Jamming things into the summer.

    I do not know if it is the oppressive heat and humidity or just a lack of overall focus, but my list of summer "to dos" does not seem to be any shorter.  I bought six gallons of paint during a fabulous sale at Home Depot last spring - they were phasing out the Ralph Lauren paint for Martha Stewart, so it was on sale - on top of that there was a bigger sale happening, so I grabbed paint  for the kids' bath, the kitchen and the Dining room.  Well, furniture being what it is - heavy and stacked to the rafters in our house now - we probably won't see a re-do of the wall in the DR until next year - but a bathroom - easy.
    I soaked all the tub toys in bleach and got them out of there.  I think the funky smell we've been hunting may have been from mildew inside a bath boat (and I had been blaming the boys' poor aim)!  The curtain rod is now bare,  waiting for spackle to set so I can smooth the edges, and then we will go from builder's beige to bright blue!  My daughter is very excited about the change in colour.  At our last house we took the bathroom from a sick seafoam green to a deep eggplant purple.  I think the name was actually midnight eggplant.  That with the 1940's tiling was really lovely. This will be less dramatic, but at least it is a colour of our choosing.
Bit by bit we are taking the house and turning it into ours - I have gotten rid of two bedrooms worth of wall paper, and  a kitchen and two bathrooms worth of borders.  One bathroom was repainted last year - as well as retiled, new sink and cabinetry.  I am longing for the day when dear hubby breaks down and let's me rip up the rest of the NASTY wall to wall carpeting in the LR and foyer, but we know (after having ripped the dining room carpeting up) that all the floors will need to be refinished - and I know he is not feeling up to that!
     Finally put the super on the second hive - this is the blue hive which we started this year from a nuc. The girls seem active and happy, but I haven't officially checked them in a couple weeks.  This super has non-wired foundation in it so we can try harvesting it as chunk honey - or crush and strain.  I can rent an extractor from my local bee guru, so I may use that for harvesting the honey from the flower hive.  I spent part of Wed afternoon getting the frames built - on my kitchen floor.

  This foundation is so light and fine, the breeze nearly bent the top layer in two as I brought it to the car after buying it.  Here is the shot of  my youngest and I painting the super - a left over greenish blue from his Dr. Seuss bedroom mural  mixed in with exterior white - and, Voila! the blue hive!

      I am a blur here, but look at the concentration on his face!  I love the focus children can have.  

      I made the black raspberry/ red currant jelly and it is good!  Of course, my pot was just a touch too small so when I hit the rolling boil, look out - the smell of burnt sugar still lingers in the air!