That's The Way To Do It!! Hurrah For The Bees!!
Let's just start right here and take the suspense right out of the way!!!!!!! Yes, that does seem to be the BLUE ribbon on OUR pot of honey!!!! I am so proud of our Bees! Not only can they MAKE honey, but they can make award winning honey!
Here is another shot of the Award Winning Honey with some other winners...
And of course, one of me with all the winners! This has been an amazing 15 months for me, having gone from have a fear of Bees bordering on Phobic, to working with them, hand feeding them, stealing their honey, and now winning a Blue Ribbon. Just goes to show you...
For a day that started like mine did...Yes, this is a good story, tho not perhaps, a ringing endorsement for adopting Bengals. Lying in bed waking up this morning, I heard Kitties in the room, and called out to them, without crawling out of the covers, as one does...
"Kitties come here...in the bed..I'm awake...What are you doing? It....Kind of...Sounds like..You are.... taking the screen off the window and going out onto the roof!!!!!????"
Darned if the fiends hadn't managed it.
MIM: Look! I can walk the ridgepole!!!
ME: Get your furry butts back in here before you fall and break all your kitty legs leaving me with vet bills of doom!
MIM: Ok....Sorry...Right...Coming in now...
VENUS: No. You Suck. I like it out here. And I spent a lot of time taking that screen off while you were sleeping.
ME: Venus, darling, don't make me come out there...
VENUS: I believe that why???? Look, I'm a gargoyle!
And so it went...She came in (ok, was dragged in when she got close enough for me to reach her, she was right, I sure wasn't going out there for anything) and my day got busier and spiraled downward, a seemingly never ending, never trouble free project I have been working on, collapsing like a house of cards yet again, leaving me in near meltdown mode, using language that Venus herself would have been proud of.
But then I got a Blue Ribbon.
And the world went right again.
And now I am going back to the Faire.
Love and Blue Ribbons,
Lorraine
posted by Fabulous Lorraine @ 3:49 PM
54 Comments
54 Comments:
Ah, the joys and trials of parenthood! I know that feeling of being in bed and thinking, "please don't let that sound be what I think it is!"
SO many congrats on the blue ribbon. You and the bees deserve it!
Ummm... there is a penquin at your feet? Why?
Congratulations! Weeeee!!!!!! Prize Winning Honey!
That is a stressful way to start a day.
So stoked for you, the girls and your blue ribbon win!!!!!
Jolly Good Show!!!!
Love,
~Liza
hip hip hooray for blue ribbons and the beekeeper who steals their honey! and another round of applause for the transformation of your day - yey, bet going to the fair was great fun! yes - is that a penguin in the pic? i cannot believe the kitties took down the screen, what a hoot, tho not fun to try to grab them i bet. venus sounds just like my tank.. just a load of cooperation :) sorry that your project is having its ups and downs - hope it starts to behave itself (c'mon tell us what it is, we is curious we are, and we can help! we are a helpful bunch! we can be Serious and Organized!) haha, enjoy your fun at the fair and especially your blue ribbon!
It's worse when you hear the crash, pause, then "Nothing happened, you don't have to come out here"
Why yes, that does seem to be a penquin at my feet. It won a ribbon. Boss wondered the same thing. I will go back tomorrow and find out exactly what class one would enter a penguin in....
Hi Liza! Miss you, girl! And many thanks! I am really proud of this ribbon, for a lot of reasons. It makes me so happy.
I have an entire BLOG on the House of Cards project, but it will have to wait. I am sorry, didn't mean to tease, it just vexed me so and sort of slipped out...Long hard day, and the ribbon made it all better, was all I meant...
I fixed the photos, Blogger was being weird, and made them all small. I added a Venus and Mim too, looking like ghosts...
Congrats L!!!
I hope your project shapes up.
Not a tease, not too worry - what better place to vent than among friends, even if you are not at liberty yet to discuss your project? and it made the ribbon winning ever so much sweeter. tho if you ever do need help, you know you can always ask us. birdchick had a cute entry for the blue ribbon bees (holy crap!)
The Birdchick was over the moon! I sent her a Bunch of photos, she may post more...
Thanks Sue, you are all the BEST people talk to , vent to and plot with, truly! I love having you in my life to share both Blue Ribbons and Chaos!
