Keeping Bees

Ah yes. Spring. Or should I say "spring"...

We've been the enduring receivers of 42 degree, rain sleet and slosh filled days throughout much of Wisconsin over the course of March and April. Don't get me wrong- I do love grey skies. They make for great driving conditions (we all know how much I love my drive to work...) and they're easy on those of us who have been blessed with Rosacea or other skin related nuisances. Rosacea and sun don't mix. I work outdoors a lot and sunny days are not my friends (although so badly I wish they could be).

So yes, spring has been off to a slow start. But I'm not going to lie- I'm a little uneasy about going into my Super Mega Garden Reconstruction Project 2011, so this rain and snow and whatever the hell else is falling from the sky is actually kind of okay with me. Because I know that as soon as the 63 degree days hit, it's Go Time, and there's no turning back. Not the words that a Grade-A procrastinator wants to hear. I don't mean to brag, but I am pretty awesome at avoiding things. Why do you think I blog?


Anyway. I'll step off the sleepy horse now and get to what I came here for. Bees.

After weeks of lusting, I finally bought "Keeping Bees" by Ashley English, and although I'm only on page 23, I have to say that it's one of my favorite purchases ever. Ashley has a writing style that is clever and easy to follow, and the photo to paragraph ratio is about 1:2. My kind of book for sure...I like books with pictures and I don't like books without pictures, so this is pretty much perfect for me. 


Anyway, I picked this up with the intention of keeping bees next year, so it's been a nice way to fill any empty gaps of time that I find. I would highly recommend it even to those who do not plan to keep bees in the future. It's a fun read and teaches us just how magnificent bees really are. 

So since I have been so delighted by honeybees lately, I'm sure you can imagine my excitement as I turned to one of the first stories in this month's Midwest Living:

More words about bees! I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of my Midwest Living subscription, and just as I was about to give up hope that they ever processed my subscription card, I got my first issue. Yes! Because, you know, I really needed more magazines. 


Anyway, onto the next. I have shown you this a few times before, but I'm showing you again, because a post about bee love would not be complete without it.

This is the first linoleum block I ever carved. Or should I say, the only linoleum block I ever carved. I am hopeful that I will start printmaking again some day. And actually, I am going to rearrange my studio over the next few weeks and I'll certainly have printing on the brain when I do. Part of the reason I fell in love with our house was because of the potential awesomeness that the basement offered in the way of studio space. I should get on that. Maybe today.


Anyway. So that's all. Not really too much has been going on around here in my free time other than fertilizing my house plants, watching my cats sleep, working on my garden journal, writing for houzz, drinking mass amounts of coffee (i gave up on the idea of quitting), and thinking about trips that we want to take this summer. Oh, and I've been listening to a lot of music and finding new apps for my android. But that's about it.


Joe's been doing awesome things like making pizza from scratch (on the grill!) and dying eggs for me for Easter. He did one of each color, six total, and hid them along with not one but two hollow bunnies. Oh, he also got a brand new lawn tractor thing which he's super stoked about and he got his fishing license the other day. As we were standing in line for the license, I made the spontaneous decision to get one as well. 

We've been trying to think of more things that we can do together, which is difficult when you have 2 people who have completely different interests but it seems to be going well. We'll see what we come up with over the next couple of weeks. We may just end up making potato guns and shooting out some newly replaced security lights or bake a 6 layer cake with gummy worms if we can't come up with anything else. Whatever we end up doing, I'm sure you'll hear about it.