Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Bees, Lady Gaga and Weird Shoes. Just To Go All Over The Place For a Change...



Last night the Birdchick and I went to a meeting of "The Old Gods Of Beekeeper Assoc." At least that is what I am calling them, can't for the life of me recall what their name is. There was a speaker there who spoke on, well, beekeeping and Russian Bees and Organic Beekeeping. He was obviously very good at beekeeping, speaking, well, not so much. Still, I learned a lot.

First up, the Russian Bees. It occurs to me we have been joking about "Fur Hats and Vodka" and I had a think on that, and don't think we should. I am no Over the Top PC person, but it seems a negative stereotype, and could be taken as Not Very Nice, if you see what I mean. Am I worried too much? Anyone from Russia?

Russian bees, it seems are kind of aggressive. Great. Another Bitchy hive, Three of them in fact. We had heard they were not, but last night, general consensus seemed to say they were. Of course, the first thing you learn Beekeeping is that for every rule someone states as fact, someone else will disprove it. They also, it seems, tend to Supersede Queens a lot, and make lots of new ones.

That means they decide, for whatever Bee Reason, that they don't like the current Queen, and kill her and make a new one. HARSH!!!!!!! I also learned that one can artificially inseminate a Queen. WAY more than I wanted to know. I do not know, for the record, how they get the "Boy Bits" for this. Nor do I want to.

On the Organic front, his point seemed to be if you used plastic in your frames, that was a cause for scorn. My belief is, I have an organic garden, but I use metal shovels, and rubber hoses for it, and that does not make it not organic. Just saying. I am not weaving baskets from rushes for the bees to live in either. (Any Bee People out there, feel very free to disagree, and make your point, we welcome talk on these things)

I met a lot of really fun people. Beekeepers seem to be really friendly folks, by and large. I met one women in particular who was great. She keeps a lot of bees, and told me she does not own a Bee Suit. She sometimes wears gloves and a veil (Or Bee Hat as I like to call it) but that's it. She told me something that started me thinking.

She said when you hive a package (Put a new box of bees into a hive. We also saw pictures last night of how one GETS the Bees INTO the box. I want to party with those people) well, when putting them in, you have to sort of spread them out, like Pizza sauce, so they go down into the hive, with a bee brush.

Or your bare hand. So she says.

I asked her what this felt like, and she said, with a rapt look on her face: "Like Tribbles" Bees crawling all over your bare hands, like petting velvet. Like being really alive.

Ok.

I told the Birdchick, "We could do that!" She replied "YOU can do it. I will video it. I am making my position known."

Ok. So I will do it. I want to. What a thing to do, for someone like me who had a HUGE Bee Phobia two years ago when we started this. It would be a beyond Face Your Fear moment. Petting Bees. Like Velvet. Being Alive. I'm going for it.

In a complete change of direction, I have a new favorite cd, Lady Gaga. Kid you not. I know I am not known for the pop/dance music playlist, but she is really different. Mads turned me onto her, she had made up a playlist of songs she thought I would like, as we play Radio often, a game called Do You Like This. Mostly not. But this is different.

She isn't a Lollipop girl with great dance moves a studio is "Making" She is the real thing. The cd goes ALL over the place, and it's obvious this girl has been listening to music her entire life, the influences are everywhere. There was one song that starts with only piano, and GREAT down and there piano, like AFP. And another than made me think You have SO listened to Tom Tom Club. I told Mads, "Wiki that Girl!" She writes the songs, she plays the piano. And she rocks. It's pop, it's ABBA, it's showtunes, it's British post punk, it's straight up R&R. All done as a Dance/pop cd. I love it. Can't wait to hear what she does next. Got a Grammy coming, this I know.



And now for a Fashion Moment. What DOES one wear to the stable early in the morning when one has dragged oneself from ones bed in order to get in a ride before work, at an impossibly early hour, and one realizes all riding shoes are AT work? Coraline Dunks!!!!!! With Leather Half Chaps! This will amuse your fellow riders to no end, but it will be a lot of fun for all concerned. And they brought me luck. I cantered and cantered! Twice around the ring at one point! And there was no fear at all. Felt like trotting! I loved it!

My hips now, not so much.

