This weekend we were visited by forty thousand bees.  We got swarmed.  It was absolutely beautiful.
Twenty ladies were at my house for an afternoon tea, sipping champagne, nibbling goodies and watching a bride-to-be open her presents, a very elegant little gathering.  Suddenly we all turned to look out the window to see an enormous swarm of bees circling through our mulberry tree making the most tremendous humming racket.
I am not afraid of honeybees in the slightest, and daily work side by side in the garden with many bees and love and appreciate them.  But, to see and hear a thick swarm just feet from your door is eerie.  Not scary, or frightening, but...I don't think I have the words really, it was just a big wow experience.  The ladies-at-tea were all speechless.  If I had had my wits about me I would have taken a picture of the swarm AND the looks on the ladies faces.  ALL jaws were dropped.
My across the street neighbor was my first call, he had kept bees in the past, I knew he would know what to do.  By the time he walked over 40,000 bees had gathered on a branch 10 feet up into a cluster the size of a basketball, with the new queen in the center and all the workers and drones clinging to her.   He thought they were settling there for a short time, as few as 10 hours and to up to 5 days, while bee scouts looked for a new place to build their hive.  In the meantime, he called his brother who kept bees and was very happy to come over and capture them and the queen and move them to his property.
I read up on the internet and found the most interesting swarm info here.  It's been a most fascinating experience!  Live action nature doings in our backyard.   It makes me want to see The Bee Movie again, which I dearly loved and recommend to any age group for a fun summer movie.
Anyway, wow, I am pretty honored to have this giant show in my backyard and I had to share!
On the knitting front, I have made a wooly u-turn and started knitting Aislin out of Rowan Kidsilk Aura.  What makes me change gears and start a winter project when I am working on a half dozen summery projects already?  I don't have the answer except I cannot seem to ignore HER emails.  Do you get them too?  Any luck ignoring her?  Me neither.  Especially when she offers free shipping.  Gah.
The beautiful Aislin above, photo courtesy of Kim Hargreaves.

And on the house-cleaning front, I have just cleaned out my freezer.  I LOVE the tidy look of a clean freezer.  Opening the door of a clean freezer will bring me monumental joy, until, you know, when it gets rumpled again.