honeybees at work!

Our friend Matthew, who also built a Ware hive in his backyard slipped his handy iPhone in to our hive.  We were so pleased to see such a beautiful bunch of bees at work!  We took another peek inside the other day and caught a glimpse of 3 honeycombs being worked on!  We really love and are thankful and appreciative for life happening at our home even when we're away.

a kentucky derby.

 guys & gals.

Derby Day: funny blimps overhead,  gin and tonics and relaxation with dear ones.  (Thanks for posting these Michelle!)

all spruced up.

with an influence of horses, mint juleps and kentucky.

wild swarm adventure

Tim and I skipped over all the materials in the books about catching wild swarms and we still didn't have our hive completely ready.  The thought of brushing off a swarm of bees from a tree into our cedar super and transporting them to our home hadn't even crossed our minds.  Instead, we were planning on mail ordering bees.  We were so behind with getting the hive ready that we wern't even sure if that was going to happen.  It ended up happening, wild swarm and all, completely unplanned and totally spontaneous.  

We recieved a call last Friday afternoon from a friend letting us know a wild swarm was spotted by their home.  They had retrieved a wild swarm from the same tree just a week and a day before us.  We set along for the ride and in just a few hours successfully moved the bees into their new 'bee mansion' in our back yard!  they look pretty satisfied and really happy.  They are very busy creatures.  You can find yourself squatting beside their hive and watching them for a good 30 minutes, easily.  Here are some photos of this incredible adventure.  It sure was a rush! 

 the swarm when we arrived.

 The tree after.

We really were not prepared at all.  We threw together a suit and used masking tape on our sleeves. Tim only was stung once through the whole process!

 Tim was preparing the beeswax for the little gals.

 Transferring the bees over to their 'mansion'.

...and we celebrated with a homemade ethiopian dinner. (and i got all my hair cut off just a few days before!)  even though we learned a ton about bees in this process, we were also reminded to live in the freedom we're given in Christ and to not take our earthly life lightly.  there are so many adventures always waiting to be stepped into.  we were encouraged to live fully.

Monkey Mocha Fantastique

I come to share some exciting news with you all!  My wonderful husband Tim has been building up his experience as a screen writer for the past few years.  He's worked diligently and has produced discipline and creative friends along the way.  The fruit of his hard work combined with his creativity is finally coming into life!   If you have a couple minutes, we'd love for you to see a glimpse of that fruit.  Just click on the link provided below to see a short commercial for the film.

Monkey Mocha Fantastique short commercial

catch up.

bread!  it's become a house staple.  and i finally, (finally!) came across a worthy recipe.

It's been great walking to the top of Iroquois hill with spring in bloom.

Tim and I coated our bee hive with linseed oil.  we're excited about this new hobby of bee keeping.

Little Izaak (our house mate's son) is not only walking, but running now!  and he's in love with all these spring flowers.

Tim, the Crigler's and the Ruiz's are sharing a garden space in our back yard.

Sun tea at it's best.

It's been great weather for front porch sittin.  We've been taking every opportunity.

We've had a lot of game nights lately.  Here it was the Museum Caper with the Jennings'.

 

Spring has sprung and the days are whizzing by.  I'm thankful there has been a number of significant moments these past few months...a few small, a few large.  I hope the pictures represent them well.  There's been much baking and bulk buying.  There's also been a lot of prep work for bee keeping.  The garden is finally in the works!  We're all excited to be sharing and cultivating such a rich growing space.   We've also been taking advantage of what our great city offers, such as the Louisville Ballet's Rite of Spring production and a close by open air market.  Baby's are also coming into the world!  Little Oak Ray Miller was born just three weeks ago, and another Miller (no relation) is due any time here.  I'm honored to have been, and be apart of these births.  Tim's been getting a lot more time to write too.  His films are coming into bloom.  We really enjoy this season of being productive, creative and social.  There's much freedom and joy in it.  I'd like to hold onto that as long as it shall last.

Candids

I'm a huge fan of candid photos.  They really do capture the moment.  Here is a series of candids from mine and Tim's rehearsal dinner, the night before our wedding.  Our friend Chris Galloway was kind enough to document and share with us.

this last one is just a great photo of Jason, Chris and Tim.
Thanks again Chris!  What a great surprise to get such special photos.