Love and Bees, Gaga and Weird Riding Gear,
Lorraine

92 Comments:

At 20:14 Blogger AsISeeIt said...

The chaps really do set it off :)

At 20:16 Blogger DataGoddess said...

The Dunks look great with the half-chaps.

Handling bees with your bare hands? I'm kind of with the Birdchick on this one. Especially when it comes to aggressive bees.

Yay cantering, but I hope your hips don't complain too much tomorrow.

At 20:23 Blogger Siri said...

1) Preeetttyyy flowersssssss
2) Styling feet. All 6 of them....
3) I'm OK with saying the Russian Bees will dress in their native costumes. Maybe not the drinking. But, they are used to wearing what they wear to keep warm. Anthropomorphizing? I think not....

At 20:33 Blogger Dean said...

She sometimes wears gloves and a veil but that's it.You have probably inspires half a dozen online fetish communities with this one sentence. :)

At 20:34 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I gotta go with the Birdchick on this one. Bitchy Bees that like to depose Queens on a regular basis do not seem to be the kind of guys I want to play with barehanded. We will need full documentary footage of the event.
Love the Lady! She has such great energy and the voice is fantastic. Heard her for the first time on BBC Radio 1 and had to get the cd right away. Lily Allen's new one is fun also. Clever lyrics.
Love the dunks with the half chaps! Anyone who teased was just jealous. The Cabal paws are a nice touch in the photo. Way to go with the cantering! Did you feel more confident?
The beet salad sounded great. How did it come out?

At 20:35 Blogger AsISeeIt said...

Dean. OK that was and image that I was not anticipating. Well done.

At 20:42 Anonymous kali_licious said...

I think the dunks and half chaps together are a good look:) Especially with mister muddypaws Cabal there next to you.

Petting the bees..not so much for me, thanks. I'm thinking they're not as much like Tribbles as I'd like.;)

At 20:46 Blogger Phiala said...

Dunks? *giggle*

The silk is all pretty!

At 20:49 Blogger dabbler said...

Hmm. Petting bees sounds to me like it would totally depend on beeing in the right state of total mindfulness. No worry about the future, nor regrets about the past, just there in a calm space, brushing bees gently down into the hive breathing, feeling the buzz and the velvet.

I can picture it so clearly...but don't think I could do it. Though there is a place in my head I can go when I'm dealing with a wild animal that feels like that.

At 20:58 Blogger Chantrelle said...

I about had a panic attack just imagining petting bees...one maybe? a whole pile o' them--not a chance.

Love the shoe-chaps combo!

Back to making dinner.

At 21:05 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I am NOT petting the Russian Bees. Even the nice crazy lady in the questionable gear said she would not do that as she didn't know them.

Seems it is ok to pet the Italian ones tho. We will see. I want to. What could go wrong? I will be very Zen and one with them. Except in my head which will be saying WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT????????

I did feel better cantering. Lovely in fact. Relaxing is the key. And not being afraid. Lots of that going on tonight.

Don't know how they liked the salad, I bailed to Bengal in my Spooky House, but they said it LOOKED lovely.

Boss took that pic of my feet, and it was funny, as Cabal would not stay out of the shot. Guess he wanted screen time.

At 21:10 Blogger Unknown said...

I agree with you on the plastic frames. I use Pierco and I really like them. I have some old wooden frames (donated by a neighbor retiring from beekeeping) and they haven't held up well at all. The wood has suffered from moisture and without a center, the empty frames tended to collapse upon themselves. I'm hoping that the longevity of plastic frames will offset their environmental impact.

I can see the no-beesuit philosophy. Last year's Lola hive (Italian) was so calm that I stopped wearing anything but gloves after the first few weeks. They didn't even land -- just hovered, waiting until we were done. But I get goose-pimply thinking of "petting" them. Keep us updated on how it goes! *shiver*

At 21:20 Blogger Na said...

GOL at "all over the place for a change."

And still giggling over the "throw a squid on his head."

Yay! for cantering.

{{hugs}} to Siri.

Petting bees. What a lovely thought. Mmmmostly. I am afraid of being stung. My favorite thing about bees is the sweet wee bzzzzzing of their wings, what you hear when one is near your ear. I always think of them as singing, "hello sister!" (Although I'm sure it's really more like, "hey, you're no flower...")