I like the idea that you have things going on that we only get hints at. It makes you mysterious and intriguing and all like that. The Tease can be a good thing, you know!
Oh Fablo, I KNEW you would win! The most beautiful honey ever, in every way. Too bad you couldn't get the word out about the fosters at the fair... or can you???
is there a feline aero gymnastics event at the fair? LOL, Mim & Venus would take the cake!!
Well, yes, but I don't want to ever sound full of myself, or as we used to call it "Acting Big"
Unless it's about my gigs, hee-hee, I am SO going to kick some musical BUTT on Friday! (and Saturday) I am so ready! I havn't been off two weekends in a row in a couple years...
And Aleta, on behalf of GLBR, THANK YOU. Your heart is a good one.
Thanks, Merry, as the person who has to endlessly clean up all that honey, you are also a part of this Blue Ribbon.
Honey gets EVERYWHERE, and this may sound obvious, it IS sticky.
Yay! Go Bees! You and Sharon must be very proud:).
There is nothing quite like that ominous silence following some loud crashing/banging/scraping noise that cats have made. Except maybe the eerie silence made by toddlers when they're doing something forbidden.
Glad you got them back inside..you have some seriously Houdini cats.lol
I'm sorry your House of Cards project is not behaving. Some projects just seem cursed, don't they? I have actually resorted to burning sage in my office and smudging the project files and notes with the smoke. Of course, there is always the hazard of things getting inadvertently lit on fire (always a possibility with me). Sometimes that's been a blessing in the end: Well, don't know quite how to say this, but that last proof you made changes to? It accidentally caught on fire. Sadly. Mind marking up another one?
But awesome news about the honey! I thought of it at the faire today, too. :) I'm glad you found something to cheer you up. :)
Oh Kali, They are funny, they don't go THRU the screens, they take them OFF...If I thought they would be ok on the roof I would let them go there. Houdini would be proud. And oh yes, I know that silence..."Things were quiet, TOO quiet"
Val, hadn't thought about lighting things on fire, nice idea, hee-hee...I was nervous about the honey, I guess I do have a lot of myself invested in Bees.
I've done so much these last couple years and have so much to be grateful for, but I think the bees are way near the top of the list.
There is something about facing that kind of fear, and coming out stronger.
Pantagruel, this just made me howl with laughter:
"Well, don't know quite how to say this, but that last proof you made changes to? It accidentally caught on fire. Sadly. Mind marking up another one?"
Lorraine, they can take OFF the screens? Dang, they're good.
Those beasties! They were too good to be true and working on a grand escape.
Hurray for the winning honey (deserves it entirely: It is most excellent).
Spontaneous combustion as a defense, I, too, am still laughing.
Yes, they are very, very smart....And microchipped for a reason. Life with Bengals is not dull. But worth it.
Just heard of a Bengal girl in Rochester MN who was dumped at a shelter because she "doesn't like other cats" You noticed this after 10 years?????
Oh, Morning Spacelaw, of coursey ou are up, must be 5Am there, hee-hee...Are you caught up on sleep after your holiday?
I think it is all part of the Bee Bengal alliance, the escape to the roof, then the blue ribbon, but I am not sure how.
Danguy will know.
Caught up SOME sleep but not much (those three days in Nottingham were so thrilling that I hardly slept a wink).
And I still wake up way too early.
Mind you early morning is the only time where the temperatures are mild enough to be workable (ONLY 25.5 degrees at 06:00! I almost feel cold).
Is that 57-ish in our terms? I know, it's the same here, cool at night, then insane in as the day goes on.
I wonder how Ariandalen is doing? Hurricanes, heat, severe weather all down her way....
We had storms come thru today with WIND, and then nothing, except the wind knocked over a tree, dropped it on a new apple tree that had actually managed to make 5 apples, and took down three of them.
Hans ,woodsman extrodinaire who was working down there at the time, and reported this, took this personally.
I believe they were completing the external broadcasting unit on their mind control device.... they may have used the fair as a testing ground for the new machine. There could indeed 'bee' a link.
One cannot deny that cats possess mind control devices.
As I write this Lamie just jumped up on the desk and is lounging for scratches.
SHE JUST TRIED TO DELETE THIS POST!!
