Where are they now? A Walk in the Twilight Zone with Jim Verrecchia and Jim Haley

The Lamberts in happier days

In 1998, a scandal boiled at All Saints Catholic Church in Manassas, VA. The pastor, Fr. Jim Verrecchia was giving "spiritual" direction to a parishioner, Nancy Lambert, who spent more and more time with him. They walked, they danced at church functions, they hot-tubbed and nuzzled together in full view of the entire parish. Meanwhile, Nancy's husband, Jim, became more and more concerned, confronted the pastor, and tried to convince his wife to stop, if not for him, for the sake of their four children. The behavior of the two "lovebirds" grew so egregious and so open it made the pages of the Washington Post and the Washington Times particularly after Jim Lambert, the aggrieved husband, sued the diocese which aided and abetted the adultery. To make a long story short: Nancy got pregnant, divorced her husband, married Verrecchia, and, with the help of Fr. Steve Leva, who testified for the adulterers at the custody hearing, got the couple's four children. Jim Lambert got a heart attack.

What a Country!

I've seen very little of New England so a trip to the northeast was very appealing. Larry and I started in Auriesville, NY at the Shrine of the North American Martyrs. What holy ground! To walk where men were actually struck down and killed for the faith is to be linked directly to those saints. The ravine at the shrine is just such a place and like Rene Goupil and St. Isaac Jogues who prayed the rosary there, so did we. Rene was killed by an Iriquois brave because he had made the sign of the cross on the head of child and the superstitious Indians thought it was sorcery. Fr. Jogues held him as he died fully expecting to be the next victim, but God had work for him to do still and he was spared.

Rene Goupil instructing an Indian child

One of my favorite spots on the grounds was "Theresa's rosary." Theresa was a young Indian girl who learned the faith from the Ursulines in Quebec. She was captured along with Fr. Jogues and his companions and Indian guides. Theresa was staunch in her faith and when her captors confiscated her rosary, she made another from rocks so she could pray it walking alongside the "beads." She later married one of the braves from the tribe, but never abandoned her faith. Like Kateri Tekawitha, she was one of the beautiful Christians baptized and taught by the blackrobes.

Theresa's rosary

First chapel at Auriesville

We also visited the Shrine of Kateri Tekawitha in Fonda. Kateri was born in Auriesville, but was raised in the Indian village located in what is now Fonda. The shrine includes the excavated site where metal posts mark the actual double stockade and the outlines of the long houses where Indian families lived. Not far from the site is "Kateri's spring" where she would have gone to get water for washing and cooking. Our two days in Auriesville were an opportunity to begin our trip as a pilgrimage. We prayed the 20-decade rosary both days and attended Mass at the second chapel built on the grounds in the 1800s. The first chapel is tiny, like a small gazebo, but it is lovely and reminds one how eager people were to honor the martyrs even when they could only build a tiny shrine. 

From Auriesville we visited Vermont and Maine passing through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. What a testimony to the glory of God. If Auriesville was like being with the saints washed clean in the blood of the lamb, driving the highways and byways of the northeast was like watching "the word" creating in all his glory. I'll post just a few pictures to illustrate. The glories of God's world made me pause often to sing How Great Thou Art! 

Sailboat on one of Maine's "ponds"

Scene from an overlook in Jamaica State Park, Vermont

One of the amazing examples of Vermont flora

Nature "reflects" the glory of God!

We met this German biker who visits the U.S. twice a year to bike around our wonderful country with friends. (There were half a dozen of them.) He said his favorite trip was following the Lewis and Clark trail from St. Louis to Portland. 

A New York honeybee collects nectar from asters. Beekeepers say aster honey is terrible, so the bees can have it! LOL!

Honey Harvest and I Forgot My Camera!

Sometimes I wonder why I bother having a camera at all. I always forget it when we are doing something interesting. We joined in the honey harvest on Saturday and were the first ones there so we did our eight frames of honey first and got about 25 pounds and several pounds of beeswax.

The setup was great. There was a wax melter with a big hot knife that was used to slice down the frame to uncap the honey. Then we put the frames in the extractor a centrifugal drum with a handle for turning. There are electric extractors but this one was manual so we took turns revolving the drum to spin out the honey. The honey is spun out on one side, then the frames are turned and the second side is extracted. The honey then passes out a spigot into a bucket that has a double strainer. When the honey fills the bucket enough it's moved over to a counter where we filled the jars by opening a tap at the bottom of the bucket. It was really fun.

We stayed another hour after extracting our honey and just visited with the other beekeepers. We're talking about starting a bee club here in Woodstock and I'm looking forward to it! There is so much to learn from the experienced beekeepers and even those who've only been doing it for a few years.

