Day #422 Bees Don't Lose Things

 Bees don’t lose things, the way people do. When the Gwinnett Choral Guild had that fund raiser recently, putting together home shows for Premier Jewelry and reaping the benefits because the Jewelry Lady, Judy Parsons, gave a large percentage of her profits to the GCG, I booked two shows, as you well know because I’ve mentioned them before here in this blog.

The way it works is that Premier ships the items to the show hostess (that’s Frannie in this case), and the show hostess distributes the goodies to the women who were her guests.

Right.

I had great fun piling the bags in stacks and handing them over to my friends.

Today I was headed out to have lunch with my dear friend Darlene Carter when the phone rang. “Bring my jewelry along when you come,” she said.

“Jewelry? Didn’t I already give it to you?”

Oh dear. Bees don’t have this sort of problem. All they carry around is nectar and pollen. Plus, they clean out cells and dump the garbage outside the hive. That’s about it in terms of carrying.

Now, the question is, where did I carry Darlene’s bracelet and such? I don’t have a beautifully-organized hive to search. I’ve looked in every room in my house, the garage, the car. I’ve looked under things and in things and on top of things. I’m pretty sure those silver-colored Premier boxes are … somewhere … I think …

Fortunately, Darlene is quite forgiving. She was nice enough to say, “Maybe you did deliver them, and I just misplaced them.”

Ha!

She may be forgiving, but I still have to find those blinkin’ things. Either that or order another set for her. Wish me luck, will you?

And here’s the picture of Indigo’s cover, as I promised. If you haven't read this one yet, don't read the next one (VIOLET) until after you've finished INDIGO. I leave some loose threads at the end of INDIGO that don't get answered for a while. And, anyway, if you read VIOLET first, you'll find out who gets killed in INDIGO. It would be a shame to spoil the suspense.

 

BEEattitude for Day # 422:

       Blessed are those who know where they're flying, for they shall find their way out and back again. 

Day #408 Happy Thanksgiving

It was so tempting to skip a few days of this blog. After all, this is a holiday, right?

Right.

But then, there’s the discipline of a commitment. On October 12, 2010, I stated publicly that I would blog every single day for 600 days. And so far (SO FAR, indeed) I’ve done it.  A little thing like a holiday shouldn’t get in the way.

I just looked back through my blog posts for November of 2010, and I seem to have completely ignored Thanksgiving last year. I don’t want to do that this year because this appears to be a year when we need all the thanks-giving we can come up with. And, after all, my personal mission statement is

“Healing the world through teaching the power of gratitude.”

But for today, I'm not going to do any teaching. I'm just going to tell you that this year I’m particularly thankful for you.

 

BEEattitude for Day # 408:

       Blessed are those who live in the moment—the way we bees do—for they shall find much to be thankful for.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST
     Nov. 26      1-4 p.m.          Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA    
     Dec.   3       1-3 p.m.         Books for Less, Buford GA
     Dec.   4       1-3 p.m.         Humpus Bumpus Bookstore, Cumming GA
     Dec. 10       2-4 p.m.         Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA     
 
my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.
my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006AA0I4M

Day #406 When Bees Go Robbing

Yes, bees can be larcenous at times. If they find a weak hive, undefended by many guard bees, the stronger bees are quite likely to head inside and rob the stores of honey.

I can understand it in bees. It’s called survival instinct.

I have less tolerance for humans who do that sort of thing. If you’ve tried to buy my e-books on Smashwords any time in the last two days, you’ll notice that they’re not there.  What does this have to do with bees?

I’m glad you asked.

As I said, I can understand why bees would try to get away without paying for the honey they rob. But Smashwords.com has a policy of allowing anyone to download e-books with the understanding that they will be honorable and will pay for the books they download.

I was looking over my royalty statement from Smashwords and found that for every book someone bought (and they were only $3.99), between 50 and 80 people downloaded that same book without paying.

Now, I’m really happy that folks want to read my books, but why on earth would I want to put my books out there just for the few honest people who understand that writing is a job, one that supposedly supports the writer?

If you want to get my books for your non-Kindle, maybe there’s a way you’ll be able to find them, but until I can figure out a way to prevent the piracy, I’m going to leave my e-books off of Smashwords.

