring break, worked on a disappearing nine patch for her mother-in-law, Ellen.  She ended up taking it home to rework the squares and when Bill and I were visiting Seattle in June, she put it together and sent it home with me for quilting.  By rights, the only side I can claim is the backside of the quilt, for that is where my creativity hides.  I finished my part and am returning the quilt to Rachael so she can bind it and prepare the label for this warm and cozy Christmas offering.  And so I offer you the backside of Rachael's quilt.

Feliz Dia de las Madres

Five baby birds on Cheyenne's front door wreath

Mother's Day crosses state lines, national borders and continents.  Mother's Day, a time to reflect on motherhood in general and our own mothers in particular.  Mine was perfect for me...short, fiery and a heart as large as her body.  It's been over five years since her heart stopped beating and I miss her every day.  We didn't always agree but she never expected that.  She wanted her children to speak up when there was injustice, comfort the sick and feed the hungry.  She was a "people person" and we learned from the best.  So, to all mother's everywhere, especially my four daughters who are learning about life from their children, blessings to you on Mother's Day.

Front door nesting site

As Pregnant as a Pea

Something about springtime makes people want to dig in dirt, take in the rich, earthy smell and watch minute particles find hiding places under fingernails.  Bill is the family gardener and he tills the soil well.  I, on the other hand, am more like a butterfly or a dandelion....not one to rely upon, for in a poof!, I'm gone.  I like to be outdoors but prefer to flit about, checking out this or that; digging a hole, pulling some weeds, planting a few seeds but commitment is not in my genetic code.  For that, I look to Bill. Currently, he is planting old seeds with expiration dates that came and went long ago stamped on the colorful envelopes.  Sunday he decided to plant beans and peas and began to head outdoors when I asked why he wasn't soaking them.  "I never have" was his reply.  Having seen Jessie, our neighbor with green thumbs and garden clogs permanently parked on her front porch, soak seeds over the years, I gave her a call and she said to soak them about a day and a half.  As we sat down to dinner tonight, two jars filled with water and soaking seeds were at Bill's place at the table. The beans and peas were swollen with potential, not unlike the belly I gazed upon when I was near term.  He finished his dinner and headed outdoors to find a nesting place for the peas, after all their due date has long passed.  

Poem in your Pocket Day

In celebration of National Poetry Month, we were encouraged to carry a poem in our pockets to share with friends and co-workers.  Thursday morning, April 26, I thumbed through poetry books looking for a poem with my name on it.  As I checked out Billy Collins poems, I looked in particular for The Lanyard.  This poem delights me and I am putting it in my "online pocket" to share with you. Alas, I didn't have enough time to find it and settled on two other poems instead; one for each pocket.  If I didn't get to share my poems with you on Thursday, I will take this brief opportunity to share with you on the blog.

Left pocket poem

Today

                        If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
                        so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze


                        that it made you want to throw
                        open all the windows in the house


                        and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
                        indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,


                        a day when the cool brick paths
                        and the garden bursting with peonies


                        seemed so etched in sunlight
                        that you felt like taking


                        a hammer to the glass paperweight
                        on the living room end table,


                        releasing the inhabitants
                        from their snow-covered cottage


                        so they could walk out,
                        holding hands and squinting
                        into this larger dome of blue and white
                        


                       well, today is just that kind of day. 

 Billy Collins

Right pocket poem

A. B. SEMIC

Death and Me

Death and me.

Death is not withour me.  She is within

from the very beginning:  she grows with me

every moment

                    One day

I stop

                    and she grows on with me

Until she completely outgrows me

reaching my borders.  My ending is

her real beginning:

                    Thenceforth she reigns alone.

Only a few more days to celebrate the poems and poets in our lives.  What is your favorite poem to share?

The Queen Comes to Visit

My Linus Quilt donation

Each year, members of the Ditch Stitchers make donation quilts.  Last year we blanketed the children of the deployed Dragonlords with quilts to comfort them while their mom, dad or both parents were serving in Afghanistan.  This year, we donated our time, talent and fabric to Project Linus.  As we worked on our quilts, we learned that Miss Teen Nevada, Bailey Gumm, set a goal to collect 100 quilts/afghans for Project Linus.  We invited her to our monthly meeting to gift her our quilts, share good food and conversation.  Good luck Miss Teen Nevada!

Members of the Ditch Stitchers

Soiled Doves in the Window

All it took was a quilt challenge and countless hours of my life to transform the paisley fabric into a wall hanging.  When I purchased the fat quarter from the Nevada State Quilt Guild, I immediately thought of brothels and knew my quilt would explore the impact Nevada brothels made in the early west and continue making today.

