Green Living Home

Nothing like nature to put you back in your place.

We were feeling pretty proud of ourselves after bottling 150 jars of honey in our first year of beekeeping on The Chronicle rooftop.

Then, as we approached our two hives on a routine check in late October – we saw carnage. Dead bees were scattered in a wide circle around the entrance to both hives.

We knew to expect some die-off with the approach of winter when the colony kicks out the male drones to conserve resources. But on closer inspection we saw that the wings of these bees were wrinkled and deformed, like flimsy plastic wrap.

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Have you read the bios of my team on Leaf Magazines website?   We had some fun with writing them and since they went online, I have had all sorts of fun responses from people about my own write-up.  It confirms the ambivalent feeling that I have had for some time towards the bio on the this site and I am encouraged to finally get around to changing up the about section.  It has been annoying me because it is just so dull and not entirely reflective of me -plus (happily) I am bringing in a few contributors that I want to give some love to so that has been added to the To Do list. Ill let you know when the new version is up and the contributors can be introduced officially.

Anyway, in the bio I mentioned my truck songs.and I have subsequently had numerous questions about them.  While, at the moment, I simply dont have to the time to share the list in its entirely, I will tell you a new song that is going to be added into the rotation.  I disc

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A little painting can go a long way toward transforming the look and feel of a space, so before you change the wallpaper or toss out your old furniture, consider some before-and-after project examples that show how a change in color can liven up a dull space or dampen an overly dramatic one.

ApartmentTherapy covers such projects regularly, but individually they are not quite as interesting after all, a blue, red and white chair may just not be your thing. Taken together, though, they show just how much you can alter character and mood with a change in tone or brightness.

Bland bathrooms are just plain uncomfortable and too much white can kill an entry or living space.

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They grow up so fast! In the spring, we watched a mob of possibly 800 darling golden dots scramble from their egg case on our porch, casting experimental lines to the plants above them and chasing each other up and away with toddler enthusiasm, to find homes in the garden. Now the intricately patterned graduates of that class are basking in the last fall sunshine, catching flying insects – their great service to gardeners – and courting each other to procreate next year’s araneus “pumpkin spiders.”

So named because they’re orangey-brown, round and mature in fall, these spiders are out in force this year – maybe because late spring rains encouraged lush vegetation, more food for their prey species.

We have a few overachievers.

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