At 21:22 Anonymous Steph said...

I imagine that petting bees would be like velvet...They looks soft. As far as I can tell. From a safe distance. I don't enjoy flying insects. Or, any bugs, actually.

I have heard that bees sense fear. So just don't be afraid, and you should be fine.

At 21:24 Blogger Siri said...

My guess is the bees don't care from plastic - and since they are the ones doing the work, let 'em live in luxury.

As I expected, fiendlove made me feel better. The thought of a warm bed and a PTerry book (the Science of Discworld, I) is helping too.

Hugs and squoozes back to everyone.

Night Fiendom

At 21:29 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Hi Taragl, our frames are wooden, but the place where they build the comb is not wax, but plastic. They sure don't seem to mind. We had a really clam hive last year, and I did take off gloves, and let them eat honey from my hand. I think I can do this. They don't WANT to sting, and the nice lady said they do so to defend the home and when you are hiving them, they have no sense of home..

I will not fear. I will sing them Lady Gaga. They will like that.

At 21:37 Blogger ariandalen said...

Crocuses! I had to magnify the photo to tell what they are, but they sure are pretty. :)

I need to send you pomegranate bush and blossom photos soon, don't I? And those redbud photos I sent a month ago? Those blossoms are all magenta seedpods now, and the trees are all clothed in round, green leaves. I need to send off a package for you, too. ;)

Siri, sorry you had such a sucky day, but glad it got better.

Beez, at least you found out before closing that the house is a money pit. You'll find a better house, and probably sooner rather than later.

Sue, here's hoping for the best for Buster.

At 21:39 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

All we HAVE so far are snowdrops and crocuses , ah, the Midwest.

At 21:40 Anonymous Kate said...

What a day! I add to the chorus of yeahs for:
Cantering (lots)
Italian bees for petting
Sensible solutions for hive frames
Fab Dunks and half chaps (styling)
Lady Gaga!
Muddy paws (we have 8 of those currently to add to Cabal's 4)

Sweet! To quote my favorite bear (Pooh): "You never can tell with bees."

At 21:42 Blogger Ticia said...

Ticky box.

At 21:43 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

KATE! How could I have forgotten that quote???? Thank you, and it is spot on, I tell you. Must Tweet that to birdchick!

At 21:54 Anonymous Kate said...

It's our favorite reply when you have no idea what to say: "You never can tell with bees." Love the puzzled looks from those not Pooh-savvy.

Just remember it for the when the bees suspect something. Now I must make a serious cup of tea - much too much staying awake to do this evening.

At 21:57 Blogger Chantrelle said...

Speaking as Chantrelle, Queen of FoodPorn, it makes me proud to hear my 4 1/2 yr old say "Can I have more sardines? They're my favorite, yum yum. I'm done with my Ahi."

*proud mama*

At 21:58 Blogger ariandalen said...

Right now, I'm thinking I could pet the Italian bees, and that it would be really cool. Whether I could actually do it, or not. . . well, I would just have to make that decision in the moment. And I'm okay with that.
Had to brush off lots of ants from DD2 this afternoon. She and her sister leaned against a tree that was covered in them. They didn't know that when they leaned against the tree, but found out real quick. They weren't fire ants, fortunately, and it doesn't appear that either of them got bit. The ants didn't bite me as I was wiping them off DD2, but there were quite a few of them.

At 22:01 Blogger ariandalen said...

Hi, Dean and Steph! Welcome to the asylum!

::sniff::
Oooooooo, nice and spicy!


MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At 22:05 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Chantrelle, well, I am happy for you. Yes, very. Um, cool. Uh-huh.

Shudder. I am way to Midwest reared with no fresh fish.

Adriandalen, glad they weren't fire ants.

I learned many people DO keep African Bees, and many packages from CA will contain them, they are really aggressive and they WILL defend their home and make SURE you don't come back.

At 22:30 Blogger ariandalen said...

Ms. Susan Boyle is to be on "The Early Show" (CBS) in the morning, and she's supposed to sing. I don't know if she'll be on "Today" or "Good Morning America" tomorrow. It will be via satellite; she won't be in the studio.

