She's In Love

Linda, that is....here's her photo-narrative of the beginning of her bee adventure ....

The Bees Have Landed

Linda is now officially a beekeeper, and too damn cute, if you (and she) will pardon me saying so.  I had to convince her not to go up in the dark last night to peek at 'the girls', as beekeepers refer to 'their' bees.  I took some (long-distance) photos this morning as she tended to her second-day beekeeper duties, and will post them in a day or two. 
In other 'news', the bobwhite has been seen yet again, we had our first hummingbird sighting of the year yesterday and so have hung two feeders, and two house wrens have decided we're done using the pellet stove for the season and are--as I write--building a nest in the stovepipe. We have gloriously ecstatic clematis turning heads over by the grape arbor.  And finally, the Joy spinning wheel and I experienced a failure to communicate; she has been returned to her home and a rented Ashford Traveller has taken up temporary residence.  We had a slow start but spent some meaningful time together yesterday getting to know each other, and by day's end, I think we were both pleased with the beginning of our relationship.  She's a sweet thing, and it was longing at first sight.  I'm trying to take it slow, but my suspicion is that a Traveller will be putting down roots in our home before the year ends. 
Is it really already Sunday evening?  Really?  Sigh.

She's Back!

Linda was able to take this shot this morning:

The Farmer Says....

Remember See 'n Say toys from decades ago?  They were nifty round things with a carrying handle, pictures circled around its face, and a big arrow in the center; when you pointed the arrow at a picture and pulled the string the toy would talk to you.  Probably the most popular was Farmer Says....you would point the arrow at a picture of a farm animal, pull the string, and the toy would tell you the name of the animal and make the corresponding utterance. "The farmer says 'cow'...moooooooo". You get the picture.  They had an alternately poignant and amusing commercial that showed a group of city kids at a farmyard, leaning over the fence, pointing at the sheep and yelling "hello doggie!!!", and the commercial hailed The Farmer Says as an invaluable learning tool for misguided, citified children who don't know hamburgers once mooed.
Well, we just had one of those moments.  As Linda and I snuggled on the couch watching a movie while some daylight still remained, movement outside the window caught my eye.  An odd looking bird was bobbing (aha--literary foreshadowing!) along in the weeds.  I went outside to get a closer look, baffled.  The neighbors' chickens had been out wandering and dining when I came home from work, so we thought perhaps a young one had wandered off.  Upon closer examination, I was less inclined to think so....but (sorry Linda, under the bus you go) Linda was pretty insistent it was a young chicken.  I will admit I didn't take much persuading; it had what looked like the start of a comb on its head, did the whole pecking thing, and fluttered alot but didn't fly.  Linda tried herding it towards the neighbors' house while I stood in the road to stop any cars coming by, but it couldn't be convinced to go home.  I came inside to call the neighbors to rescue their sad, lost fowl, and just for the heck of it, grabbed the bird book while their phone rang, and began flipping to 'quails'.  The conversation kind of went like this: "Hi!  Sorry to bother you; this is Ashling from across the street.  Are you missing a chicken?  A young one, not a chick but not an adult?"  He replied, "I don't think so....", and before he could say anything else I blurted out "Bobwhite!  I think it's a bobwhite!!!"  (bobbing....bobwhite....clever how I did that, huh?).  Bless his heart for not only not laughing at me, but confirming they had seen a bobwhite in their yard last year, and then asking if we needed more eggs (which they so generously share).  Alas, the bobwhite bobbled (there it is again!) along under the hostas beside the garage, and we didn't get a picture of her, but all I could hear in my head was "hello doggie!".

Pssst

Know what is tucked away in the living room as we speak, enticing curves beckoning me?  A spinning wheel, rented from Country Wool.  She's a tiny thing, an Ashford Joy, very different from my first (her big sister Elizabeth), but sweet.  We're still becoming acquainted; the first night got off to a faltering, stuttering start but there were a couple of moments when we clicked and magic happened.  Okay, brief moments, but magical nonetheless.  I'm looking forward to getting to know her better, seeing what we can spin between us....

The Long Way Home

When we first moved up here, a trip to Kingston was a "hitch up the wagon, maw...we're goin' to town" kind of deal.  One never knew what we'd bring home: produce and smoked mozzarella from Adams, a carved wooden chest from Home Goods, 80 lbs of cat litter, or all three on any given day.  Often it was nearly dark by the time all the stocking up was done, so we didn't always get to enjoy the breathtaking scenery on the trip home (when we were kids, on one of our yearly pilgrimages to some Southern shoreline, the endless drives--and endless bickering among the three of us crammed in the backseat--were punctuated every hundred miles or so by my father's snarling growl, "shut up and look at the scenery!"  Shockingly, this did NOT inspire any great awe in us for the also endless miles of fields and turnpike).  However, today's trip had one focus: get the items I was picking up for work and get home; this enabled me to bypass the Thruway and breathe deep the Catskill mountains as they snugged up against the outskirts of Saugerties.  The mountains change every day; this afternoon they were soft and green. They begged to be stroked, and I just knew all that lush green would feel like sun-warmed velvet against my palm, cooler where kissed by cloud shadows.  Their Spring-softened curves folded in on each other like the sweet dip in the small of a womon's back, and all I wanted to do was pull over somewhere and watch the sunlight and clouds pay homage to their grace.

Yeah, Not So Much

You know that whole "some days mowing is a privilege and a blessing" thing?  Today--NOT one of those days!