Belinda Bunny (It's almost spring)

 Belinda Bunny's all dressed up in her Easter finery.  Just in time for class.  Looks like Spring is about here.

Instead of an Easter bonnet, Belinda bought a new dress and shoes.

Her panties are pretty cute too.  Even what's underneath is important to the well-dressed bunny.

The Long HOT summer!!

A lot has been going on here since I last posted.  Time has flown by, and we've been busy.

We've had a University graduation this spring,

with a little trip thrown in before starting her summer job

That trip was followed by another vacation,

and a few stay-cations,

 We had some fun visitors stop by the Homestead.

and unfortunately a very small accident involving two of our cars and the neighboring construction crew with a big truck pulling a backhoe on a trailer.

Some knitting has happened.

It's been too hot here to do much else.  We had the hottest June ever on record in our state.
Thank goodness for cooler evenings.

Every little bit of respite helps.
I hope to get back here to post more soon.

How's your summer going?

November

 Fall flowers and autumn colors.

Fancy pumpkins and squash.

Newly painted woodwork to protect the house from the winter storms.

 Lengthening southern shadows.

 Bright blue Fall skies and Indian Summer.

And leaves on the ground.

November's here.

A is for Apple

Fall is my favorite season.  

I love fall crisp apples fresh from the tree; pumpkins, squash, gourds;

 crunchy red leaves underfoot;











and lots of black-eyed Susan's and lemon balm in my garden (and sometimes on my cakes.  They're organic).

I LOVE FALL!

I always make this yummy apple dip when the first new apples are available.  It has a hint of maple syrup and just a touch of brown sugar.  And who doesn't love cream cheese?

Is it healthy?  Of course not, but who cares!?!  It's dessert.  

When my girls were little, I used to pack single portions of the dip in little disposable condiment cups with lids (like ketchup comes in), then I tossed sliced apples in ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh in the USA) to keep them from going brown and put them in plastic baggies.  Then into the girls lunch boxes it all went. Rumor had it that their apples and dip could be traded for anything in the lunchroom.  I don't think my girls traded much though.  That dip was just too good to trade for anything!  

It's still a big hit at our house.

Fall Apple Dip

8 ounces of cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of white sugar
2 Tablespoons of pure maple syrup

Mix cream cheese until smooth.
Add the sugars and maple syrup and blend.
Whip in the cream just until the dip is creamy and smooth.

Serve cold with crisp fall apple slices.
This makes about 1 1/2 cups of dip.

Last days of May.

The last rays of sunlight were filtering through the clouds when I took this photo.  The home tour was over and the rain was just getting ready to start up.  It was cold-ish but pleasant.  I'd so much rather put on a sweater than be hot.

There were a lot of people through the house.  About 1200 I'd guess.  This is the Granary of course.  For some reason I didn't take a house photo, but you've seen it before.  Too tired I guess.

This summer we are about to re-landscape the gravel pathways and areas. We never meant to have gravel but somehow our landscaper (and I use that term loosely) didn't get the memo).  Lesson learned.  Always be present when hiring out work.  Hopefully a pergola will be put in and we'll get flagstone down.  The fence is being moved to make a bigger area for eating.

For now, it's time for a breather.
Oh, and we are now beekeepers again!  IFA had whole hives for sale.  More about that later.
I've got another class lined up at the Wool Cabin.  I'll be teaching this little guy.

We're off to put our feet up.

Beekeepers....

For a week or so.

I didn't mean to be gone so long but things have been happening around here.  Not really bad things....well if you don't count someone in the family losing their electronic car key, then borrowing someone else's and losing that one too before getting the first one replaced.  Let's just say a wrecker had to be called to tow the car to the dealer.

And then there were the bees.
We've had bees in our roof/wall at the homestead for a few years.  Lots of beekeepers wanted them but no one could get them out.  Until we found Al.  Al is a beekeeper/contractor who came to take the bees out of the house and put them in a hive.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  

We waited until the middle of April due to weather and blossoms opening.

Here's Al removing the shingles.  I'm glad I wasn't up on that roof.  It was high.  The stone house has old fashioned high ceilings and Al is up higher than you might think.

After he opened the roof, he found that the bees actually were in the rubble stone wall of the house.

He removed the comb first.

The dark comb is brood and pollen deposits for food around the edges.  The pollen is the yellow pockets toward the bottom.  Al had us taste it and it was sweet.  The whole family was up on the copper part of the roof with Al.  He handed us the comb as he removed it and we put the honeycomb in new 5-gallon buckets.

The new comb is the white comb on the right that B is holding.  The colony was fascinating.

Al vacuumed the bees using a vacuum with a filter and then he dumped the bees into a small hive.  He rated the colony medium sized but most of the bees were out foraging.  Al never put on a suit or gloves.  The bees were docile.

Here they are in the small hive at the back of the property.

Al removed the bees and sprayed the hive to keep any new colonies from setting up a home there until we could get the holes in the mortar sealed up.

As Al was getting ready to put the roof back together, he noticed the queen outside the hive on our roof.  He was excited and so were we.  He scooped her up in his hand and climbed down the ladder and deposited her in the hive.

A week later we opened the hive to check the feeder and the bees and we realized that the queen had probably been sprayed and had crawled out of the hole in the roof while we were relocating the hive.  By putting her back in with the colony, she killed the rest of the colony off.  It was kind of sad.

It's too late to order bees for this season but we're prepared for next year.  The bees were fascinating and we're excited to try again. 

At least they are out of our roof and I do have some comb to harvest honey from.

Edie the Easter Bunny goes to the Country

Edie the Easter Bunny took a little trip to the country yesterday.

 She's back home in the city now...but not for long.  She's going on a trip.  I'm pretty excited for her.

Easter bunnies...off the needles

I've been away longer than I planned on.

 I've been teaching the Little Cotton Rabbits class again at The Wool Cabin; just in time for Easter.

Here's the dress for the Dutch Bunny in the yellow and white striped tights.  It's almost dry and then it will get a button and a seam up the back.
I made another little Lambie.  She's slightly different than the last one and off to a new home soon.
I have made over 30 of these little stuffed toys.  I think I might have an obsession.

Easter Bunny and Santas....what?

An Easter Bunny paid a visit here at the House (wrong holiday, I know). 

She came to see the Santas.  She is dressed in her nice warm tights on this bright, frigid snowy day.

This is before she had a "little work" done on her face.  I restitched it.  Too thick yarn so I took out one ply, gave her a nose reduction. and a little eye job.  I think she looks better in the "after" photos (top two). 

And of course I need to show you her undies...

and her tail (isn't it just the cutest?).

 Her companion, Miss Fox, couldn't be left out.

I don't know whose backside is the cutest.  I love Miss Fox's tail.

OK...I've still got socks to knit.  3 pair down and one to go.  It was fun to take a little knitting detour.  

I'm off to make potatoes au gratin for a huge party tonight and I just got in from snow shoveling.  At least the oven will warm up the house.  It's hard to type with gloves on  ;)

The stockings were hung....

 The stockings were hung (minus one) by the chimneys with care.

 Did you know you could knit with fabric strips?  You can.

I'm not even worrying about St. Nick yet.  There's more decorating to do.