Saving the Bees at Photo Art Friday

  

 

"Unique among all God's creatures, only the honeybee improves the environment and preys not on any other species." ~ Royden Brown


"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." ~ Albert Einstein

 

 

Colony collapse disorder in bee populations has increased this year, wiping out as much as half of commercial honeybees. The New York Times has this story as front page news in their print version, but you can read online how this problem will mean smaller harvest and higher prices on produce. 

 

 

Ingredients Magazine has an interesting article just out on the continuing problem of  our Disappearing Honey Bees. 

 

 

 

 

We rely on honey bees for one-third of our food supply (one out of every three bites), so when honey bees are in danger, we’re all in danger.

 

 

 

Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.

 

 

 

The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

 

 

 

A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg (not quite 3 cups) of honey.


A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.

 

 

additional links:

Mysterious, Massive Disappearance/Death of the US Honey Bees  

 

 

Honey Bee Die-off Alarms Beekeepers, Crop Growers and Researchers

 

 

 

 

Bee friending the bees - Ways to help

• promote bee habitat - plants and flowers
• plant nectar producing plants
• do not spray insecticide
• wherever possible do not mow flowering plants (dandelions are a life saver for bees)
• support research - $
• gardening for honeybees: a bee needs water and flowers to survive. you can attract them with blue, purple, yellow or white flowers such as lilacs, honeysuckles, sunflowers and azaleas. bees also love herbs such as mint, lavender and thyme. They avoid flowers that have had the nectar and pollen bred out of them (like many contemporary rose breeds).
• consider becoming a backyard beekeeper

SOME RECOMMENDED BOOKS ON THE ART OF BACKYARD BEEKEEPING:

*The Backyard Beekeeper - Revised and Updated: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden by Kim Flottum
*The Beekeeper's Handbook by Diana Sammataro
*The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses by Richard A Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch

 

 <3   *   <3   *   <3   *   <3   *   <3   *   <3

 

linking up with:

Photo Art Friday:

"This week our optional theme/challenge is to create a piece of photo-art that contains some sort of graffiti.  It can be a photograph of graffiti that you have digitally edited or a photograph upon which you have applied text to look like graffiti.  As always, any piece of photo-art is welcome.  Following the optional challenge is not obligatory - that's why it's optional!"

Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen and a finished little quilt

this a.m. i sit at the computer, bare feet resting on the cool floor and as i wait for photos to upload i close my eyes and listen to the neighborhood sounds floating through the window; cars passing, birds singing, the pond's fountain flowing over the big boulder and splashing back into circulation . . . life is good. peaceful. i am so grateful.
i hope that you are experiencing your own peaceful moments with senses wide open and a grateful heart. i hope that your life is good too.

i'll be linking up with Kim Klassen for the Texture Tuesday event this week. she asked that we use any one of her textures and create an image suitable for the 'flower power' theme. i chose to use one of her oldies but goodies called "Golden" and layered a photo from last year's columbine crop on top of it. i made some opacity adjustments and cropped artistically and ta-da~!
i hope that you will pop over and see what a few of the other Texture Tuesday participants are coming up with.

btw: remember the green bits of brand new growth in my last post that i asked you to guess about . . . some of my returning columbine have begun to poke up out of the spring soil. 
i loved reading your guesses. thanks for playing along.

i finished the little nine patch primitive piece that Cheri inspired.

i think it turned out nicely and now i have TWO small quilts on my donation/gift stack~! i'll start working on a third very soon.

 

i also have several postcards to work up for the month of april so i should have some very busy hands for the next few weeks.

 

recent gifts include:

• the grand-dog Suki and the kitties getting along SO much better lately. it's taken almost two years~!
• watching the garden come back to life
• a blooming easter lily and orchid plants
• opportunities for spring cleaning and redecorating
• the appearance of a pair of robins in the yard
• healing and strength returning to my hip 

 

 

also sharing this post with Mona's Picturesque

for Floral Love Friday.

