I am struggling to find an opening sentence that ties the following photos together, sums up my state of mind, or does a little of both. I can’t do it.
Silas needs pants, so I made him some.
Jonny recently cleaned out his closet, and I grabbed the polo shirts from the pile. Making baby pants from old shirts is pretty quick and easy. I know you can do it without a pattern, but I actually used the baby bloomers pattern from Making Children’s Clothes
We celebrated Gabe’s birthday late last week. He joined the other boys by receiving a requested fancy metal detector. I had to give him something mommy-made as well. The boys have come to expect pajama pants from me. I measured Gabe several times during the making of his pants, and even had him try them on. That didn’t stop me from wrapping them up, and it didn’t stop my sweet big boy from acting like they were a great surprise. (the fabric is really cute–Sarah Jane’s Making Paper Hats.) He wants another pair in some of the fabric that Jonny bought in Liberia, so that’s next.
There was a lot of “writing” over the weekend.
I overheard Beatrix “reading” one of her pieces: “Once upon a time there was a little girl named B-Rose. She wrote and wrote and wrote until she died.” Oh my.
We added a second story to our hives because the first floor frames were pretty much full. I can’t wait to see how fast these fill up so we can add another! I think Jonny was saying something along the lines of, “This is so awesome” when I took this picture.
My friend Eve came over with her family so I got to dress her up in a bee suit.
Since my bee suit is typically being loaned out when we open the hives lately, I have gotten used to hanging around the bees without it. Jonny does all the handling though, while I mostly take pictures. I decided to show off a little and pick up one of the frames to show Eve. I didn’t last long. As soon as I thought a bee was buzzing my head, and one started crawling on my hand, I quickly (but calmly) put the frame back. Baby steps… I think I need to order myself a veil. Any recommendations out there?
And just one more Bee picture. We were watching new bees emerging from their cells and almost didn’t notice that the queen was right there! Seth walked up and pointed her out. Do you see her? This is not the same queen from last week (other hive.) If you look closely, you can see the head of a new bee who has just finished chewing its way out of a cell, and there’s another working it’s way out too. Oh, and at the suggestion of one of you who thought we should name our queens, we did name her…. “Queenie.” It’s not that we aren’t original, but this particular hive is called Lark Rise, and if you have watched the show, the name will make sense. We haven’t named the Candleford Queen yet. The logical choice is Dorcas, but that doesn’t seem like a very good name for a bee.
Last night Jonny and I wanted to watch a movie. We’ve exhausted all the Masterpiece Theater selections on Amazon, which are our usual choice. We ended up watching a bunch of previews but no movie. Do you guys have any recommendations for us? We’re pretty clueless when it comes to new releases and we have pretty tame (no, not lame. tame) taste.
I also recommend Bleak House (I hated to see it end!) and Little Dorrit; also Martin Chuzzlewit (with Paul Scofield).
We have bees, too-so much fun. Our hive is a Warre, http://thebeespace.net/warre-hive/so it’s a little different to manage.
Ginny,
The bees are amazing!
Have you seen the BBC’s Earth documentary series? There are many, many episodes and it covers so many facets of creation that I never even knew existed. Also, I’ve heard that the Fr. Barron series Catholicism is well done. Someone else recommended Poirot, which I like – some episodes are tamer than others. Another detective series is Ms. Marple, often quite tame without losing the thrill of the genre.
Happy birthday to Gabe! And, best wishes to the whole family.
Megan
the pants made of a shirt made me smile, i have a few of my hubby’s shirts that would make very similar looking pants 🙂
i think you’re already pretty courageous with the bees, that’s great!
I can’t believe how big your baby is!
We opened our new hive today. I found the queen, too! I was so excited to see your pictures, then was able to get some of my own. YAY! We have lots of capped brood, too, so I am a happy woman!
I forgot – “Midnight in Paris” is absolutely charming, if you can get yourself over any aversion to Woody Allen. He doesn’t seem to be in it. It’s worth seeing.
Since you are into bees, you might enjoy the documentary, “Queen of the Sun”. I found it quite informational and inspiring!
‘War Horse’ and ‘Utopia’ are movies to see! I love that you have bees!
you can check out movie reviews at pluggedin.com
I also like very TAME movies, so that helps me screen out any distasteful ones.
We enjoyed Down town Abbey, and Miss Potter recently. Your blog is beautiful.
