Not much going on bee-wise. Temperatures hovering (spelled wrong for days and days!) between the mid & high 50s.

They drink from this pedestal bird bath, which is right behind the hive.

Day 4. They seem happy!

Deer-resistant, huh? Not in my yard. Had to move this cutie to the protected area.

Also not immune to the damn deer: coral bells and columbine. Maybe by "deer-resistant" all those books and websites mean "the deer won't climb over a 7-foot fence to get at them."

Pileated woodpecker.

On an old stump just outside my deer fencing.

Bees, end of Day 2.

I found this poor little bee this morning at 10 AM but felt confident by 6 PM that the group had survived very well. But now, at nearly midnight nearing the end of Day 2, I'm sure I've killed, or am killing, the entire colony. All because of that sugar water that isn't flowing properly (and that they may not even need). This may cause so many problems! The entire enterprise may be over in a week. I want to run out there right now and hank out the feeders. But I already looked inside the hive at about 8 PM (my first infraction of the "do not open for 5-7 days!" rule). And I don't feel like suiting up at midnight, getting my smoker going, and trying, in the dark, to carefully remove the feeders. Oh the worry. I'll know something tomorrow I guess. It's supposed to be showery and only 65 degrees. Today was very sunny and 70. Will the bees even want to come out on a showery 65 degree day? If they do, I'll breathe a bit easier. If they don't...
Ommmmmmmmmmmm.

Bees, Day 2.

Top picture is at about 10 AM this morning. A few bees outside the hive but just a few. Bottom picture is at about 4 PM this afternoon. Lots of bee activity. I successfully moved the 5 frames full of bees into the hive, and most important of all I located my Queen. She seemed calm and well attended. I installed the aggravating, frustrating, and possibly incorrectly constructed (by me) sugar water feeders in the top of the hive. Now I just have to worry all night that I'm drowning my bees.

Birth Day. April 22, 2010.

The drive home from the Honeyfield Apiary in Williamsport, MD, to my house in Silver Spring, MD, was uneventful and the bees were very well behaved. In this cardboard box, coated with wax, are 5 frames of Italian honey bees. And one Carniolan Queen from Kona, Hawaii. Carniolans are originally from Slovakia. I was told to place the box gently on top of the hive, remove the plastic webbing from the front door, and wait until the next day to move the frames into the hive box.

Healthy Happy Herb Haul.

Hellebores. Among my very favorite perennials. They bloom early and reliably (and beautifully), and stay in bloom all summer.

She's young but not too young to be having a fawn this year. Behind my house, in a place where I first see fawns in the spring.

My bee field day at Big Jim's bee yard in Mt. Airy, MD.

That's Big Jim pulling out a frame full of bees. And I'm one of the white-clad folk in the crowd watching him work. He got stung three times (on his hands--he doesn't use gloves and is oh so casual about the stings). The only other stingee was my husband Doug, who just went along for the ride, didn't wear any protective clothing, and was wandering around the field. He was pretty casual about it too.

There she sits. Awaiting her colony of bees.

I know that beekeepers highly recommend telling neighbors about newly adopted bee hives. But I'm still not so sure I'm going to. My house is at the end of a street, facing a park--which you can see in the background. I continue to ponder what's best for everyone. For now, keeping my mouth shut is best for everyone. (Actually, in general it's always best to keep one's mouth shut. Or as my friend Margo W. says "WAIT"--Why Am I Talking? That was the single best piece of advice anyone's ever offered me.)

David Brooks, a wise conservative, says "Media Psychodrama"--Perfect!

"Let’s all stop paying attention to Sarah Palin for a little while. I understand why liberals want to talk about her. She allows them to feel intellectually superior to their opponents. And members of the conservative counterculture want to talk about her simply because she drives liberals insane. But she is a half-term former governor with a TV show. She is not going to be the leader of any party and doesn’t seem to be inclined in that direction.

"The Sarah Palin phenomenon is a media psychodrama and nothing more. It gives people on each side an excuse to vent about personality traits they despise, but it has nothing to do with government."

Full interview here.

Still crazy for violets after all these years. So reliable, so care-free. They are the anti-tulip, which is neither reliable nor care-free.

My makeshift bee suit. Got it for $10 on eBay. I'll add elastic to the cuffs and pant leg bottoms.

It's used; was billed as "AN, OFFICIAL, GENUINE, AUTHENTIC, U.S., MILITARY ISSUED, PAIR OF WHITE, MILITARY EXPLOSIVES HANDLER'S COVERALLS. 100% COTTON."
Note creative and interesting use of commas.

If you need to handle any explosives you can borrow my suit.

I don't expect to ever be this casual, but you just never know.

I'm fascinated by that nasty device that appears to be blending the bees into bee soup, but in the end it seems to be full of living bees that get dumped back into the hive boxes. So much to learn.

Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Becca & I were nearly alone in this home, so I imagined living here. Nice modern art collection. Modern in the relative sense

I'll take a dozen more please. Babies that is. And in another lifetime obviously. (Db-click -- slowly -- to get full screen.)

Sock No. 1 of Pair No. 4

Piazzo del Campo in Siena and The Duomo of Siena (no, I'm not through posting pictures of Italy).

From Wikipedia:

The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of three hillside communities.... Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements.... It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with ten lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into nine sections, ... held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292 and 1355. It was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.

The Duomo was built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Frog orgy, and concert, at the pond today.

Dozens and dozens of frogs engaged in quite a lively and loud display. They didn't mind me taking pictures either.