Just thought you'd like to know. :)

At 22:39 Blogger AletaMay said...

Hugs and tickles for Siri. Some days life is hard.

Love the flower photo -- it make me sorta dizzy.

Cantering sounds wonderful.

I would love t bet bees. I can imagine it being amazing.

My brain seems dead now.

Night Fiends!

At 22:41 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I think it is so beyond cool that Susan is getting all this attention. You go girl! And I hope that it all pans out well for her. And makes people think.

At 22:47 Blogger AletaMay said...

Susan Boyle was a huge part of our conversation at happy hour tonight. She has accomplished so much -- her own dream sure, but really getting people talking and thinking about interesting things.

At 22:48 Blogger AletaMay said...

Meant to say interesting and IMPORTANT things!

At 22:55 Blogger Lyndyn said...

oh i love cantering...or at least i did back when i still rode...one of my fave memories: ridng bareback thru the woods with a moon so bright and full it was like daylight...hard to believe i could do that once...riding lessons in the fall for this one - fo sho...

re: bees...years ago, i walked up the road to my house and the very air was vibrating: a hive of honeybees had taken over my lilac bush. so cool...i was afraid my spray happy neighbors would zap them, so i tracked down a bee keeper who came out and scooped them up with his hands and away they went to a nice new hive.

forgive lack of caps - am hunting and pecking cause just painted nails - now a tres chic dark sparkly red called "long kiss"...ahhhh...i wish!

At 22:55 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Ok, am currently twittering about what I am sleeping with and hoping I don't get peed on. Clearly time to go to bed.

'Night..

At 23:13 Blogger Dragonsally said...

Shudder time for me...the idea of all those bees on my bare skin....but I'll love watching the videos of you petting them Lorraine.
Love the dunks and chaps - they look made for each other. Looking at Cabal's paws I wondered whether a set could be made for him...that would look really cute.
And, hooray for cantering and sleeping with Bengals.

At 23:20 Blogger Adri said...

Cantering is like flying. It's my favorite gait because you have to move so much with the horse.

Also, I want to pet bees.

At 23:43 Anonymous Anonymous said...

I always call the feather stick a cating pole.
....ya know, like fishing for cats!

At 23:46 Blogger Lyndyn said...

LOL...I had to go fishing for cats about an hour ago...since I'm evidently going crazy, I left the kitchen door wide open and two of the beasties decided to go for a nice little walk outside. By the time I realized the door was open Dante the Vampire Cat was ready to come in, but Jack the "Feral" Katten was not. I had to drag a long twitchy stick around the back yard for quite a while before I was able to reel him in!

At 23:49 Blogger Lyndyn said...

Oh - Lorraine - you are prob. familiar with the magic of Simple Solution? Has some sort of enzymes in it that gobble up the pee proteins - gets rid of stains and odors. Cool cause it can seep where ever the pee has seeped.

There are other brands, too, that do the same thing. I like the scent of the simple solution, though.

BTW: works pretty well on dogs that have gotten on the business end of a skunk, too!

(It's non toxic - I just wipe it on with paper towels, leave for a little bit and then wipe off with baby wipes.)

At 00:25 Blogger Chantrelle said...

nighty nighty fiendy fiendies.

At 02:03 Blogger B said...

Commenting for the very first time, just to say that my little sister has, on occasion, petted bees. The very first time was when she was near a big bumblebee browsing on a flower in our mother's garden. She very carefully and slowly reached over and stroked his fuzzy body with one fingertip. All of us were astounded at her daring. She said it felt very soft.

At 02:51 Blogger Marjorie said...

Hello Curlygrrl and other new fiends! (Waves)

Siri, I hope today is better. PTerry and fiends and (virtual) hugs and chocolate are the way to go. Isn't it odd how there are always half a dozebn things which come out to get you all at once, and make it hard to deal with, when any one of them individually would be cope-able with?

I love the idea of petting bees. On the other hand, I would have totally freaked at having to brush ants off anyone. I have ant-phobia (Anti-ant feelings, me) I know that they are useful and harmless but they make me shake.

Quichie, congratulations on the cantering!! And the Coraline dunks with chaps is a great look.

At 03:06 Anonymous Anonymous said...

