I have things to blog about and still no mojo to do so. Instead, I made a new banner. I think it might not be quite right, I may have to tweak it a little more. Also, why does typepad not center my banner for me? I don't understand. Maybe I'll find some blogging mojo later tonight or tomorrow. I can't be sure.

I feel a little boring right now. I need to sew something cute just so I can post it here. I have been cooking and gardening and beekeeping, which are not boring, but I don't have pretty pictures to share at the moment. So enjoy this little William Morris rose from my yard. It's such a trooper, it just keeps coming back every year, even though I keep thinking the gophers or the weeds are going to get it. It's climbing on an old white iron headboard. It would be so cute if it wasn't surrounded by so many weeds. I love old fashioned English roses.

• A lone sunflower growing at the side of the freeway, in a little crack at the edge of the road. I am watching it's progress each day as I pass by on my way to work.

• The guy at the bus stop dancing his heart out, with no sense of embarrassment, as I pulled into the grocery store parking lot.

• Two little grey and yellow birds, doing their mating dance over our woodpile one sunny day. I need to find out what kind of birds they are.

• Little chickens now living outside in a makeshift pen made out of an old dog house and rusty cage, thanks to Mr. HeyLucy's ingenuity and sweat. They had to be sent out of the studio after I went in Saturday morning to give them fresh food and water and found three of the little cheeky buggers out of their box and running around the room.

• Realizing beeswax foundation looks like a tumbling blocks quilt pattern when you hold it up to the light. Also, it smell delicious.

• Seeing bats swooping and flying above the driveway at dusk. Eat all the mosquitoes you like, little bats!

• Spring vegetables and fruits, like this roasted asparagus I made for breakfast this weekend. I decided to try making hollandaise sauce (using a goose egg yolk!), and it was delicious and silky and decadent. Let me know if you would like the recipe (using regular eggs, of course!) Tonight I have some fresh fava beans. I'm going to try grilling them in their pods.

• A tiny fat toad, caught while helping Mr. HeyLucy dig through the scrap wood for the chicken pen project. I brought him inside long enough to snap a picture, but then let him go again, right where we found him. He is about the size of a kumquat. I used to love catching tadpoles and watching them grow legs when I was a kid.

I have more bee stories, but I'll save all that for a post later this week. As I've been reading other beekeeping sites and blogs I've noticed that some beekeepers name their hives. As I only have the one, I don't suppose it's really necessary, but I started thinking about what name I could give my hive. I was looking around for names of famous beekeepers, and learned that the Von Trapp family kept bees on their Vermont farm, cool, right? I love The Sound of Music. As I was thinking about it, I came up with the brilliant idea to name my queen Maria, and then call my hive the Von Trapp Family Stingers. And then I cracked myself up.

Fresh Peas

I found a not-too-out-of-the-way farmer's market on my drive home Wednesday. I love fresh peas, don't you? I'm going to steam these and eat them with a tiny bit of butter and salt. Do you have any good pea recipes?

I feel so extravagant this weekend. I have been dying to try macarons, and I finally found a French bakery that makes them. So I splurged yesterday and bought a ridiculously expensive box.

And then I ate some with a cup of my favorite tea (citrus mint).

They were wonderful, slightly crispy on the outside, and chewy inside, it's just a wonderful texture. I haven't read any recipes, but the outside seemed like a meringue with ground up almonds and the insides were a variety of creamy and jelly deliciousness. Learning how to make them is still on my to-do list for the year.

I needed all that sugar to renew my strength after getting the beehive all set up this morning! Not really, the Very Nice Beekeeper (and I suspect that bee people are, in general, my kind of people-nice, calm, hard-working) did most of the work. We looked through all the frames, and I saw the queen and all the eggs she's been hard at work laying. Some were brand new eggs, some were looking decidedly grub-like, and there was even one tiny baby bee emerging from her cell! I worked the smoker, but they were really quite mellow, and not too concerned about us poking around in their home. I went back for a look after they'd been there for an hour or so, and bees were flying in and out, just like they'd always been there.

You may want to look at it a little larger to see all the bee activity. On the opposite side of the house we have a couple big rosemary bushes, which are blooming nicely. There are regularly bee visitors there, but today it's just a-buzz with bees. I ordered my fancy, cute hive, so eventually I'll move the frames into the new, much cuter hive. I can't have my girls living in a tenement now, can I?

The beekeeper also brought a chunk of comb he broke off yesterday. It had a little nectar in it for me to try, and it was quite tasty. I also happen to think it's really pretty.

I hope you won't mind learning a little more about beekeeping over the next few weeks, I've been doing a lot of reading on the subject lately, and it's so fascinating. This hive is well established, so I should be able to harvest a nice big jar of honey soon, if there's enough blooming. And what could be more extravagant than honey so local it's from your own backyard?

Some weekend photos:

The chicks are five or six days old. They're doing fine, but the dogs are about to come undone, especially Bear who sniffs them worriedly and yet can't stop drooling.

One of the Maggies. I think I will print and frame this one for her namesake.

This was the view to the left as I was trying to take photos of the chicks.