She highlighted it by stepping on the mouse and moving it..she then tried to step on the keyboard... but she moved the mouse far enough that it only highlighted it and didn't erase!!!! HA!!! It must be the truth. The Bee Bengal alliance has spread to other species of cat!
Morning Nathalie.
Val, that's hilarious.
That's SO true Rubious! Cats Do try and use the computer, they are so trying to contact someone...Mim is Watching me type this, no doubt taking in every word....
sorry to hear about the apple trees. I am hoping the wind stays nice around here.
I just got my yew in the ground today. I hope it survives. It is a 6-7 foot tall tree and rather bushy but it sat on the roadside for this hot weekend with it's roots in the sun so it is hurting. The guy at the garden store said that it might be as old as 50 years with that height.
and it had just fallen out of some truck and was sitting in the middle of the road, then on the side of the road. Poor thing.
Morning (or rather evening) everyone!
Lucky enough my kitties zoomed out to freedom so I may blog in peace. They seem to be more interested in crucifying lizards than about seeking world dominion (they KNOW that it is theirs already).
Wind? What about the old barn? Did you guys take it down already? It doesn't really look like it could withstand any strong winds.
Good point Nat. It was a beautiful structure though.
I should clarify... the tree is in a giant half-barrel planter (not the actual ground) and I am worried about the wind because the planter is on an unprotected rooftop.
The winds weren't that strong, tho that old barn IS going to come down, it's supporting walls are gone and we have pics of it from the early 1900's...Sad kind of, you know how to build things in Rome to LAST.
We don't have much OLD over here..
Good luck with the yew Rubius, tho Id on't think at that size it could be 50 years old, did I read your post wrong?
Wait...You have a tree on your roof? That is weirder than Bengals on a roof....
The Barn looks good but I can appreciate it might seem a little dangerous to let it stand in case of storms - if a tree can be taken down by wind, then surely this old structure might as well. And the roof cave in with snow.
Kristina, can't you run a rope around the tree to secure it to some fixture? It would get hurt and possibly hurt some people in its way if it should fall down from the terrace.
Tho, if the barn falls down in a storm, that does kind of take care of the problem...
My ficas, that winters in the dinning room, came down in it's pot today, o the deck. I should tie it, fine idea.
The gentleman at the garden store says that he used carve wood and that he had often searched for yew wood. He said that it was very hard to find large enough pieces for his carvings because yew grows very very slowly. He thinks it is a Pacific Yew but he didn't actually see it, he was using my description. I also think it cannot possibly be that old but it is a big specimen of a very slow growing plant.
The tree is in the center of the rooftop deck and there is a solid parapet around the roof. My apartment manager (who helped me put it all together tonight and offered to pay for the pot) and I piled a lot of wood on the dirt to keep the sun off and he insisted on propping a door up to keep the direct afternoon sun off it. I mentioned stakes to secure it vertically and I think he may go looking for some of those. There really isn't anything to tie it to and it is way too heavy to move now. I may try to find bricks or heavy rocks to weigh the dirt down near the trunk as I understand that also works.
Hey witchy types... I don't know about the significance of yew trees, but I believe they are significant. Anyone know about this?
Apart form the fact that most of it is toxic (so wash your hands well after all manipulations) not much.
Often used in graveyards so there might be a link with the myths of Persephone.
I'm all right. We got rain! No severe weather here, that was all southeast Tuesday, and west-northwest yesterday morning. It was nice and cool yesterday due to clouds, so we finally had a day with the high under 100 degrees Fahrenheit. We've had so little rain this summer that a tropical storm or a hurricane is about the only way we'll get any, at least until the jet stream moves south. That doesn't usually happen until after the autumnal equinox.
Congratulations on the blue ribbon! I'm thinking the penguin is made from a gourd, and that's why it's with the produce and flowers.
I gotta go to bed. XP
Rubius, off the top of my head yew is one of the chieftain trees of the druids. It was one of the best woods to make longbows from, in part due to its association with death. Tamoxifen, a drug used to treat breast cancer, is made from a specific species of yew. ::shrug:: That's the best I can do at 1:00 AM without any books nearby.
Blue Ribbon Honey!!!
Sounds like an awesome way to improve the day :)
Also, I really like your reflection on how your whole relationship with bees has evolved. What a spectacular, and tangible, embodiment of how much things have changed. How often can you get an honest to goodness blue ribbon for something like that?