Here's a video that describes what's involved in the harvesting process. It was a great experience and we just took the box with the frames and put it back on the hive for the bees to clean up. They will too!

Wow! The Bees Have Gone Honey Wild!

We never expected to get any honey this season since the bees need to have plenty of food to winter over, but our mentor who has about 45 years of experience, just came over today and he said we can harvest an entire super from one of our hives. For those who don't know bee jargon, a super is a box of ten frames where the bees build honeycomb and store nectar which becomes honey when capped. After capping it loses a large percentage of moisture. That's when it becomes thicker and more syrupy. Among the sources of nectar our bees were visiting we can confirm one for sure. The little gal in the picture is gathering nectar from my lavender. During the entire blooming period we had dozens of busy bees flitting about gathering for the hive.

Today when we went into the hives with Gordan and Tom (after two weeks) the bees had already worked so much and filled one of the supers so much that we needed to give them another entire box. Most of the frames were filled with capped honey and most of that work was accomplished in the past two weeks! Everything they gather from here on out will be saved for the winter, but the capped honey they have made up til now we will harvest. Yum!

I wish I had taken some pictures today because the bees had filled the box so much they were building extra comb and storing nectar in a space at the top. We took that comb out, I squeezed out the nectar which is delicious, but it wasn't capped so it will ferment if I don't use it up quickly. I already put some in my iced tea and will probably mix it with maple syrup for french toast. Yum!

We also got a big chunk of wax and I will be making some lip balm sticks out of beeswax, coconut oil, honey, and a few drops of clove essence. I already made one batch a few weeks ago and poured it into two little jars. I gave one to a granddaughter and have the rest in a little jar to my bed. I use it every night and, oh, it feels lovely on the lips and smells like ginger cookies. Maybe that's why I've been sleeping so well.

When I went to the bee store yesterday, I picked up little plastic chapstick-style containers and will pour my next batch into them.

What a great hobby! I love playing with the bees. They are the most amazing little creatures on the planet and our mentor said, our "girls have a great disposition." I said they are mirroring mine. After all, I may not be the queen bee, but I'm the bee yard mom!

Lantern Launch

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Launching a Bug into Space!

Camp Kreitzer is Very Quiet....

...because we are home alone.

Our Princess Week is Coming to a Close

Camp Kreitzer Princess Week is nearing it's end. Today is wrap it up today. Mom and Dad return this evening and the princesses will return to their kingdom of Zelienople tomorrow. But we've had a great time including a cousin sleepover:

And a trip out to dinner at a Thai restaurant and to see Les Miserables with the oldest princess:

We enjoyed a fish and chip dinner prepared by our culinary chef :

And we went to a festival in town with dancing in the street, a moon bounce and bounce slide, and a visit to the local museum which was open for the event. The girls also got their picture with town hero Peter Muhlenberg of Revolutionary War fame. What a busy, fun week!

It will be hard to say good-bye to our girls when tomorrow comes, but, hey!, there's still today and more fun in store before the final kisses and hugs.

Six Pretty Princesses and a Victorian Tea Party

Did you ever meet a little girl who didn't like to dress up as a princess and feel special? Even little wild things like tea parties after the tree climbing, tumbling, and bug collecting. So today at Camp Kreitzer we planned and hosted a fancy tea party. We filled most of the morning planning and implementing. It started with pulling out all Gramma's pretty plates and silver (most of which belonged to my own grandmother) and setting an elegant table. As we were working I remembered a book on my cookbook shelf with instructions on folding fancy napkins. We chose an easy patter, the fan, for our tea.

To complete our table we needed flowers, so we all took scissors and baskets and went out to collect flowers, leaves, and grasses for our arrangements. Some ended up on the table, one in front of the Blessed Mother and two decorating side tables. What a display of beautiful summer elegance!

The only thing left to put on the table? Goodies -- and there were plenty of those: deviled eggs, marscapone and jelly tea sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches, cookies, raisin and blueberry scones, lime and cherry jello, and three choices of "tea": real tea (not popular except with Gramma), hot chocolate, and apple juice. Several of the princesses (especially the 22 month old) enjoyed clinking tea cups and saying "Cheers!"

Of course, the most important part of a princess tea party is the guest list -- the princesses! And we had a gaggle of gorgeous girls to fill the bill.

We were especially blessed to have an elegant waitress (princess herself) to serve us and she did a masterful job. She also did double duty as scone chef.

What do you think? Do the princesses look like they are having a good time? Mmmmm.....

When Camp Kreitzer is in Session even Rainy Days are Fun!