...and of course you've all see this:
http://www.makingfiends.com
-bobina.

At 03:10 Blogger Lexocat said...

Heading off to bed where I will likely dream of a bee petting zoo. :)

At 03:11 Blogger spacedlaw said...

Some people know how to ride in style...
Yeah for bare handling of bees! I am so in awe of you having come all that way.

At 06:14 Blogger Dan Guy said...

Waaaaant to peeeeeet the beeeeeeeees!!!! It's like one of those RSH impulses, only wrapped in VELVET!

I am so relieved to hear that someone of Lorraine's caliber likes Lady Gaga. I now feel comfortable coming out of the closet and announcing that I am also a fan. I love the idea of a pianist coming up through the clubs, in a story very similar to Tori's, but with a contrarian streak that lead her, surrounded by "serious musicians", to embrace pop music. Love it.

Magic Magic! There's an Izzard joke in there somewhere..... "I like my bedspread like I like my women, covered in pee!" Hrm. Maybe it's a George Carlin joke.

At 06:46 Blogger Craig Steffen said...

A quick cat question, Lorriane.

I presume the cats are quarrantined in different areas of your house, at least part of the day(/night)? Otherwise they'd try to kill each other?

So the segregations are...Magic alone, the royals together, and...someone and Mim?

And awesome that Magic is sniffing you in a non-hostile way. Funny that he licked you but then got confused and hissed.

I stand in awe of you--we plenty of trouble with non-feral, completely domesticated cats.

At 07:47 Blogger ivenotime said...

Yey on cantering, that is truly a magical feeling, and the chaps are cool with the dunks. and wow, handling bees with bare hands? no, thank you, shudder, tho that women you met sounds very cool. did you ever get a mango smoothie? wish our cafe on campus had something that yummy! off to work, have a wonderful day all!

At 07:55 Anonymous Kate said...

Gracious Good Morning to all - and here is to hoping that you, your fabulousness, slept without being peed on by felines. Students arrive in less that 20 minutes so I have to put on my teacher hat. So, if you will excuse me for a while...

At 07:57 Blogger Falada said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

At 07:58 Blogger Falada said...

Re: Organic beekeeping: IMO nothing to do with plastic; rather with using some kinds of medication or pest control on your hives.
Anyway, it's a hazy category at best. If your organic bees collect their nectar from non-organic fields, you don't have organic honey anymore. And there's no way to show them the right direction.

Re: Russian bees - yup, they tend to be rather aggressive. I'm curious how cross-bred Russian/Italian bees will behave. And trust me, you'll have cross-bred hives in a year or two... ;)

At 08:26 Blogger ariandalen said...

I'm posting way too early for me, but I just wanted to complain about my local CBS affiliate kept losing signal throughout most of Susan Boyle's interview. Saw that they had Patti LuPone talking to her via telephone, but didn't hear any of it. :( Guess I'll have to wait until it's on the web. ::SIGH::

At 08:32 Blogger ariandalen said...

Hi, curlygrrl! You'll need a nice white jacket, which you can find around here somewhere. We have lots...really! ;)

::sniff::
::sniff sniff::
Aaaaahhhhh. . . Spicy!


MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At 08:50 Anonymous LisaB-N said...

Petting bees?? I have not done it on purpose...but did wind up "wiping some off" of my son's stroller once. (On a windy day, his stroller got a hold of a mass of pollen..and without looking I wiped off the net cover... felt strange... and sure enough, bees!)

And all of this in Central Park. Ah the adventures happen every where- even outside of the Magical Midwest!

At 09:12 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

MORNING ALL! Apparently I needed to say that in Caps.

Let's see here...What has happened in the night?

Fishing for cats! I love that. Mim keeps getting out too. I so need these porches to get screened!

Lyndyn, I have something very like, not sure of it's name, I just keep wiping down his waterproof matress cover with it.

Welcome Curlygrrl and Bobina! Glad yo have you here!

And Craig! Yes, the all have their own areas. Magic has a first floor bedroom with two windows, looking different way, and is gettng a screen porch. Venus and Mim get the rest of the house, and Lear and Mab get the big bedroom, but it s hoped that they will soon get their own home.

Venus and Mim are getting a screen porch too.