I’ll let you know if I solve this quandary.

BEEattitude for Day # 406:

       Blessed are those who act in accordance with the highest thought, for they shall contribute to a better life for all.
 

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS
     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-4 p.m.
     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.
     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy print books from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

Day #405 Confederate Roses - Do Bees Read?

While I was uploading my newest book, VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST, to turn it into an eBook, I got to wondering about that quote from Albert Einstein that I featured last month in one of my posts.

If we judged honey bees on their ability to read human texts, those poor little critters would fail miserably. But if we judged humans on their ability to read the nectar content of flowers – guess who the losers would be? That’s right. All of us two-legged creatures.

Even though I read of number of draft chapters to my honeybees as I sat writing on my back deck, I doubt they appreciated the content. A number of them checked out my pencil, walked across my spiral bound notebook, and flew around my brain as it spewed words forth onto the page.

But, try as I might, I can’t read what my girls are thinking as they delve into the 5"-wide blossoms of the Confederate Roses (just about the last plant blooming in my yard this fall).

Incidentally, did you know the Confederate Rose is named after Rose O’Neal Greenhow, who was a spy during the War Between the States? Just one of those strange facts I pick up here and there.

At any rate, the point I’m trying to make is that I couldn’t make any type of rose bloom or extract the nectar from it and create honey. Better not compare myself to bees or I’ll get an inferiority complex – just like Einstein’s fish.


BEEattitude for Day # 405:
       Blessed are those who learn new skills and maintain old skills, for they shall face life with confidence. 

_______________________________ 
The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS
     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-4 p.m.
     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.
     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

Day #401 Oh Oh Oh! See Spot Run! Bees Are Smart!

You know, if we humans were judged on our ability to breathe underwater (without the benefit of SCUBA), we’d all fail.

It seems that scientists have just recently discovered that bees know how to fly efficiently and how to find the best possible routes to and from nectar sources, despite the fact that their little bee brains are “the size of a grass seed.”

I’m quoting an article posted last month on TG Daily by David Gomez. Here’s the link in case you’re interested in reading the whole thing:

http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/52224-bee-brains-calculate-better-than-expensive-computers?mid=52

The title should have warned me what was to come:

“Bee brains calculate better than expensive computers”

Do tell.

“Bees could now be in the running for the title of most efficient being known to man. A new study has found that our honey producing friends are better at mathematical functions than today’s most powerful computers.”

Gomez, it appears, was expounding on an article in Natural News. I went to the source and found this ending paragraph:

“Previous studies have found that bees have amazing memory capacities for their size. Their incredible olfactory senses are also amazingly powerful at discerning and remember different smells and aromas.”
            -- http://www.naturalnews.com/030192_bees_computers.html

The article could have used a good editor.  Besides having questionable grammar in that second sentence, aren’t smells and aromas pretty much the same thing?

Still, it is nice to know officially that bees can navigate and smell. Just how did those scientists think bees have been finding flowers for millions of years?

The study, according to Natural News, says “bees are able to quickly calculate the shortest flying routes among their network of flowers and plants in order to minimize flying time, a feat that even the speediest computers take days to solve.”

The reason for the study? So computers will be able to figure out how to route traveling salesmen in the most efficient ways. Of course, what they don’t take into account is that bees can travel in relatively straight lines, dodging around trees and soaring over buildings. Traveling salesmen will never be able to travel like that.

Gomez condescends to admit that:
     "The intelligence paradigm for small creatures has changed. Studies have found that bees … have amazingly powerful brains for their diminutive size. Animals that we once thought to be simple are turning out to be far more complex than anyone could have imagined."

Excuse me, Mr. Gomez? Bees have been around for more than 140 million years. They are the only insect that produces food that is good for humans. They produce it whether or not humans are around to steal the honey from them. They produce honey still, despite the fact that we as a race are polluting their world. Who’s this “we” who once thought bees to be simple?

Bees – simple? Ha! They should have read my blog for the past 400 days.

