there's a full moon, and it's actual bee-day!

well, I kind of thought the day would never come... but...

I'm a beekeeper!

I got the hive into position just before the pouring rain started, but still had a bit of a rainy situation on my hands. there were a few bee casualties, as I couldn't save every one of them from waddling around on the roof in the puddles. a few of them took up residence on my hand (and for a moment, in the curls of my hair) before I got them safely onto their porch.

gosh, it looks so pretty and picturesque up there. it might not be the view I had imagined when I first started thinking about keeping bees, years ago (I thought it would look more like fields, mountains, a quaint little rural setting, that kind of thing), but I haven't really got any complaints about this.

I thought I was going to name the hive The Trap (my co-worker suggested that one, after the Nicki Minaj song) but after being with the girls for a while today, I feel like they're much too sweet for that name. yes, I toyed with Bon Beehive Iver, because I still think that's hilarious, but it's an inside joke with only myself. I think I'm going to call it The Dixie Line, after the Gillian Welch song. (way down in Dixie, oh do they miss me, down along the Dixie line) it pretty much sums up my experience in this city -- missing living in the country, but apparently not being willing to give up quick access to world class museums and midnight Indian food delivery. my time here in Chicago (nine years this June) has been spent trying to balance those two worlds, and now I feel like I've got it pretty good. so yeah. The Dixie Line, it is.

this is my new happy place.

videos of me rambling and sweet-talking my bees to follow. :)