I am here, just not here this week. Or last, for that matter. Interesting things going on around here, the Silence has almost been overwhelming, certainly enough so to capitalize it. Ive reached that place again where I always am every couple of years: the sheer antiquity of a desktop terminal, but this time the catalyst is altogether surprising, namely the Xbox Live application to the main screen leering at me above, up there on the wall, that big 40-whatever inch one. Xbox Live will give me music on any platform I want, movies, games, news feeds, virtually anything I can conjure. Im certain the television as we know it is fading into the ether of history, in fact television itself, the very word…..it doesnt make sense anymore. I mean really, who just has a tv? Now all “televisions” have cat5 ports, usb’s and every connectivity capability known to man. Im impressed, deeply. It furthers the drive to turn my motorhome into a mobile online hub, radiating a wireless connectivity signal.

At any rate, I am distracted by everything around me, hell even twitter has been getting dusty this week.

Keeping bees has taught me what I suspected all along: you cant keep bees, all you can do is give them the best home you can build, feed them when they need and caretake/tend on a regualr basis. The phrase domestic bees means nothing to me, these are feral creatures, highly charged, fiercely protective of thier home and Queen and absolutely delicate. I am fascinated with them when they crawl up my arm, all six legs in motion, tickling and scuttling looking for anything sweet. The organization within a beehive is stunning, what I gave them and what they turned it into boggles my mind; I harvest thier exacting, wild, hexagonic comb weekly lest it overrun my hives; each piece carefully investigated before i put it away in its place, each piece a marvel in its creation. My Hives smell a certain way: warm honey and wax with hints of mint and whether you can pick it up or not, I swear the bees have thier own fragrance.
Ive been North a few times this month and driving through the Skagit Valley I see beehives everywhere, farmers looking to pollinate thier crops. What I dont see are nice Hives however; every colony sits housed in decrepit, shady looking boxes. Its doubtless a commercial operation but it makes me glad that I took the time to detail mine to the last degree. My girls live in a Bee Mansion, mansions that I built.
I tend my bees every day, I have so much to learn about them, i dont think it will all be known in my lifetime; its that complex. Frankly Im not even sure I can sustain them through the first Winter, theres so much I just wont know until I learn….the hard way Im afraid. Either way Im giving it hell til the very end.
I grifted a fingertip of honey from my girls this week when I was in the Hives doing their weekly checkups; the honey tasted like the richest cherry, almost an amaretto in fact. I was shocked at the quality of flavor, its intensity and decadence. Strong words for honey I know, but the only words that fit.
I now own shipwreckhoney dot com, look for that launch this week. Obviously the drop will happen here first.

I havent touched a camera in over a week, that will change immediately.