BEEattitude for Day # 401:

       Blessed are those who study (and appreciate) the wonder around us, for they shall live in awe of Mother.

p.s. from Fran -- I truly am glad that people are discovering the wonder of honey bees. Just had to vent a bit at the tone.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:
BOOK SIGNINGS
     Nov. 26      Wellspring Treasures, Kennesaw GA     1-3 p.m.
     Dec.    4      Hunpus Bumpus Books, Cumming GA   1-3 p.m. (not a firm date yet – I’ll let you know)
     Dec.   3       Books for Less, Buford GA      1-3 p.m.
     Dec. 10       Peerless Bookstore, Alpharetta GA      2-4 p.m.  OFFICIAL BOOK LAUNCH for VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST
 
my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.
my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart
my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart

Day #398 Houses Gone, but Hives Here

A week or so ago, at Peerless Bookstore in Alpharetta, I bought Gone: a Heartbreaking Story of the Civil War / A Photographic Pleas for Preservation, featuring the photographs of Nell Dickerson who has, with her camera, chronicled the sorry state of many old buildings. On the jacket leaf, Dickerson says, “What the war didn’t take, time and apathy did. And yet those grand old homes—whether mansion or cabin—deserve our reverence and protection.”

As I paged through the book yesterday, I began to wonder about beehives. Are they ever simply abandoned? Well, yes. That’s the hallmark of colony collapse disorder – the abandoning of a hive. Like the Anasazi of the Southwest, the bees simply leave and nobody knows why.

But if we’re not dealing with a disorder, then bees keep their hives going, year after year after year. When they get too crowded, half the colony leaves with their queen. The remaining half hatch a new queen, and life in the hive goes on.

I keep saying we could learn something from bees. They don’t use wars to settle disputes; they model the precepts of personal responsibility; they contribute to the health of the world.

I’ll say it again – we could learn something from bees.

BEEattitude for Day # 396:

       Blessed are those who treasure their hives, for they shall find honey in multiple places.

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/mn/search/?ref%5F=nb%5Fsb%5Fnoss&url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran%20Stewart&rd=1 (VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST will be available as an e-book on 11-18-11)

my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart

Day #397 New Windows & Well-Hived Bees

Friday I had the fine folks from Weather Tite Windows take out all my old windows and put in new ones.

I’m not sitting here shivering.

I was shivering plenty on Friday, though. You see, in order to put in new windows efficiently, one first has to take out all the old ones, prepare the openings, set in the new windows, and then do the caulking.

Brrr!

I was wearing my long johns, a turtleneck, and another sweater underneath my sweat pants and sweat shirt. I had one two knit caps, and a scarf around my neck. The good news is that because it was so cold, the bees were all keeping warm in their adopted hives, so we didn't have to worry about any of them flying through the window-sized holes in my walls.

I heated up a big bowl of chili for my lunch just so I could hold the hot bowl in my hands. Even through the mittens, the warmth was appreciated.

Was it worth it, though? You bet!

My bay window looked like this before they started:

 This was half-way through the process

And this is what I ended up with:

Ain't it gorgeous? None of those black squares carring the sight. What a shame to have to put my curtains back up.

  

And just a word about my newest book: The pre-orders are coming in regularly, according to word from my publisher. The very first pre-order came from someone in Scotland!  Here’s where to order your copy: http://www.journeyofadream.com/violet.php

 

BEEattitude for Day # 397:

       Blessed are those who do what they need to in order to stay warm through the winter, for they, like we bees, shall be toasty.

Day #396 And the Winners Were (Not) ...

When the winner of the dog drawing was chosen, I emailed all the other people who had entered and asked them to send me pictures I could post on my blog. That way their dogs would at least be “published,” even if they hadn’t made it in to the next Biscuit McKee mystery. Only four people took me up on that offer, so here are four of the dogs who didn’t win.

This is Bella, but she reminds Cathy of her dog Bingo from childhood. Cathy said if she’d won, she would have had Bingo in the book.

 

 Sally’s dog is 11-year-old Ginger.

This is Annie, who adopted Dauna.

And this glorious Italian Spinone, named Radar, lives with Marni. If great big Radar had won I would have had a lot of rewriting to do in the final scenes.

Lots of other people entered their dogs in the drawing, but you’ll just have to imagine what they look like.

 

The winner of the drawing was Gracie.