It's sad Magic can't get integrated, but it doesn't work very well with EG and later G Bengals. And he hides and pees.

At 09:21 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Yes, Danguy, it is safe to come out. It has been confirmed! Lady Gaga is a REAL musician who plays real music and came up the real way: Talent.

I did not get the Mango Smoothie. Heck, I barely found the place. Birdchick had to lead me in. But I also did not get peed on. Give and take.

Falada, Yr right. Italian Russians! And organic indeed, very hard to do, bees not boycotting non organic fields.

Adriadalen, let us know if you find any linky things, I would like to see this too!

LisaB! Welcome. I know a LisaB with a son in NY, have you finally de-lurked? Or are you a new LisaB? Either way, glad you are here!

At 09:25 Blogger vampi said...

making fiends look sbrillint. i watch the first webisode today. lol

petting bees sounds horrific. i'd bee scared of beeing stung., lol

this week is fun but stressful and tiring. hilarious that one guy from west virginia that we work with in another office was checking a vagina monologues event. apparent;y he wasn't familiar with the show and couldn't pronounce it. "va geenia, no, um..vaa..vagina, no there is no r" lol i feel sorry for his girlfriend if he thinks there is an r in vagina.

we went to buca di bepo last night ith a large party and had the "pope" room. oh so many laughs.

At 10:14 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Showered. Dressed. Bengals tended. And off to work...

Hope your day is a fine one too, all of you!

At 10:14 Blogger Kitty Cat said...

LADY GAGA! my friend is out on tour with her.
she is a handful!
me love the dunks, babe.

and i think you will command those bees like you command everything else, with precision and butter-like smoothness.

ok, off to prize ship. it ain't easy bein' green.

At 10:29 Blogger Marjorie said...

Squeee. Just got an e-mail from my local cinema - 'Coraline' is there in the 'coming soon' section ;-) (Although nearest 3D would appear to be in Birmingham, so I may have to see in in 2D this time)

have a lovely day everyone. I've got to 4.30 and am starting to lose interest - I jsut finished on Big Heap, and there's no point in starting a 2nd Big Heap when I only have half an hour left, now is there?

Also got a letter whcih made me very annoyed - I think ti might be wise to wait until tomorrow before replying, or I will be Rude.

At 11:36 Blogger Na said...

The bee-petting zoo would be, what, near the mouse circus? ;)

Y'all make me want to try horse-riding again. I've only been a few times, but one of those was pure magic.

And while packing books this morning, found my Bees of the World book. Am curious to search now for Russian and Italian beez.

Did I mention packing? YES. Because we put down a security deposit yesterday, get the paperwork and keys on Saturday, and start moving right away. Ack. But yay for securing accommodations. *whew*

Also, have now paid my Canadian taxes. *whew*

Wanting to collapse in a puddle, but, so much to do do do.

And I say yes, Marjorie, shovel that 2nd heap aside. Tackle it when you're fresh tomorrow. That and the Rude Person.

Welcome, new fiends. ariandalen, where do you keep all these jackets, btw? Is there fiend L-space for such things?

I am adoring Susan Boyle. I think she's rapidly become an icon. Hope she gets loads of support from good people, and that we all get to hear her recordings and performances someday, if her dream takes flight and she enjoys it.

Lorraine, so glad you weren't peed upon. :D

At 11:52 Blogger Adri said...

Got up early to take Peter to the airport for Cochella, then came home and went back to bed. Just woke up.

Oops.

At 11:59 Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yay!!! for cantering!! You go!

My uncle often didn't bother with much protective gear other than the smoker when pulling individual combs out of hives. He did have a bee hat and gloves, but I don't recall him using them much when we were around. I have dim memories of him have a handful of bees and offering to let us 'hold' them, but believe we all passed on that adventure. (Well, except for drones, which can't sting anyway.)

As far as plastic is concerned, it pretty much defines 'inorganic'. We are finding out that even plastics we thought were 'safe' for holding food and liquids for human consumption leech compounds that, while having low toxicity, do disrupt parts of the endocrine system even in low doses.

