She had a rather low key arrival on the passenger seat of a rusty white courier van. Rather weirdly (and this happens to me so often I don’t often think about it anymore) I decided to walk the dogs to the end of the drive, which is something I almost never do and the rust bucket courier and I converged at the letter box. (The roofers think I have ESP – they see everything from up there). “Have you been waiting here all morning?” the freckled courier boy said as he tapped on his little hand held technological device. “”Not really.” I said, then he casually flicked Cleopatra and her girls, in a brown envelope, out his window into my waiting hands and roared off back down the dirt road.
I held tight to my wee package as we fought the gale force winds all the way back down the long drive.
Can you see her in there, with her attendants?
It is sheltered in behind the pine trees where the hives are so i donned my bee hat and proceeded with her installation straight away.
I stole two frames laden with bees from the extra strength hive after carefully inspecting to make sure their queen was not there (I hope I did not miss her) and transferred them to Cleopatra’s hive.
They immediately converged on the little cage that Cleopatra and her girls were in and she sat there all serene and wafted her pheromones about. You can just see the tip of her plastic box jammed between two frames. She has a plug of candy at the entrance of her box so it will take a couple of days for them to open her door, by then she will have wooed them all and they will be eager to do her bidding.
There now. I created a new look for Cleopatra’s hive (on the left). Now we sit back and watch for signs of activity.
The roofers came and spent time preparing the roof for a roof and the old walls for their new siding (you will either be thrilled or horrified when you see what i am planning for the walls!) after they have put in the other red door. What other red door I hear you ask!? Goodness, you didn’t think I would only put ONE red French Door in, did you? I have made a few changes to this whole side so that the new house and the old house look like they belong together. It will all happen very fast now.
Daisy doesn’t care, all she cares about is getting to that green, green pasture.
She simply cannot understand why she has such short dinner times. Already her milk has increased by a gallon a day.
Good morning. The unDaily View is so different now. Do you see the new rain barrel John found on one of the sites he is working at. He will cut the top off, then install screen into the top piece to keep the insects out of the water and I am looking for a paint that will stay on plastic so I can paint it something outrageous and it will be installed around the front to catch rainwater beside the new recycled glasshouse.
It is the most perfect calm warm day outside. Clear and shimmery. I can’t wait to get out there. Yesterday we had piles of warmth along with the wind. We ate late out on the verandah, (grilled lamb chops with rosemary and garlic and fresh asparagus) after the winds had died down and it was glorious.
Have a lovely day.
your sun kissed friend celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
61 responses to “Cleopatra is enthroned”
Celi, you could give workshops on how to live.
By the way, what would happen if there were suddenly two queens in the hive? Or don’t I want to know?
You probably don’t want to know, they do battle until one of them is dead. The strongest survives in nature, not the ones with the best health insurance!.. c
How lovely to be sun kissed again Celi.
Have a beautiful day.
🙂 Mandy xo
Today is more perfect than i can bear, i need to get my sunglasses on!! It is stunning here today.. c
A royally splendid rooftop decoration.
Thank you! i thought so! c
Cleopatra by courier……..how nice :-).
What a great line, morning bella! c
The world is beautiful again; just see Daisy peacefully grazing in the pasture to get that sense of peace and contentment…but always a sense of excitement. The arrival of the bees! I love your endless projects of creativity and substance.
I do love having bees back in the garden again, we were sorely lacking there for a while! c
Is this your 1st queen with a name? It finally really looks like Spring at your place! And what are you going to do about that Daisy? I’m afraid I don’t really have any advise this time. We haven’t had trouble getting one to dry off. You may just have to quit milking her cold turkey! Have a lovely, lovely day Celi.
You are absolutely right Missy, this is the first queen I have named, it just happened. Once Daisy is bred I will dry her off after a bit, what i was hoping to do was to go down to milking once a day before the spring grass came, no such luck i am afraid. Like honey she is just givinng and giving! Though the green grass has improved her health no end.. c
do you know what I love about your posts? They are more interesting than watching ‘soap serials’ on TV…except with yours you never know what is going to happen next….I find this so enthralling ..waiting for the next exciting episode of life on the farmy…all the animals are the players and you are the storyteller….I love it… Welcome to Cleo..long may she reign!
Have a lovely sunny warm day yourself…see you tomorrow!
I used to say that my life was a sit com but I never got any of the good lines!! Have a lovely day honey.. c
Nefertiti was also a Queen of Egypt, found that out so know I am more knowledgable than I was before
Excitement all round – royalty and roofers. You sent your bendy tree wind here today, but the sun is doing its stuff.
Have a great day,
Vx
I wondered where it had gone, it has surely left us this morning, divine weather here today.. morning viv.. c
Good Morning,
Glad the new queen arrived safe and sound. Did she come by FedEx? I thought about quizzing my husband yesterday if any of our trucks had live bees on them but figured she would be coming by Express and not Ground. Krylon makes spray paints that work really well on plastic. You have to rough the surface up before you paint. My sister gave me two planters last spring that she had painted. They held up to last summer’s heat and dryness beautifully. I didn’t know she had painted them until she saw them at Christmas and commented how good they looked. She had filled them with plants for me to put on my doorstep. They were still looking healthy when winter came so I put them in the breezeway with our bunny. He had his own salad bar. The planters are back out on the step and I need to get some flowering, draping plants in them to balance out the dusty millers and the tall spiky plants. Be interesting to see what will happen with the new siding.
Your plants sound lovely, and thank you for the paint tip, I will find that paint! The bees came Speedy Courier. Whoever they are, they sure are speedy though.. c
I see them around town. Always makes me think of the kids’ show Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and Mr. McFeely the delivery guy (Speedy Delivery!!). It was a great show for kids (and their grownups).
Love the beehive art, love all the bee info, its so other worldly. If Cleopatra is to then can I suggest Nefertiti for the queen of the other hive. Nefertiti who is, and has been, quietly going about her queenly business, who so far has been able to keep her workers and her drones dancing to her tune and staying at home.
OH well done! Nefertiti it is! She was a rather determined little queen too if i remember rightly.. and this queen surely does deserve a name.. c
Good luck with Cleopatra – I hope she’s happy with her bees. Daisy certainly looks content with that grass and sunshine 😉
Oh fun, an art project! I can’t wait to see what the new rain barrel will look like. I’ve had no end of plastic painting fun/nightmares, and the best thing for me is to clean the surface really well and then sand it down a bit. That seems to make the paint adhere to the plastic. I’m so glad you have some calm and shimmery days now. Yay, spring seems to be here from end to end…finally! Hope you’re having a lovely day my shimmery friend. 🙂
The hive you’ve created for Cleo is slendiforous! Stately, even. I’m sure that she’ll have production up & running in no time at all. So interesting to learn here about how bees behave.
Celi for your plastic rain barrel (and any plastic chairs etc) Rust Oleum has plastic spray paint $7 a can. Valspar also sells a similar product. I’ve never painted plastic but I know a great many people have with much success. Wear a mask. Spray when the wind isn’t blowing or in a protected area. V.
the new queen is very exciting. i hope it all runs smoothly. i can’t wait to see what you are doing with the siding on the coupe. it is looking wonderful already!