Camp Kreitzer is in session and it's hard to blog at Les Femmes with five pretty princesses calling for attention. So I haven't been  Instead, we've been doing all sorts of things. Yesterday morning we went to Mass, then the Cracker Barrel for breakfast. After we got home it was clean up time, then into the pool about the time the two little cousins arrived.

After swimming and cousins left we decided to do a secret something related to their mom's birthday which is next week. (I'm not telling her age, but I'll just say it's a prime number which means it's REALLY SPECIAL!) Everybody contributed, but you'll have to wait until Saturday to see what it was in case mom is watching. Shhhhh!

But other things aren't a secret -- like going to the potato chip factory and the  library on Tuesday which was a rainy day and required some inside activities. The parking lot was jammed because the River Bandits Baseball Team was reading to kids in the library lecture room and giving away free tickets. I don't know if we'll make one of their games, but the girls enjoyed the cozy kids' room and almost everybody came home with a few books for quiet time. Even Gramma found a some craft books to give her some good ideas for Camp Kreitzer activities.

Route 11 Potato Chips are the best! (Try the Dill flavored.)

Just ask the potato who makes the best chips. He never lies!

The library was lots of fun too.

It's always great to make a new friend!

 

Free books? All right!

Celebrating Grandkids

We began a week with our oldest daughter's five girls by going to Mass together this morning. For more about our day go here.

Collecting Recipes for Lip Balm

We've already begun to collect wax from our hives. Today the bees were starting to draw comb straight up out of the frames. Oops...they obviously needed more room so we added another super. But we are happy to be collecting the wax to use in making lip balm. Here are a few recipes I've collected and I look forward to my first experiment in making my own. Here's a recipe I found followed by one I did myself:

Beeswax Lip Balm Recipe 

1⁄2 ounce beeswax
1 teaspoon honey
4 ounces olive oil
Mint extract to taste (about 20 drops), optional
Weigh beeswax and measure remaining ingredients. In small double boiler, add beeswax and melt. Once melted, add honey and oil, and stir for 1 to 2 minutes. Add extract and stir well. (Be aware that the honey will not fully mix with the oil because of the water content, but it’s a good healing agent for the skin.)
Pour heated mixture into a small glass container or beaker, then distribute into lip balm tins or tubes.

NOTE: Adding more or less beeswax will make the lip balm harder or softer depending on your preference; the harder it is, the longer it stays on your lips. You also can add vitamin E oil or grapefruit seed oil as a preservative. You also can mix oils, such as almond oil, sunflower seed oil and others, depending on the availability and the product you wish to make. Other oils and butters alter the texture and healing properties of the final product.

My Altered Recipe  

1/2 ounce beeswax
1/2 teaspoon honey
4 ounces coconut oil
3 or 4 drops of clove oil
Follow directions as in the previous recipe. It has a nice spicy smell.

More Than Honey: A Bee Movie!

This documentary attempts to explain the disappearance of honey bees. Certainly pesticides are part of the problem and a class called neonicotinoids are believed to be a major source of honeybee death. In an attempt to aid the comeback of the bees, the European Union will enforce a two-year ban on three neonicotinoids come December. The disappearance of honeybees has gained the attention of the world in recent years. Will we care enough to save these amazing little creatures? This film is all about raising awareness.

Bee Keeping Resources: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Honey Bees!

Bees bearding on the front porch

I think I need a resource page so I can find answers to all my beekeeping questions easily. Obviously, our mentors will be the primary sources since they are local and know the problems and challenges specific to us here in Virginia. But I've found so much good stuff on the internet (despite our classroom teacher telling us not to go to the internet -- Sorry, Brenda) especially videos, that I will continue to google my questions and read a variety of what comes up. My question last evening was why are all these bees congregating on the "front porch?" The answer: They were probably out to cool off because the hive was warm. One way to cool it off -- give them a little more space, so I added a bee shim which provides extra ventilation. We'll see if that sends them back into the hive.

Here are some good sources I've found with lots of great information some of which keeps me from "bothering" our mentor.

The Practical Beekeeper - Lots of great information on just about everything related to bees.

Beemaster.com - A forum for beekeepers to share/exchange information. I've already had answers to questions. Great site!

American Beekeeping Federation  I found a great article here for beginners that gives the feel of excitement and enthusiasm beekeepers seem to have.

Health Benefits of Honey - Here's a honey of a site (couldn't resist!). It has lots of fascinating information about honey including the method "honey hunters" use to find a wild bee colony.

Well, I guess that's enough for starters. I have several books about bees that I'm working on and look forward to learning as much as possible about these fascinating little insects.

