oh dear. I'm not proving to be a good wife to the beekeeper. In the past I have received queen bees in a little jiffy bag through the post and then forgotten to mention their arrival until a couple of weeks later when they are no use to anyone.
This week I made another omission, but in my defence I also had the eldest folly with me.
With the cool and wet weather the bees in the garden were just coasting along. Foraging when they could, feeding the young bees, storing honey but all at quite a slow rate. We have four hives in the garden though only one was really strong.
So along came the sunny hot weather and the bees went into overdrive. On thursday I was outside hanging laundry when Folly 1 says, 'look at dad's bees they are going mad'.
All around the four hives was a buzzing and commotion 'oh yes' says I and disappear in the house without a second thought ...
Until Saturday morning when Mr Folly mentions the numbers of swarms around at the moment and I happen to mention the commotion. Yes you've guessed it - the bees from the strong hive have swarmed - so at present no queen and no eggs.
Mmm not boding well for a bumper year of honey.
so it was Folly 1's last day of compulsory education yesterday - what a milestone.
About 60 of the girls met at the train station dressed in St Trinians versions of their uniform and progressed through the city to school singing at the top of their voices.
They were alot more organised than in my day when we finished at lunchtime and all went off to the pub - though at 16 I'm sure we were all only drinking lemonade!
may is always a busy time for us as we have two birthdays to celebrate on consecutive days. This year the birthdays were a little more special as Folly 1 is now 16 and Folly 4 is 10. It seems particularly significant to me when a child moves from single digits to double digits and as it is my baby this year I am feeling this most keenly. We had a mini celebration with a meal out and the parties are happening later on in the month when all significant friends are available to join the festivities.
The girls all thought carefully about presents and as always it is interesting to see what they notice about the lifestyle and likes of their sisters.
Folly 4 decided that at the grand old age of 10 she no longer needed me to say 'goodnight', though happily this resolution only lasted 4 nights.
Folly 1, however, is really showing her independence and has joined Mr and Mrs Folly as wage-earners in the household. It is the last day of school for her later on this week and I'm not sure which one of us finds that harder to believe.
