Five Shadows

Our garden is teeming with insect activity. Today I sat for a bit and just watched the comings and goings. The Rose of Sharon has such a variety of bee life visiting and gathering pollen. One huge bumble bee type had his legs so loaded with pollen, I wondered when he would head home! Then there was the honey bee type who went to the buds too, working his way under the unfurled petals. And a tiny little bee that attached the blossom just as the bumble bee did – but he is so tiny. There was the ‘normal’ honey bee visitor and then a bee that looked like him but with a shorter body. Oh! and the wasp looking visitor. I’m not going to try to identify these visitors, I’m just amazed at the number of different varieties of ‘bees’ visiting the garden. Can you see the little bee inside the flower on the left?

These pretties are heading to Lenna for her Row House Swap. When I first read about the house swap, for some reason beeskeeps/beehives popped into my head. After all, a hive is a house for bees, right? I shot off a note to Lenna to ask what she thought and she replied in a general email to all participants saying, “Sharon asked, “Do the houses have to be the shape of a conventional house? For example, I’m thinking a beeskeep is a “house.” Any size or shape as long in the range of 1- 3 ½” wide and 2-5” high, including the roof are the rules, so I think that could work, Sharon!”

I know that these houses may not be what the other ladies are expecting. but I do hope they will like them as much as I enjoyed creating them! The base for the house is a chipboard Christmas tag which I painted with gesso and craft paints. Then I added torn paper to give the woven basket shape to the hive and embellished with bees and stamping.

And here is a picture of the back of two houses. I made six, so Lenna can have one. Thank you Lenna for another wonderful swap!

I’m so pleased to say yesterday ended with a broad smile on my face. As a family, we packed up three cars to help transport our two sons and all their stuff back to university. After setting up young-son-two in his dorm we headed to the local ice cream eatery. Being a very popular ice cream parlor and being that upperclassman would be moving back on to campus with families like us heading to Ivanhoe’s, we anticipated joining the long line of customers. Once receiving our treats – that first yummy taste – there was no doubt that the time waiting had been well spent!

With young-son-two squared away, we head further south to meet up with young-son-one. Just recently back from a trip to Sweden, he is moving back into his apartment and will continue to work on a master’s degree in physics. We unpack his stuff and the girls get a tour of the small apartment, giving their approval. After a quick trip to the grocery store, young-son-one is pretty much settled in and with the hours of the day ticking away, we head for home. Daughter-number-one is dropped back off at her school of higher education with much kisses and fanfare. She loves road trips and having started school several weeks before her brothers opted to take the road trip with us today.

As I settled into bed last night, I got the strong sense that all is as it should be. The three eldest are pursuing their interests and preparing for their futures. DH returns to his job investing in the future of young adults at the college where he teaches. And I will continue at home with our two youngest children – teenagers both, really not young at all – making this my 22 year as a homeschool teacher. Yes, all is as it should be.

The last week of July, I went to That Pretty Place B & B with several friends. This is our annual self proclaimed quilting get-a-way. I only took one quilt along to stitch down the binding but I never even got it out of the bag. We ended up doing lots of shopping, eating out, and playing cards instead of quilting. Essenhaus is one of our favorite stops for eating. Yoder’s and Lolly’s have fantastic fabric finds. One afternoon several of us took a card making class at The Calico Frog. It’s a wonderful little scrapbooking  shop in the little town of Middlebury. Scrapbooking and card making is not “my thing” but I thought I’d give the card making a go with my friends. We had a great time! Here are the 4 greeting cards I made.

We just bought a new scanner/printer/copier and the above pictures is my attempt at learning to use the scanner. Hope the quality of the scan is OK.