Enjoy.
Now, of course, I find myself craving toast with honey. Off to the kitchen ...
Erm, oops. That previous comment should have been under this name (Again with the display name issues, sheesh!) I do mean to stick with this one.
Morning all! Val, i love the idea of burning proofs, and wonder if it would work with my bills? hmmmm, could save lots of time accounting that way....tho the creditors might become irritated and charge fees. Natalie, hope your holiday was lovely! Kristina, how nice you have a tree, tho i just kinda skimmed thru the posts, as i am getting ready to go to work - is it on a roof? how the heck did you get it up there? "acting big" - snicker, never heard that phrase (and not too worry, you never do) but it's one i will have to remember. that's a shame about the apple tree, but you guys have an old barn? how cool, i love barns as i lived on a farm til i was 5 and it was my favorite place to play. take a pic sometime? well off to my saltmine, or more like clay/plaster mine - have a good day all!
The Bengals were on a secret mission to retrieve the Bees' honey. The Bees have decided that they aren't getting enough respect in this Bee-Bengal Alliance.
When informed of their win, the Bee Queen scoffed, "I *know* my honey's exemplary, yo."
Hi there,
I saw the blue ribbon announcement over on the Birchick's blog and just wanted to poke my head in to say woohoo for you. Woohoo for you! That's lovely! :)
I won't say how many holes my cat-girls have clawed into my window screens. Frankly I'm surprised that they haven't managed to pull the screens out yet.
Venus and Mim are gorgeous! Just look at those sweet kitty faces. Oh, I think I'm dying from cute.
If something's at all flammable, and there's a flame nearby, and then I show up, things get… interesting. See: The Time I Lit My Hand On Fire. Also see: Why Fire Extinguishers Are Also Magickal Tools. However, this does make camping dead easy.
Quiche, it rocks to have something tangible to hold and look at that represents overcoming a fear. :)
Rubius -- Don't eat the yew leaves. Or wear anything made of yew wood. And be careful of its dust when sanded. And especially Stay Away from the sap; it's so poisonous it was used as a quick way to commit suicide, and to coat arrows. I suspect it's the yew's toxicity that gave it the reputation as the tree of death. And it also got planted a lot in churchyards/graveyards because it's so long-lived, it represented immortality -- there's an old wives' tale about yew trees in graveyards putting down roots to each corpse's mouth. Yews grow really, really slowly; some are 1000 years old. So it could easily be 50 years old and still quite small. Hmm, what else? Oh, because of the weird way it grows, with the branches growing down to the ground and rooting, when the main trunk dies, the branches become new trees. So you have the whole death/rebirth thing going on there, too. Ariandalen, that's cool about the anti-cancer drug being made from the yew -- how perfect! As you probably guessed by now, if you need to do work with any of the death deities, yew is definitely the right tree for the job.
Glad to hear you are good, Aridialdalen! Yea on the rain!
Lex, no worries, my picture keeps changing, why not your name? I remember after Sharon and I installed the first hive, we went back for some tea before doing the next (very needed) and she looked at me and said "I am not the same person I was" and I nodded,knowing exactly what she meant.
Have fun Sue! I will take a pic of the old barn, it is lovely.
I knew you could explain it, Danguy. Thank you for clearing that up!
Hi Jess, and welcome! I hope you will come back, you sound like you fit right in with this wacky group! Your kitty looks wonderful and spooky...The Bengals are not being cute this morning, they are being evil. We played Wake Up Attack this morning...
This roof tree is starting to sound kind of scary....
Thank you all for the info. I also found out that the oldest wooden tool, thought to be 50,000 years old, is also made of yew wood.
As for how I got it up to the roof... I carried it.. I picked it up a few blocks away from home, lugged it home (was asked if I was working on xmas early this year) and carried it up 3 flights of stairs (we do not have an elevator in my apartment). Then I went to the plant store bought dirt and a pot (oh how woefully I underestimated the rootball size) and carried them home in an abandoned baby-carriage. Took the baby carriage back the next day, bought more dirt, a giant half barrel for the tree, and lugged it all home. Then I had to lug even more dirt up from the basement to finalize the project and added bucket after bucket of water. I suspect the tree is staying on the roof permanently as I will NEVER be able to get the whole thing down again without a crane.