Her bio and photo will appear in VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST    

BEEattitude for Day # 396:

       Blessed are those who love bees and dogs, for they shall always have the fuzzies in their lives.

I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering your copy at Journey of a Dream Press.

Here’s the pre-order page: http://www.journeyofadream.com/violet.php.

Your copy or copies will ship out as soon as the books are available.

Day #393 I have a release date!

My 6^th Biscuit McKee Mystery, Violet as an Amethyst, is available for pre-orders. The official release date is December 1^st, but I’m willing to bet my publisher will be shipping books out before that. (You can scroll down to read the first page…)

Naturally, Biscuit’s husband Bob gets interested in keeping bees, and Biscuit envisions the hives nestled in the corners of their very private back yard. But then, there’s this inconveniently dead body…

Here’s what it says on the back of the book:

·         There isn’t a clue as to who pushed librarian Biscuit McKee off the town dock into the raging Metoochie River or whether he will strike again.

·         There isn’t a clue to the whereabouts of artist Charles Zapota, and his mother is getting frantic.

·         There isn’t a clue about why Melissa Tarkington’s fiancé went to Atlanta for a mysterious meeting or why a lost dog suddenly latches onto Biscuit’s sister, Glaze.

·         VIOLET AS AN AMETHYST continues the saga of small-town Martinsville, as Biscuit’s life is threatened by the deadly intent of one particular man.

 Sneak Preview—the start of Violet as an Amethyst:

(Copyright 2011 by Fran Stewart)

It was a dark and stormy night, dammit, and I was stuck, gasping for air, desperate for warmth, wedged between two branches of a drowning pine tree as the rain-swollen Metoochie River tried its best to uproot the almost completely submerged tree and drown me. If it didn’t freeze me first.

I had no idea who had pushed me from the dock, but I knew I hadn’t simply slipped. A moment after I’d sensed I wasn’t the only one standing there watching the surge of the storm water, two big hands hit the middle of my back.

What on earth had I been thinking to take a walk at 2 a.m. when I could have stayed curled up next to Bob? Obviously I’d lost my mind, and now I was paying for it.

I prayed for a convenient lightning bolt to strike the man who’d pushed me, whoever he was. I prayed for dawn. I prayed for a friendly boater or a sudden river-drying drought. My only chance was to hang on and hope for rescue. I screamed for help again and again, but heard no answer above the roar of the river. Visions of Snoopy, pounding away at his typewriter on top of his red-roofed cartoon doghouse, careened around inside my muddled head. It was a dark and stormy night; it was a dark and stormy night. I couldn’t get beyond that first stupid sentence.

I’d been sound asleep, in the middle of a very satisfying dream, when Marmalade had padded up my leg, over the curve of my hip, and wiggled her way under my arm. Breathing is difficult with a cat against one’s nose, so I’d shifted onto my back. She shifted with me and placed her paw over my eyelid. It’s hard not to wake up when that happens.

Look outside the window.

I swear, in the middle of the night her purr sounds like a dump truck.

Someone is in the backyard beyond the fence.

I pushed her out of the way—gently, but firmly. “Let me sleep, Marmy,” I mumbled. Bob stirred, muttered something but didn’t seem to wake up, and settled back down. “Go ’way,” I said again as she balanced on my hip like Snoopy on his doghouse roof, and continued to nudge me with her paws and her head.

Come to the window. Come to the window now.

“Shh! Don’t wake up Bob.”

Now!

When she let out one of her gurgly yarps I gave in. “Awright, Marms.” I considered pulling the blanket over my head, but knew she’d never let me get away with it. “What’s going on? Did you find a mouse?” I slipped into my robe and stretched as she jumped down and bounded to the big window.

And so on . . .

I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering your copy at Journey of a Dream Press. Here’s the pre-order page: http://www.journeyofadream.com/violet.php. Your copy or copies will ship out as soon as the books are available.

 

BEEattitude for Day # 393:

       Blessed are those who read, for they shall learn much about their world through the eyes of others.

Day #357 And the Winner Is . . .

Here's another post that has nothing to do with bees.

