Bee Barn

About two months ago a tornado swept through this heart-shaped state and decided to make a giant mess. An even bigger mess than a normal tornado, because this one hit a barn holding several 50 gallon drums of honey: the Wooster Honey Bee Barn.

image facebook snatched from the bee lab

That's what it looked like at first, you can see more pics of the mess and the resulting clean up here.

But I like to look on the bright side of things: Dr. Drone was a key player in the aftermath and he has a keen eye for salvage. A new/ancient smoker is coming my way!

Jenna and her Barn Heart

Jenna over at Cold Antler Farm is hosting a book and wool giveaway.

She's got it all- a farm, a truck, sheep, dogs, and yes, bees. I'm so jealous.

Her blog features gorgeous pictures and the day to day struggles of a girl and her farm, and I'm hooked. I suggest enjoying it with a your first strong cup of coffee in the morning.

Pumpkins and My Autumn Heart

My middle name is Autumn. Seriously- my mom was kind of a hippie back in the 80s.

When you are literally named after a season, I think it kind of creeps inside you and takes over your heart. It's my season now, although I'll gladly share it with you. Let's all perfume ourselves in woodsmoke and dry leaves and soak in the ruddy colors. To begin, I'm on pumpkin watch. My favorites so far:

Red pumpkins? What will they think of next?!

Apple Farm

Mr. Holt and I recently took our young niece to the apple farm to pick some fruit and run in fields. I think we all needed to spend some time running in a field. Now I have a giant bowl of apples to work my way through and I've already exhausted my apple cinnamon muffin tolerance. What do you do with a half-bushel of ripe apples?

Little Guys

Some very cold visitors arrive on my stoop this morning.

I think because of the crisp 50 degree air they were moving in slow-motion, barely fluttering their wings and wholly unconcerned at my presence.

Two tiny butterflies, each the size of a quarter. Good Morning!

Happ Fall Y'all

Clearly from Cake Wrecks.

I'm so excited about fall, and so busy with fall I haven't been able to enjoy it much yet. I recently read Catch 22 for the first time and I loved it so much I decided to stop using that phrase casually. I just wanted to reference it to make the connection.

iReview

I have been a macintosh user since the days when we still called them macintoshes.

We had our first mac desktop in 1987, and I've never owned a pc. I love my iPod and my macBook, and I even love the iPhone commercials.

Naturally I have been drooling (in a polite, non-sticky, lady-like way) over the iPad since they came out. Imagine my delight when my 78 year old grandmother handed one to me! She wants me to "learn" how to "work" it and then show her how to check her email. She handed it over in a hand sewn cover. I love her.

I've had it about a week now, and I am prepared to make a formal review.

The iPad is totally lame.

It's fun to touch and manipulate things on the screen, and for me, it's a very intuitive interface. On that front, I'll give it full marks. It looks pretty. Unlike the iPhone, however, you need to be near wi-fi to do anything cool with the iPad. You can't store or open files independently from iTunes (like a paper from school, or a picture file from my aunt). That means that checking my email on the iPad is pretty much useless. I can't read pdfs, or use any webpages that utilize flash. After a few minutes of watching youtube, my wrists got tired from holding the remarkably solid tablet at a proper viewing angle.

It's probably perfect for someone like my Grandma who will use it to respond to family emails, check the weather on her accuweather app, and read headlines from USA today. But is that worth 500$? Not to me.

Warhol seemed to like it, though. And yes, a cat paw will open your apps.