One of my pet theories (that is mine, etc...) is that the rise allergies is not just a matter of living too clean, but also associated with the rise of plastic containers for food. But I have no research to back that up, just the realization that I didn't have allergies until the early 80's, a few years after milk and sodas starting being packaged in plastic rather than waxed paper or glass. Now you can hardly find sodas in glass bottles, and if you want your milk in waxed cardboard you have to spend twice as much to get 'organic'.

Oops, ranting again. Bye.

At 12:02 Blogger Marjorie said...

Great to hear you have somewhere to live, Na - although the moving so fast sounds strssful - i hope it goes smoothly, and that you can settle in and feel at home very soon.

Yes, Big Heap #2 will have to wait to tomorrow - I'm now back home, and am going to have a cup of coffee, and a cookie, and The Simpsons, before I do anything useful :-)

At 12:33 Blogger ariandalen said...

Okay Ms. Fabulous and fellow Fiends, the link to watch Ms. Boyle on "The Early Show" is here. The couple of minutes with Patti LuPone talking via telephone is a separate video which is linked to the above.

:)

At 12:37 Anonymous Lisa B said...

I am the same Lisa B in NYC with a little one named "The Spud".... de lurkered.. ummm is that a word?

At 12:45 Blogger El said...

So this is the second day in a row I've been able to eat lunch on my balcony. I know you might tire of hearing this but I LOVE THE SPRING, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

Ahem. Q, the parents of a friend just adopted a bengal that would otherwise have gone to a shelter. They wax poetic about how beautiful he is and I can't wait to meet him. So I might be pestering fiends with Bengal Questions if they need any answers.

Hope you're all having a fantastic day. :)

At 12:53 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Yup, de-lurked is sure a word. Thought that was you! Lisa rocks, Fiends, you will like her.

El, NO not Bengal Questions! Anything but that! You know how I feel about Bengals!

At 12:56 Blogger ariandalen said...

Hi, Lisa B! Welcome to Fiendom. :)
"Delurkered" is as good as "delurked," maybe even better. As you've probably noticed, Fiends use lots of words not in the OED. Yet. ;)

::SSSSSNNNNNIIIIIFFFFFFFFFF::

SPICY!!

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At 14:17 Blogger louisa said...

[In Manny's voice]Books! Old & new!

Think I may need to watch me some Black Books tonight. Or have a stiff drink. Or both! Btw, y'all know Bill Bailey (aka Manny) is a Twit?

I am loving Pride & Prejudice & Zombies! The first few chapters are online here if anyone wants to see what all the fuss is about.

Speaking of the undead, Dan was it you mentioned Swedish vampires? I know someone here did. Definitely recommend Let The Right One In. Twilight it is not. Nor is it Underworld, though in a different way.

I glowed here a while ago on behalf of a friend of mine who'd had his first book published which both Sally & Marj read - is it OK if I glow a little more? He's just got nominated for an Irish Fiction Award along with Sebastian Barry (won Costa, nominated for Booker) and Joseph O'Neill (won PEN/Faulkner). I'm so happy for him I could burst.

/glow

Q, I am so impressed with your courage! It wasn't even six months ago that you said "I am pretty nervous about Bees" (that was the night you got stung so v understandable) and now you're rapidly turning into The Bee Whisperer. Is your middle name "Inspiration"?

How did this become an essay???

At 14:24 Blogger spacedlaw said...

I've already had my stiff drink, Louisa and I think there was room for two of us in there if you fancy company.
Not that I had a hard day but today was the last dinner of nearly two weeks of overindulgence (Mom's cooking) and I really needed something to help me digest.
As from tomorrow: sensible food in sensible quantities. And planty of GREENS.

At 14:30 Blogger Marjorie said...

Louisa, I think you should glow all you like!

I've also been wanting to thank you for introducing me (both to the book and to Peter) I really enjoyed it and it is probably not something whch I would have picked up & read otherwise, which would have been sad. Y'all should read it, Fiends - details here or there's also this great little bookshop in Dublin which sells it ;-)

At 14:37 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

I really want to see Let The Right One In too, but reviews on Amazon seem to say, wait, they are doing a release with the theatrical subtitles, apparently they are very bad on the current DVD...

At 14:38 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

And there is a fine line between being "Inspirational" and "Stark Raving Mad"

Just depends on how it turns out...

At 14:42 Blogger Marjorie said...

