While I've been away......

Pleased you enjoyed your stay Gattina........, I,ve been reading Sticki,s blog......it looks as if you enjoyed everything except the weather which, as we speak, is starting to rain.....again! a frost last night,. Its just so cold and damp......so I see why you,re pleased to be home!
We need some sun if our gardens stand a chance!

We tend to get all your weather a few days later, Pam, but please do you think you could keep your frosts and snow to yourselves? It still gets very cold here in the evening, so OH has already laid the stove ready for lighting tonight, and the electric blankets are still on the beds.......

Hi Gattina.

Good that you are pleased to be back in the Italian sunshine.
I giggled at your sentence ..

"the main news is the arrival of our first beehive"

... for a moment, it seemed like the hive was a total surprise, having gate-crashed uninvited and unexpectedly .. LOL.

Good luck with your genial English bees ...
... may you have pots and pots of honey ;o)))

You think you're joking, TT, but the friend that eventually brought them has been promising them for weeks and weeks, and we had almost given up. We wanted them in time to help pollinate all the blossom on our fruit trees which has been around since the 1st April and is now pretty much finished. The cold April we've had means that all the local bees which were much in evidence and happily buzzing around all through our lovely warm March, went into hiding, and not much fruit has set, sadly. We shouldn't complain, really. It's nice to have them at all, and the honey will be a bonus if we ever find out how to harvest it......:o))))

Lol. Gattina ..
Yes, you did seem rather surprised to have your new guests ..
... but what better than English-speaking bees ... ? ;o)

How splendid is that?

OH looks very at ease tending them. What a perfect scene that is Gattina. So good that you have English bee's I hope they thrive out there in the mountain air..escaping the Varoa mite.

Keep us udated through spring and summer please.

I am sorry! you did get very wet. Did you find shelter when the heavens opened just as we parted?

Nope, I did get soaked, as you guessed, so I imagine you did, too, Pim!
The little white doorstep has some (as yet unexplained) method of checking if the Varoas are present, and I hope that if they are, we can zap them quite quickly. I'm not sure OH is at ease - I think it's just that the gloves are a tad tight. We are teaching the bees a few basic Italian phrases so they will be accepted by the local ones. It's nicer and so much politer if they don't have to shout in English VERY LOUDLY & CLEARLY........... ;o)

LOL. .. Teach them their A BEE C's ..

:0)))))))

Groan........!

It must be wonderful to feel the welcome Italian sunshine after a shivery week here!!
Our bees think that winter is back and that they have missed out summer and autumn!! The picture of the Angelique is exquisite and I am so glad that you arrived home in time to see it at its best!

PS If you look at my latest photos you will not see any sign of the sun on any of them!!!

Gorgeous Angelique as Wildrose says, and how lovely to return to a happy bee-laden garden (it IS always great to get home after being away) and warm sunshine too: pleased for you, but desperate for some here too. :))

I'd put some in a box and post it to you Wild Rose and Sheilabub, but as I write, the great black clouds are building up above the mountains, and I know I shan't have to water anything tonight. Nice while it lasted. The next three days' forecast is for rain, rain and more rain. At least I shall have a good excuse to catch up on all the ironing and watch the dvds I brought back with me.

Doesnt your garden look lovely, sunshine and flowers! no wonder you miss it!!

how quickly will you be eating the honey?

Erm, not sure how to say this, Sticki - I don't actually care for honey very much!
To be honest, I'm not sure - we are badly in need of lessons in this honey and bee lark!

Could do with you sending some of that sunshine back here.

Glad your new house guests have finally arrived Gattina & your so lucky to be having any sunshine at all.

good luck with the bees! they'll soon settle in, and youi'll soon settle in with them. glad you had a good, if damp, tirp over here, there's no place like home, though, is there?

sure you'll find plenty of information (and misinformation!) online - lol be sure to check out the folklore about bees as well!

Everything looks wonderful Gattina. Hard to believe it was such a short time ago when you were up to your shoulders in .........snow! Sorry to have to mention the S word.

hope the bees settle in soon ...good idea teaching them some italian it will help them feel more at ease... lol.
Angelique is absolutely stunning so glad you made it home in time to enjoy it :))

Fascinating,Gattina,about the bees..I am wondering now..will the Italian bees keep their distance,or mingle..so to speak...and could there be an alliance between them,to cement European relations ? ..mmm,bilingual bees maybe !..Lol.I agree about being back home,no place like it,however much you enjoy a nice break...turn that blanket on full,and get cosy in front of the fire...we will all be doing the same here.so cold..and tonight is going to be a freezer,apparently..:o(

You are lucky to have cherries, yummy

Big, black, juicy cherries - pretty much my favourite fruit, Sue. We have one enormous tree, over 40' high, plus three smaller ones. Every year there is a surplus of fruit which, however hard we try, we cannot manage to eat, and every year I try turning it into jams or jellies or puddings or alcohol, all to no avail - not enough acid, I think, and even adding lemon juice fails to produce a palatable result. This year I think I'll save the gas, the effort and the sugar and just keep eating!
I think the bees are a bit cliquey, Bloomer, and keep themselves to themselves. I can imagine the outcome if the tiny English bees took on the massive blue-black solitary bees or 1.5" hornets that we find in our garden. There'd be a major international incident.

What a lucky lady having your own beehive :) I hope they are a success in your garden.
Must have been great to leave the cold and yukky weather to some lovely sunshine - it's a pity it hasn't lasted for you though Gattina.
Enjoy catching up with your chores etc. If you do them when it is miserable - you can get back outdoors as soon as it improves. Read all about your visit with Sticki in her blog - very nice!

warm Italian sunshine, you lucky person Gatsy ! Good luck with the bees, I toy with beekeeping but not quite made my mind up yet.

Love the new Avatar, Bampy - very eyecatching, very sunny! I'll let you know about the beekeeping. It's early days yet - very daunting, and a steep learning curve, and honey so easily available on every market, too.
I think I'll go and catch up with some ironing - far too cold and grey out in the garden today, but at least I've had a couple of nice days to warm me up and to catch up with most of the garden chores.

Just done some ironing to try and warm up, Gattina. Bitterly cold here, but at least it's dry . . . will need 3 sweaters for a fun croquet tournament this afternoon!

If you need three sweaters, Sheila, that doesn't sound like too much fun............

Making me laugh again G . . .

(there'll be tea and cake to look forward to :)))

'Nuff said.......

Glad you enjoyed your visit and who better to show you around than our Stickie! Can you send us some sunshine please!

Gattina, very nice blog. So your husband is beekeeper? That´s nice, as it requires lot of temperance. I have bees too, unfortunately these are mason bees, lol.

Yes, I saw your photograph, Katarina - quite worrying! Rose, I'd gladly send you some sunshine if we had any to spare, but someone's already pinched it! Looking out of the window this morning, it's all grey, thick mist and dripping greenery!

Rose, there will be sunny weekend in the UK this week. Am I right, Paul?
:)

What a fascinating hobby for you Gattina , Bee Keeping, Im very interested but have to say from a distance lol What a shame you had cold wet weather on your holiday over here, but its not changed really cold today, so enjoyyour lovely garden in the sunshine ;0))

What sunshine?

Thanks Katarina , and I can honestly say it is going to be 28 degrees on Tuesday!...In Turkey. But it will be nice to get some dry weather so that I can get all my gardening jobs done before we go!

:) How do you say in England? Never say die! :)

...@Rose, not just in Turkey, also in Slovakia :))