Seeking inspiration from the book, Soiled Doves by Anne Seagraves, I first contacted the author to seek permission to use prints from her book.  As we chatted I learned that the price of photos, many which she purchased for the one time use of publication, was far outside my budget. I already knew that I would piece the traditional quilt block, Dove-in-the-Window.  My son-in-law, Marcel suggested I showcase the Mudflap girls in the pattern so I contacted them and they offered permission as long as it was for personal use and would not be sold.  As I contemplated options, I decided I wanted to be subtle and rely on the eye of the beholder to see what s/he could see.  I would be brazen and bold in a very tasteful manner.  Soiled Doves in the Window began unfolding.

I selected a pink cotton floral print to use with the challenge fabric and then reached far outside the traditional quilting circle to select a fabric used for sari's, a 100% polyester blend.  It was horrible to work with and I decided to use interfacing on each piece to provide stability and control raveling.  It was even more challenging to quilt as I wanted to do very traditional quilting - feathers and cross hatching.  I had to quilt part of the wall hanging from the backside  because I couldn't see markings on the dark fabric.

There are eight rectangles that I used to sew the names of brothels, some which closed their doors and shut their lamps years ago while others are still operating under neon signage and providing room tax money to rural counties.  Their names are as colorful as the women working there - Red Rooster, The Kit Kat Ranch, Mustang Ranch, Love Ranch, Salt Wells Villa, Desert Dollhouse, Chicken Ranch, Cherry Patch Ranch and Old Bridge Ranch.  I don't know if these "Ladies of the Night" had much time for quilting but I would venture to guess that many offered comfort under bed quilts.

So, it is finished and I turned in my quilt and entry form today.  It will be a long year before those soiled doves return.  I'll put a red bulb in my porch light when they come back....in celebration of course.

Beekeeping 101

We checked the hives and both queens found their way to freedom.  Now their work begins for they lay eggs, and lay eggs, and lay eggs....nearly 1,500 each day.  There are two types of bees in a colony; the females, divided into two castes - workers and the queen; and the male bees, or drones.  The most numerous are the sterile females, incapable of laying fertile eggs.  By midsummer, there will be about 40,000 worker bees thanks to the queen bee and her workers!

We checked the hives to locate the queens and we found them!  We also observed what action was taking place and discovered the honeycomb being developed.  I think I saw a larva but, not wanting to disturb the queen, put the frames back in place.

I started a bee journal and am enjoying spending time outdoors, sitting by the hives and watching them do their bee dance at the entrance.The area at the entrance is called the dance floor and scout bees perform dances to tell other bees where nectar, water and pollen sources are located.  I am finding the bees very calming and enjoy learning about their social structure.  The Beekeeper's Handbook by Sammataro and Avitabile is a great resource book for beginning beekeepers.  There is more to come!

The Flight of the Bumblebee

The plan was to meet Debbie and Andy in the Wal-Mart parking lot in north Carson to pick up our two orders of bees. When their email came, they said the bees were packaged on Thursday instead of Friday, so they should be placed in the hives this evening, which is now.  We started at 6 pm and finished shortly after 7, we're exhausted.  We had everything in place, hive tool, sugar syrup, mister to spray the bees with sugar water, marshmallows to replace the cork in the queen's box and, most significantly, white, spanking new bee suits, bonnets and gloves.  Bill decided to go first and in the process of uncorking his queen, managed to shove the cork into the box.  He went into the house to remove the wire mesh on the little box so he could remove the cork piece.  As I came into the house he announced, "She flew away!"  I was stunned....how could this happen?  Meanwhile, Bill located her on the front window and I went out to the shed and got a little aquarium net to catch her.  With a little teamwork, we got her back in her box and Bill stapled the wire in place, shoving the marshmallow in the end. Then he placed her between frames, shook bees on top of her and commenced to shake, shake shake his box of bees, trying to empty all of them in the hive body.  He ended up leaving the box at the entrance in hopes the remaining bees would figure out that this was their new home.

Then it was my turn.  Believe me, I learned from Bill and managed to remove the cork and replace it with the marshmallow with relative ease.  I decided, rather than shake out all the bees, to only shake a cup, or so, on the queen and place the bee package in the hive to let them come out on their own.  This means I only have five frames in my hive and will replace the remaining five tomorrow when I check on the sugar water.  So the adventure begins and we are bee-coming accidental beekeepers.