-
Swarm Season
Maywood is in its glory as the May woods blossom with tulip poplars, black locust, and wild roses. The bees have already had their fill of red maple and skunk cabbage and purple dead nettle, a pretty purple-flowering ground cover that brought in bright red pollen. Yesterday we went in to the bees for the… Continue reading
-
Les Rûches de Notre Dame and the Prize of Paris Honey: Beekeepers Go to Paris
We were dining in Montmartre when the news broke that Notre Dame was on fire. Almost instantly, our phones began dinging with texts from back home. “Notre Dame is on fire!” “Where are you? Are you ok?” Concern for our well-being came with snarky comments, too: “Was John smoking cigars in the restroom at Notre… Continue reading
-
This Little Light of Mine: Beeswax Candles
I recently gifted a dear sister-in-law with two homemade beeswax candles. This has prompted her to do a blog post about beeswax candles. And that has been a major kick in the pants for me to share my candle adventure here. Making candles is so easy! Just melt and pour. NOT. It took me over… Continue reading
-
Shrooms!
As though bags of cucumbers and bushloads of tomatoes aren’t enough to deal with the week before heading back to school, we just discovered some amazing gourmet mushrooms growing along our driveway. These aren’t the cute little morrels that John found where the ginko trees used to grow. These babies are enormous. The first is… Continue reading
-
Surf and Turf
Not yet 8 a.m. Vacation Man heads to the beach to set up camp for the day. He’s not the first. He has been spurred to action by another Vacation Dad hauling beach gear down the street. Yesterday, he set out after eight and barely found a good spot. Today, while he claims his turf,… Continue reading
-
Trees Must Die
Another tree made it onto my hit list this week. It must come down. It has attacked and offended me. The tree is perfectly healthy. For years it has grown near the corner of our house, sneakily growing taller and reaching smidge by smidge over the driveway toward my car. And then, just as my… Continue reading
-
A Sauna-dweller travels to Colorado
I should have packed eye drops, but I forgot that Colorado air is dry enough to suck out all your eyeball juice. In Colorado, no one says, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” like they do in Baltimore. In Colorado, when it is hot it is dry hot. Sweat doesn’t stick to skin like… Continue reading
-
Looking Up
My tag-along trip to Boulder while John is taking a class here got off to a near disastrous start. And by disastrous I mean epic fail, I should have stayed home. But the ticket was bought, and it’s Boulder, so how bad could things be, right? Premonitions of disaster began when I checked our hotel… Continue reading
-
Launch
The boy is propelled toward adolescence like the bottle rocket he has just launched into the trees. With a whoosh, whistle, pop, and a burst of light, the pre-pubescent boy is in constant motion, loud, and bursting with self-discovery. And, like the bottle rockets blasting every which way or zipping dud right into the ground,… Continue reading
-
Three Things I Would Bottle
Three things I wish I could bottle for later: summer sunshine, the restorative powers of vacation sleep, and the energy of a child. Probably in that order. I crave sunlight. I love sleep. And with every passing year, it takes more energy than I naturally have to carry me through the day. I don’t want… Continue reading
Slightly Off the Grid 