You are so right lexocat, it is great to have something to remind you that you conquered that fear successfully.
Jess is a friend of mine and I think she DOES fit in a wacky group...
Yes, a big welcome to Jess. I think you would enjoy this corner of the web. It is nice to see you here.
Having a tree on the roof is nothing new. A lot, if not most, new multi-story construction site have a tree at the top during construction as a protection. There's even a name for placing the tree, but I'm too sleep deprived to remember it.
Rooftop gardens aren't too unusual, at least not in large cities. It can even help keep the building cooler in the summer, and probably warmer in the winter. Yes, Ariandalen has been watching way too much Planet Green (formerly Discovery Home).
I think my train of thought just derailed. Aaaaalllll over the place.
Thanks for the warm welcome, Lorraine. :)
My sense regarding Feline Cuteness is that it always will involve a certain amount of evil. Case in point: my cats, while not necessarily evil, frequently impersonate those creepy twins from The Shining. that's them about an hour ago. They are called Edie and Ally, and always sit in that order in a window. Just like Ant and Dec.
I believe, by the way, that spacedlaw is actually keeping tabs on me, in the event that it becomes necessary to have me hauled away by men in white coats. I hope she'll send good looking men, if it comes to that.
Of course I would. What are friends for anyway?
Actually... as for the tree being on the roof.. I was a little worried because the building is OLD and cracked and bendy in places. The apartment manager lives below the deck (so I always soft-shoe it up there) but he loved plants and he seemed willing to risk the roof caving in on him.
There is one very tall apartment building on English Bay (here in Vancouver) that has a beautiful giant tree deciduous tree growing on the roof and it has been one of my favourite sights since I first saw it as a child. I always wanted to go up and hug that tree because it has brought me so much joy but it is a private residence so that's not likely to happen. I am not planning on hugging my tree so much because of its prickles and my skin reaction allergies but I do love my new tree VERY much.
also not planning on eating it... but it did come with one berry. (just one).
I have been trying to make the rooftop deck all green and I have since amassed quite a collection of plants up there. If I have to live in a city, I want to be surrounded by greenery.
Huge congratulations to you and the bees (and Birdchick & Boss, of course) Big cyber-hugs all round.
The honey looks lovely - does the fair have classes for crafts, too? Maybe next year you could enter beeswax candles or lipbalm, too...
I feel a sudden urge to go make toast & honey now....
I think I like the bit where you brought it back in a baby carriage the best, hee-hee, Well done with your new friend the Yew, Rubious!
Of course Jess is your friend Spacelaw, I knew she was cool, and you know EVERYONE. And if she needs to be hauled away by hot men in white coats, in a straightjacket perhaps, she most DEFIANTLY belongs here...
Cute overload on the Shinning Kitties, Jess! I love the expression:"Yes. I am in a Kitty Tent. Plotting. Fear Me and all our kind."
Hi Marjori, Yes, there are classes in EVERYTHING. I could have entered garden things, flowers, crafts, all of it! And yes, next year, candles nd balm. The craft that one Best of SHow, was a truly dreadful flower/weed arrangement complete with plastic neon frog.
Hmmm...Reading down, tune in next week when Rubious's Yew comes thru the roof and to her living room for tea....
Planet Green Rules.
You bee fabulous!
Well, thank you very much Nony, how nice of you to say so!
::singing::
"Red necks,
White socks and
Blue Ribbon Bees!"
So, are you going to enter some tomatoes next year, too?
There were times at my local fair that I really wondered what was going through the heads of the selection committee for Best in Show. And I never really understood the Antiques division. Granted, people would look at our handspun skeins of yarn and go, "Well. I could buy that at Walmart." Sometimes even while we were sitting there with wheels and hand spindles spinning. The stupidest thing that was ever said to us was a woman pointing at one of my friends spinning wool on her spinning wheel and told her children,"Look! She's using a sewing machine." I kid you not.
The neatest thing that has ever been said was by a little boy watching me spin wool on a hand spindle with wide eyes, "Is that MAGIC?"
Oh yes! Is very much IS magic, the most important kind...
It's funny, people do enter tomatoes but they are, of course, still all green!
I am going off back to the Fair to find out what exactly is the story on this Penguin!
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