Yes, “The Help” is excellent. And, somebody mentioned “The Emperor’s Club” – I’ve just been watching it! It’s good. Old movies? My favorite is “My Man Godfrey” with Carole Lombard. You’ll laugh. Daniel Deronda is excellent. Did you see “Our Mutual Friend”? It’s long.
Two Catholic-ish films, “Henry Poole is Here” and “Tree of Life” – the latter is very deep, has no plot, but is trying to say something very important – kind of about the poetry of existence. The meaning of life; it’s not entertainment.
I forgot to say “Happy Birthday Gabe!!!”
Love your bee pictures and the names. We just watched “The Help” and really enjoyed it. I am listening to the audio book from Audible and am enjoying it so much I know I will be sad when it is over. Thanks for sharing!
I think Poirot is on netflix.
Love how Larkspur is teaching typing – what novels are being conjured up?
i’m not familiar with the shows/movies you mentioned and we haven’t done any masterpiece theatre yet, but i do love to sit and watch all the old sherlock holmes on netflix (with jeremy brett as holmes).
Oh, my heck! We LOVE Lark Rise to Candleford; Queenie and Twister were two of our favorite characters. 😀
My kids and I loved looking at your last bee picture. So very cool. Thanks so much for sharing it, Ginny. Happiest birthday wishes to Gabe!
Love your photos, specially the bees one.
I watched Almanya the other day and really enjoy it.
My husband and I just watched Birdsong. It is a Masterpiece Theater production that just aired over the last couple of weeks and I think it is still available to watch for free on PBS.org.
I like “Dorcas” for the Queen of Cranford. It seems fitting.
OH MY GOSH!! the picture of the bees on the honey comb. goodness! i think i found the queen and the bee coming out of the cell. i will have to show the little boys. so exciting.
how i wish i could sew, i think my little miss fiona would be all decked out in upcycled pants!
I like the movies from Sherwood Pictures (they’re a church group from Texas). Their most recent one has been my favorite so far, called “Corageous,” but their others include “Fireproof” and “Facing the Giants.” Good family shows, with a good Christian message too.
Happy Birthday to Gabe! As always, I’m amazed that you make so many wonderful things for your littles — don’t know how you find the time!
I’ve been in a bit of a movie slump lately — not much coming out lately that really appeals to me. And like you, I seem to turn to the reliable BBC productions a lot. However, I did watch ‘W. E.’ the other day. I liked it and thought the cinematography and costumes were especially beautiful. And, have you seen ‘Birdsong’ yet? I thought it was so well done and a pretty profound story about the important things in life (love/family, of course) juxtaposed against the insanity and brutality of WWI. It’s not PG though – lots of war scenes (that I had to fast forward through) and a couple of love scenes not for the littles.
Happy week to you all!
G
How wonderful for your kids to have all those mama-mades to wear.
Love seeing the bee pictures, you can never post too many of those in my opinion! 🙂
I love your bee pictures. Amazing. I’ve never seen new bees coming out of their cells. Amazing. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t need to find some pithy way of bringing together the themes of all your photos and thoughts for a given post. Their beauty stands on its own. Happy Monday.
Loved” To Serve Them All My Days” and “Doc Martin” and” Goodbye, Mr. Chips” with Martin Clewes (sp?). Also, “Survivors” NOT the TV reality show, a series. ” Bramwell” was great, too. We really enjoyed “Monk” a series about a detective with OCD. We got obsessed! Also, “The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency”.
Love the bee pics and I saw the queen! How cool! She is huge! What pattern did you use for Gabe’s pants? I guess you don’t really need a pattern..but I have been known to make the elastic too tight..not sure how you make sure you have enough room in the bottom and waste. Let us know if you make a tutorial or already have one.
I watched The Iron Lady recently. It is still at RedBox. Meryl Streep is great.
Happy Birthday! And thanks for asking about viewing ideas, because I have written down what everyone has recommended 🙂
Oh, movies. We’ve all but given up. I don’t handle plot very well (it makes me anxious) so we almost always watch documentaries. Also we so rarely watch movies that it has to be pretty outstanding to be worth an entire precious evening of our lives. You know? Indeed. Have a blessed week, Ginny. xo
I think Dorcas is a GREAT name for a bee!
I second everyone who has suggested The Help as a great movie choice, and I’ll also recommend Mr. Holland’s Opus and The Emperor’s Club. I’m a teacher a love sappy teacher movies.
