Friday, June 29, 2007

Along the Shore

We passed the afternoon by the ocean today, playing frisbee and walking along the shore. A lovely day:)













A blue shallow brook and rivers in the sand: traces of a receding tide.

Matrimonials

Lucas and Melissa, June 23, 2007.


The night before, we were a little worried that the anticipation was getting to him...













But the next day, there he was, the blushing bri... groom.












The happy couple.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Sky & Canvas

Spent an afternoon on Wings of the Morning, newly rigged. A couple weeks ago I went up to help dad step the masts and lace the sails on for another year - this time we went with brand cord for the sails, bright white, and I like the way it turned out - it's a nice contrast against the masts and sky. So on Monday Ruth and dad and I sailed up and down the bay to break it all in, and here are some shots - she's doing well.










































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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Swarm

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Ruth's dad is a beekeeper in his spare time; while he was at work the other day, the bees from one of the hives decided to swarm. When this happens, they hover in a great big cloud above the hive for a while, then they choose a nearby tree as their new home. They hang off each other by the hundreds, with their new queen in the middle. Then the beekeeper's pleasant task is to place an open hive box underneath them and shake the branch:)

The idea is that the queen and the swarm will fall into the box and decide to live there instead of on the tree. Except this time, the beekeeper wasn't there. So I did it.

It's easier than it looks, because the bee mass is so heavy that it falls off the branch easily; also, the bees in a swarm are so focused on protecting the queen that (if the drop is successful) they don't bother with stinging you so much as following the queen down into the box. At any rate, we had no problems - it was all over quickly, and there's now a productive new hive on the Coffey property.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Filling In

In case you're curious, Ruth's due date is November 3rd, so we're halfway along. Her second ultrasound was recently completed, in which, as soon as the monitor focused on the face, baby looked straight out at us, raised his/her right arm and made the "I love you" sign-language sign twice in a row. It was awesome:).