TextureTuesday with Kim Klassen and some green goodness

i'm joining up with Kim Klassen for Texture Tuesday. today is the 'Anything Goes eDition' and i thought that i could use one of my own created textures and several different photos from within my archives and join in.
the base texture for this image is the same one i posted a few days ago.
it's always interesting to see all of the different talent that decides to join into this event.


i mentioned that my phalaenopsis (moth orchid) was  sending out some stalks with buds . . . no flowers yet, but i can be patient . . .
if you don't happen to be feeling that patient, check this out.

my small nine patch from Cheri's SAL is now basted but i can't seem to get serious about choosing and starting the quilting.
maybe i'm a little distracted by the seasonal changes . . .









recent gifts include:

• waking up to sunshine
• hearing the birds celebrating that sunshine in all out spring song
• seeing a few gold fish in the pond as they begin to feel a bit warmer and move around more

can anyone guess what this last shot is? i'll send a small sweet surprise to whomever guesses correctly first. (within the comments)

photo art friday

 

 it's time for the Photo Art Friday challenge over at Pixel Dust Photo Art where the optional theme/challenge this week was to create an image using one of her textures and a photo of my own. i decided to go abstract this week with my entry. 



Bonnie freely offered up
this texture for those who
might wish to use it.
she calls it "Gift". 

i added this texture
that i created from
two of my own images

and created the above abstract piece. i did some doubling up and flipping as well as some filter adjustments in order to get the final result.

i'm not sure i'm any good at 'abstract' but i had fun giving it a go.

 

 

 

 

as promised here is my finished and newly washed 'Abundance' doll quilt.
the 'Abundance' quilt-along was sponsored by Lori at Humble Quilts and was great fun.
the light is a little harsh in this photo and the colors and contrasts aren't perfect but this is pretty close.
i enjoyed this one and really appreciated that it was a simple one this time. Thank You Lori~!
Lori just happens to have some really cute little quilts (within a recent post) that she has made recently for the benefit of the AAQI. it's my understanding that they are on their way to this amazing organization and will be posted for sale in the near future. you may or may not be inclined to purchase any one of them but if you want to see how cute they are pop over there and take a look . . . it's like a tiny quilt show~!




i recently decided to follow along with Cheri on her three part primitive  SAL on quiltsbycheri. i happened to have some nine patches laying around and they were very close to the size suggested so i played along. as it turned out i really only had time for the first of the three  little quilts but i now have it sewn up and ready for some hand quilting. i'll show you more of that one on a later post.



i recently visited Tammy at Flat Creek Farm and was delighted by some bird watching that she has shared.  she discovered a way to slow down the speed of the video and she has added some beautiful music to them creating a couple of totally magical shorts that really should not be missed~! if you follow only one link from this post, make it one of these because it will totally change your day.




recent gifts include:

• snuggling with the grand dog
• beginning the spring decorating
• seeing the crocus, daffodils and iris all beginning to send up their first green shoots
• the geese that have become regular visitors to the neighborhood

slow sunday stitching

digital art journal work/play

i created a texture from a photo that i took of one of my beautiful vintage tablecloths and then i blended in another layer consisting of a cropped bit from a shot of one of my fabric postcards . . . still playing with this page but i thought i'd share what i've done so far.

this a.m. i've woken up to a grey sky but rather than snow falling we have light rain. perhaps . . .

i've decided to link up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilting for slow sunday stitching today.
i am seeing the last few stitches into the binding of my 'Abundance' doll quilt. 

i should be able to get a label onto it later today and then give it a bath. i like to see the puckers that washing and drying give to my quilts.
stay tuned, i'll show it in it's completed glory in my next post.

be sure you check out what else is being stitched on this stitchy sunday.

recent gifts include:

• watching the snow slowly melt and thinking about the flowers that are beginning to awaken down in the soil. i may not see them yet, but i know that they stir upwards.
• hearing my wonderful daughter's voice on the phone as she tells me about her days
• the taste of dark chocolate