Hi Ginny,
I can’t remember if you have read “The Help”. It’s pretty good though. Love Gabe’s birthday picture!
Do you remember the one episode in which one character was named Harvest Queen? Laura — she’s the queen!
PS The Way We Live Now was a good period series. I watched it on Netflix.
Have you watched Bleak House? We were all quite enthralled…
I want to be Queenie when I get old–well, Queenie, with a bit of Tasha Tudor and Mother Teresa thrown in!
The pants you made for Silas are adorable. I love to make clothes for my girls from my castoffs, but I never thought of using my husbands clothes for my son. Thanks for more bee photos.
I saw your daughter playing with her Kit doll..and I wanted to let you know that my oldest daughter has a very sweet web-site http://www.americangirlfan.com/ right now she is having a give away so I hope you can check it out…
I also loved all your pictures from your weekend.
~~Renee
I second Cranford, North & South, and Wives & Daughters, I also enjoyed Little Dorritt immensely, and The Way We Live Now. Daniel Deronda was okay, and I like both versions of Sense & Sensibility.
Kristin ,
You recomendations are my recomendations-I don’t know how many times I have seen Wives and Daughters,plus I love Jane Eyre .
Love those pants (both sets)! And nice to hear that you’re bees are making some honey!
Do you do NetFlix? My most recent finds have been North and South (NOT Civil War but industrial England) and Wives and Daughters. You might enjoy.
The good thing about previews is that every movie is wonderful, and you get that great announcer.
My husband’s favorite movie is “The Apostle,” with Robert Duvall and Farrah Fawcett–yes, it’s kind of old. A little intense, but really good. And we seem to always find ourselves watching “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?”–the music alone is worth watching for. And “Pater Familias.” I’m only just now getting into Downton Abbey, but it is quickly becoming an obsession.
We just bought a farm. Now I want bees.
Happy Birthday, Gabe! Many blessings to a sweet sweet boy!
Oh my gosh, that picture of Eve had me cracking up! I hope you never take a picture of me in that bee suit!!
Sarah, you are so. next.
thanks a lot, sarah! i will so be laughing at you next. sweet retribution.
🙂
Watch “The Help” The book is great too! Love the pictures, as always!
Hi, oops, I just recommended the same. It is good!
Such a wonderful weekend it looks like you had! Love all you are sharing about your bees! I am taking a beekeeping class at an upcoming women’s weekend and can’t wait.
A couple viewing recommendations for you (sounds like we have similar tastes): Tales From Green Valley (experts live as they did in 1620 England for 1 year) and there are a couple others along the same lines but taking place during different time periods- Victorian Farm, Edwardian Farm and a special on preparing a Tudor Feast.
I also loved Cranford which another reader also recommended.
Love that you and your husband watch them together!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Another infrequent commenter here!
Gabe is so incredibly sweet.
The movie I wanted to recommend is strangely similar to A Shine of Rainbows (which we will definitely watch in the autumn when our movie season starts back up); it is Mother of Mine, a story of a Finnish boy sent to a host family in Sweden during the War (maybe for Americans that needs to be specified as World War II).
very sweet baby in those pants. 🙂 I just did a post as well on a shirt and pants I made from one shirt. 🙂
I recommend the movie “A Shine of Rainbows.”
I’m a longtime reader but am just finally getting around to commenting. 1. Your kiddos are so smart/funny. And as another reader pointed out, they’re getting so big! 2. Your photos are gorgeous. 3. You are basically living my dream life. That is all. Peace to you and to your family, especially Gabe on his birthday! 🙂
I immediately knew who your bee reference was. I just realized I had not finished the last season and watched it on youtube. I spent last night rolling through previews as well. I really like to watch on the obs site. Right now there are a couple masterpiece shows on there for viewing. Sherlock aired last night, and I am hoping that makes it online as well. My Aine’s stories are similar. Some times she writes whole books. We visited Great Falls this weekend. The Shenandoah valley is on our list for this month.
I almost forgot – Happy Birthday to sweet Gabe!
We frequently was previews and nothing else! Downton Abbey has been popular.
Happy Birthday Gabe!
*watch (sorry)
I love the names you have given your hives! If you like period dramas then Cranford is very sweet and quite funny two, but there are only about 2 episodes I think.
Happy birthday to Gabe!
Your babies are getting so big Ginny! Happy birthday to Gabe, he sounds like a sweet young man.
I’m no help when it comes to movies, I seem to only really enjoy the old black and whites.