Weekending

A little sun, a little rain. A little outdoor play, a little indoor play. 
Walter and I spent some time admiring our favorite tree. We picked flowers, took pictures, even picnicked under it. PB&J tastes better under a pretty pink tree.

Walter took this one. It was certainly accidental, but I like it.


When we were done playing outside, we went bowling. So much fun. I tried getting a shot of Nate's sweet bowling form, but he moves too fast. He kicks my butt every time we bowl.

Walter used the ramp for the most part, but tried one ball without it. He threw it overhand. We went back to the ramp. Maybe someday he'll pick up his dad's skills.


Aren't kid-sized bowling shoes the cutest? 
Happy weekending to you!
Psst... locals, did you know that kids bowl free all summer?

Happy Easter!

(Thanks for the wind-up toys, Gramma and Grampa!)

Color, naturally

We did a little kitchen experimenting and cooked up some natural egg dyes. We used supplies we had on hand – beets, turmeric, yellow onion skins, and frozen blackberries.



I'm really impressed with the rich orange and yellow, but I was hoping for a brighter result from the beets. Those things stain my hands in an instant – why not eggs? The berries gave us a dingy gray. Blah. But overall, a fun little experiment. 

A google search for natural egg dyes will get you tons of recipes, but I found the best variety on this site.

A few days gone

I had to travel for work for a few days. I came home to bright, blooming tulips and asparagus ready to be cooked up for dinner. A home-cooked meal was such a treat after all those heavy restaurant meals. So much spring happened in the short time I was gone. Everything turned green and color is popping up everywhere. After a long day of travel it was good to get out in the fresh air and explore all that's new.



And, of course, my favorite thing to come home to:

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!