Hiking and Praying the Rosary on North Mountain

After several days of rain and more expected this week, we decided we'd better grab today's good weather and head out for a short hike. Since we've haven't really hiked or even walked much this season we decided to do a one-hour hike into the woods and a one-hour backtrack along the Tuscarora Trail beginning at Route 55 on the Virginia/West Virginia border. On this particular trail that's about 3.5 - 4 miles. (We estimate about half an hour per mile on a medium difficulty trail.)

Since the mountain laurel are in bloom we hoped to get a great show, but except for some bushes at the beginning of the hike they were few and far between and mostly well into the woods. But it was a great two hour walk with some lovely wildflowers that always make me think of Matthew 6. "Solomon in all his glory is not arrayed as one of these!" If you need a lift, go hiking in God's beautiful world. Even before we reached the trail my heart was singing. And once we got started, it was a delight from start to finish.

The Tuscarora trail is blue-blazed and the blazes are helpful. In some places the path was completely overgrown, although it would be hard to get lost because, at this point, Tuscarora runs along the ridge of North Mountain which isn't very wide in many places. We could see down into the valleyoccasionally through the trees.

We were out on the trail about six weeks ago for a short walk without our hiking gear, but these blue and white ties were new. They indicate that there was some kind of event up there on the trail. There was a 100 mile run going from the Shenandoah County Fairgrounds a few weekends ago and we wondered if this was part of their route. Seemed too far but 100 miles is quite a distance so I guess it was possible. There were about half a dozen on the two mile stretch we covered. A butterfly must have thought one was a flower. I tried to get a photo of it flitting around but couldn't get my camera out of my pocket fast enough.

So many beautiful wildflowers. These had lovely yellow stamens hanging down. They weren't abundant, but were like little ruby jewels popping up here and there along the path.

Some of the insects are as decorative as flowers. This fellow was agreeably still. There were some little blue butterflies flitting around like flying flowers, but they did not cooperate as well.

This fellow resembles a caterpillar, but instead of being fuzzy he seems to be wearing armor! Must be a warrior centipede. I can think of a few of our grandkids who would happily have collected him in a pocket.

I only saw this tiny golden star in one place along the path. What a little treasure!

I think this is a wild rose, another rarity as we walked along. It caught my attention on the way back. Hiking on a path where you have to retrace your steps is interesting, because the path looks totally different from the opposite direction. You notice different things about the trail and you see different flowers. You also have a different walk. We started from a gap so the trail was up, up, up until we reached the ridge where it was fairly level. On the way back it was down, down, down. The up is hard on your back; the down is hard on your knees. I was very grateful for my hiking polls!

If you come visit us at Camp Kreitzer, we will happily take you for a walk in the woods and a rosary of thanksgiving for the green cathedral. You can choose the difficulty of the trail from a handicapped accessible paved short hike to the Luray Valley overlook, to a five mile round trip to Kennedy Peak and back, to a walk along a stream, to one of the ridge trails on Massanutten or North Mountain. And if you are very good, we may take you to one of the  frozen custard/ice cream stands. Talk about a guilt-free reward at the end of the trail! Life is best when you take it slow and stop to smell (and photograph) the roses.

Checking Out the Bees and Naming Our Queens

Last Friday was our first real examination of the colonies since they arrived and it was thrilling!

When we opened the first hive which is made up of two medium boxes (supers) there were bees all over the top box so they've begun building comb in the upper box. In the bottom the queen had laid plenty of brood and some was capped and some was uncapped but filled with little curled up larva. Go, queen! We saw her walking around with her court.

We've decided to name our two queens after Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton since she was a mom of four and a spiritual mom of hundreds of girls over the years. Seems appropriate since the bees are mostly girls. She also opened the first Catholic orphanage in the United States. So our two queens are Elizabeth and Ann.

The second box, Queen Ann's domain, saw little activity in the upper super because the bottom is a deep. So they still have plenty of room for everything they're doing. We'll be checking up again within the next few days accompanied by our mentor, Gordon, who is the bee expert!

And I'm happy to say that I was all wet about seeing mites. I was looking at the circular markings on the bees and once I got a closer look, I could see that's all they were. So the bees are busy, collecting nectar (It's locust tree time and they love it!), and pollen (I could see the pollen sacks very clearly on one of the bees.), cleaning out the cells where brood has hatched, feeding the baby bees, etc. It's pretty clear where the saying "busy as bees" comes from!

examining a frame with brood and lots of bees

Notice the little girl in the lower right center with the white pollen.
She has two full pockets. Good work, girl!

Larry with one of our tools, a smoker, used to calm the bees.