Just my type

I bought a typewriter. Craigslist. $35. The seller actually talked me down. What? Anyway, it works great and it's portable. And by "portable" I mean it's really heavy but it has a case and can easily be packed up and tucked away in a closet if we ever get bored with it or feel like using our dining room table for, say, dining.

I love the way it feels. It's so satisfying to press a key and ink appears on paper, instantly. And it makes all those great typewriter noises. (Ding - zip!)

Walter gets it. He makes sure his paper is in straight. He knows he has to press the keys really hard. And he likes the typewriter noises too.

A hand-picked bouquet

From Walter...

Building hives

The bee hives are built! Kristin and I spent the afternoon assembling, hammering, and painting with our two little helpers, Kyla and Walter. And Nate helped too, of course. 
We will have two hives. To get us started, we assembled 8 supers:

50 frames with foundation – the foundation helps the bees build straight comb:

And we painted the outsides of the supers dark purple and light purple. Why purple? Because we had purple paint. The bees don't care. But I think they will look cute and cheerful in the yard. And I'm aiming to have a very cute bee operation here. We're off to a good start!

Checking in

Not too much to say today, but I figure I better check in with this space every once in a while. I know the posts don't come very often these days, but spring has come early and we are busier than ever. The regular old stuff of life mixed with busy summer planning. The garden needs a good clean up – I confess I didn't really put the beds to bed last fall. I'm putting some good effort into getting the canning kitchen in working order. And we've decided to get bees! My sister and I are going to be beekeepers! (Nate plans to watch from a distance for a while.) We will be assembling our hives tomorrow and getting things ready. Our bees will arrive in April. I can't wait! 
And, totally unrelated to all that, here's a few photos from our Saturday morning. 
Nate ran the Shamrock Shuffle, finishing the 10k in 45:47 – a personal record! Have I mentioned he's signed up for two more marathons? And he said he'd never do another one... 

While Nate was running, we took a little walk up Bascom Hill with Grandpa and Mary, visited Abe Lincoln, and showed Walter the dorm both Mary and I lived in. (Chadbourne Hall, in case you're curious.) 

Seeing Walter in shorts for the first time in months – the kid is a beanpole!
We finished off our morning with a trip to the zoo. 


Well, I guess I had a few things to say after all. Guess I should stop by more often. :) 

A spring day

You guys! The high temp today was 62°! Beeeeeautiful! A perfect evening to play outside in a Mama-made sweater. It's Tuesday – he said he'd wear it on Tuesdays. 

I've been letting Walter take some pictures with my camera lately. It makes him more willing to have his photo taken. He's learning how to look through the viewfinder and aim the camera. He took this one of me today. I think he's getting the hang of it. 

Sunday morning

He waits patiently for the coffee to be ready. 

Because when the coffee is ready, Mama is ready – to play! 

There's no way I could have built this thing without coffee. :) 






The marble game and the camera kept us busy for hours. The floors didn't get vacuumed, the laundry didn't get started, but really, this was a much better way to spend a Sunday morning.