For the past month you’ve been putting up with those dog announcements at the bottom of my posts, and many of you, from Colorado to Michigan to Florida to Scotland (!) andlots of places in between, responded by contributing to the Walton Animal Guild. I wish all of you could have won, but there's room for only one new dog in my next book.

Now the dog raffle is over, and if you’d like to see Gracie, the winner, playing in the snow, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmT6gntBa90&feature=youtu.be

Three years ago, Gracie was rescued by Carol and Ted Baum from the parking lot of a drugstore, where she had installed herself as the official outside greeter, apparently looking for just the right people to adopt. They took her to an animal shelter so her original owners might find her. When she wasn’t claimed, Carol and Ted went right back and brought her home.  She was in pretty bad shape physically, but with lots of love and good vet care, Gracie rebounded to good health.

I love happy stories.

So now, Gracie will grace the pages of Violet as an Amethyst, the 6^th Biscuit McKee mystery. I’m having great fun working on re-writing the dog scenes. I'll be sure to let you know when it's released (both print and ebook).

BEEattitude for Day # 357:

       Blessed are those who care enough to give animals a home, for we shall repay them with love (from the dogs, cats, and horses) and with honey (from the bees!)

 

_______________________________ 

The teeny details:

my books:  http://www.franstewart.com Please buy them from an independent bookstore or directly from my website.

my eBooks for Kindle:  http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=Fran+Stewart

my eBooks on Smashwords (for all other formats):  http://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=Fran+Stewart

Day #338 It was a Dark and Stormy Night...

This is so much fun! The dog stuff, I mean.

In two more days the Walton Animal Guild is having an open house to show off their new facility, and I’ll be there to talk about my Violet as an Amethyst, my upcoming book that’s going to star one lucky dog.

Would you like a sneak preview? Shh! Don’t tell anybody... but here are the first few paragraphs:

--a brief excerpt from CHAPTER 1 of

Violet as an Amethyst © 2011 Fran Stewart

It was a dark and stormy night, dammit, and I was stuck, gasping for air, desperate for warmth, wedged between two branches of a drowning pine tree as the rain-swollen Metoochie River tried its river-like best to uproot the nearly-submerged tree and drown me. If it didn’t freeze me first.

I had no idea who had pushed me from the dock, but I knew I hadn’t simply slipped. A moment after I’d sensed I wasn’t the only one standing there watching the surge of the storm-water, two big hands hit the middle of my back.

What on earth had I been thinking, to take a walk at 2 a.m. when I could have stayed curled up next to Bob? Obviously I’d lost my mind, and now I was paying for it.

I prayed for a convenient lightning bolt to strike the man who’d pushed me, whoever he was. I prayed for dawn. I prayed for a friendly boater or a sudden river-drying drought. My only chance was to hang on and hope for rescue. I screamed for help again and again, but heard no answer above the roar of the river. Visions of Snoopy, pounding away at his typewriter on top of his red-roofed cartoon doghouse, careened around inside my muddled head. It was a dark and stormy night; it was a dark and stormy night. I couldn’t get beyond that first stupid sentence.

 Doesn’t that sound like fun? I couldn’t resist starting the book with a cliché, but tweaking it slightly, with the “dammit,” so it wasn’t totally a cliché. Wait’ll you read the end! … um … and the middle, too.

 What does this have to do with bees? Well, Biscuit’s husband, Bob, the town cop, gets talked into taking over some hives that belonged to a newly-deceased town member. But then, there’s this dead body that … Shh, Frannie! Don’t give that away.

BEEattitude for Day # 338:

       Blessed are those who anticipate good things, for they shall be eternally hopeful.
  

__________________________

Green as a Garden Hose, the 3^rd Biscuit McKee Mystery,

is now available in mass market paperback

from World Wide Mystery, a division of Harlequin.

(Go to www.eHarlequin.com and search for Fran Stewart)

 _______________________________

Get Your Dog in My Next Book!

From now through the end of September, anyone who donates $10 to WAG, also known as the Walton Animal Guild, will be automatically entered in a drawing.

If you win, your dog will be in my next Biscuit McKee mystery!

http://www.wagwalton.com

The donate button is right on their home page

Every $10 donation is automatically entered in the drawing

See Blog #324 for the details.