We'll let you know if you cross that line, Q!

At 14:44 Blogger spacedlaw said...

And that fine line is called Jack Nicholson...

At 14:51 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

He makes Lemonade Tea!

Wait, that's Arnold Palmer. Easy to confuse them.

At 15:13 Blogger louisa said...

You started without me Nat? Darn it, now I'm just going to have to catch up with you! :)

So glad you enjoyed the book Marj, and meeting him too, is it just me or does that seem like about a million years ago??

So there are different subtitles in the U.S.? Because you couldn't read them with all those extra "u"'s???? Crazy.

I think it was George Carlin who said "There's a fine line between fishing and standing by a river looking like an idiot"

At 16:08 Blogger Marjorie said...

It does seem a long time ago :-(

Haven't seen 'let the right one in' yet. Maybe this weekend if I'm not too knackered.

Although I do have a flat-pack wardrobe to assemble.

Query - how does a cat manage to get claws caught in the grill for the fan in the bottom of ones laptop, when said laptop is sitting flat on a table?
I mean, I know it must be My Fault, i just don't know how.

I have apologised to cat, but he is still sitting on the other dside of the room giving me dirty looks.
*sigh*

At 16:31 Blogger Cecily said...

The entire no suit thing makes me think of "the Bee Charmer" in Fried Green Tomatoes (one of the best movies ever). I think done right and with the right bees, that would be totally awesome.

At 17:04 Blogger martha said...

The one organically certified bee-keeper I know here on the island uses wooden hives and (some) plastic containers for collecting the honey. It is, of course, sold in glass jars. Organic is about what the bees or tomatoes or cows eat while making the food we eat.

At 17:20 Blogger EmilyLady said...

Here I am. A little late.

I'm sooooooooooo not into dunking my hands into clouds of bees. It sounds pretty amazing, though (like all I have learnt about keeping bees).

At 17:32 Blogger Ticia said...

So, yay for productive days. I ordered my new stereo, re-scheduled my Balticon flight for a day earlier (thanks for the airline info Quiche, it really helped) Did tons of work work, paid off my Honda CRV, and got new music for when my new stereo arrives... Can you guess what it is? Why yes, it's Lady Gaga..

I think I would crawl out of my skin before I could run my fingers through a bunch of bees. ::shudder:: But I'd love to see the video.

And, speaking of video, I really want to see "Let the Right One In".

The shoes are a "slam dunk" haha, couldn't resist...

Louisa, I would love to order your friends book from you. Can I do that from America???

What else?? Can't think... I'll come back later. After work.

At 19:32 Blogger Siri said...

I did order a book from our Louisa. It is doable. And, Our Louisa is extremely gracious about it.....

At 20:15 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Hmmph. I have a lovely new post all written with some GREAT news, but blogger won't let me upload any pics, and it needs them.

I'll wait a bit and try again.

At 20:18 Blogger dabbler said...

Ugh, no brain. No zombie would want me tonight. Long day...

Love Susan Boyle, but really hope she doesn't end up a oneday/week/month wonder, but comes out of this with some kind of sustainable, tangible future. Otherwise it is just sad.

At 21:02 Blogger EmilyLady said...

Happy Birthday to my wonderful mom/mum. I will miss her in MN.

At 21:04 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

New post is up, sans pictures. Ah well. Will try and add one in the morning.

At 11:32 Blogger Martin Millar said...

No good can come of this bee-patting. I am envisioning a Homer Simpson-like 'Get them off me!' moment, with you rolling around covered in angry bees.

At 11:41 Blogger FabulousLorraine said...

Hee-hee, Martin, You could be right, all I can think is "Trouble will come of this"

Either way, it will make for great Video...

At 17:12 Blogger Uisge said...

Speaking of bees...The Pollinators. http://vimeo.com/4124358

At 17:39 Blogger Ticia said...

Phiala, I wish MY workload was on your list. You're being far more productive than I am. YAY you!

At 18:52 Blogger Ticia said...

I'm calling it quits. My brain is fried. I don't think there's enough of a brain cell left to come back online tonight, so I bid you all a pleasant evening/ night/ morning.

I hope I have enough energy to read once I get home again.

Nighty-night. (in advance)

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