ayer

while the boy was in school, which is only for 3 hours a day now, his new special school that has me basically homeschooling him in the morning, in mostly non academic, but interactive and physical ways, since his school is mostly academic work done at a desk, olive and i went to the thrift shops near his school.

we got this cute cat basket.

this sweet old rug. the one i'd had here for years, to catch fire place mess, was starting to gross me out. i like this one so much !!

a sweet cup and saucer. sure makes the dirty dishes look fun.

and a few yards of good fabric. some oldish seeming thick woven stuff with that cool oval pattern going on, and then yards of this lightweight red linen. awesome. sorry about that bad lighting....



for the morning adventure, because max's school is in the afternoon, we went to the history museum at the university. i'm really into museums.


olive, on our way there. wearing this little dress i made for zhi as a two year old. so funny. all untied in the back. olive rocks it.

i love museum lighting.

they have a little exhibit on the fire that burned on our mountain last year.

and this one on the human impact on birds in the country. extinction being a big one.

the corner of bones and antlers for kids to touch and identify.

coyote.

a photo of a cool photo.

yep ....

i'm stalling on making the first fire of the season. piling on layers. i confess though, i did use the space heater today. do you think that's lame?

we have another week of warmish weather coming, so i'll wait on the fire. and i have another bar to take out of the bee house soon too, before we are done with warm days. i never shared the first harvest we had to make this summer. i don't know why. i just didn't.

the first swarm we placed in the first hive, built out comb and got to the back of the hive by the end of july. amazing. if we don't take a comb out, and give them more work room, they will build onto the back of the hive and that's disaster. the comb we took wasn't full of capped nectar, but close to half way full. a little brood mixed in. just a little. i've been letting it sit, hoping it will mature into honey even out of the hive. it tastes very good already though, from the sampling we all took. very light and macaroni. i mean, very light and sweet.

the next comb i take, is going to be one from the far back, which will be mostly wax. i don't want to take any more of their honey stores. not till spring. we'll take their leftovers then. but i'm psyched to have more wax. salves are something i'm into lately.

i'm currently infusing some almond and olive oils with calendula and comfrey from the garden. i'll use that oil in the next salve i make with the wax.

loving project runway. i can't help it. i actually pay for it on itunes. since we don't pay for cable, it's ok to pay for this show. here i go, to watch some more.....