Sir Charles, Earl of Barkley

This post is simply an announcement.  An announcement that cuteness has entered our lives!  I count myself as a dog person, and more specifically as a larger dog person, but GOOD LORD.  We (and by we, I mean my parents) just adopted the cutest puppy of all damn time.  His name is Charlie which is short for Sir Charles, Earl of Barkley, because puns.  If you're not already following me on instagram @renwheels do so now.  And if you want to see the really good stuff, start following me on Snapchat renwheels; because it's all I post about.  

That is all.  Carry on.

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The music of February.

In an effort to maintain momentum and create consistency, I am here posting again!  My thinking is that I will update the blog every Wednesday with Lord knows what, but I WILL DO IT!  This week I'm posting about my monthly playlists on Spotify.  Basically at the beginning of each month I start a new playlist, this month's veiled title is "2.16", and dump songs I've been listening to a lot during that month.  I've started the playlist and unsurprisingly the first few additions are heavily influenced by St. Lucia's recent album release and Zayn Malik's new single.  You can check out the playlist here.  If you're even remotely interested in listening to what I'm listening to, make sure you check back every now and then because it will be updated throughout the month.

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I went to my ancestral home.

This year, I really really want to get back into and be consistent with blogging.  I want to share my life with my friends and my family that may not be near me.  I want to share what I see everyday, and if people besides my family are interested that's great too.  

To start this off, I want to show you some pictures from an amazing trip my family took over New Year's.  We went to Edinburgh and London; and it was beautiful, overwhelming, dramatic, and splendorous.  But as crazy and "other" as it felt, it also felt like coming home.   My great-grandfather left Edinburgh with $30 to build a life for himself, and for us in the United States.  We came back to see where he came from and to thank him for all that his sacrifice gave us.  Here are some pictures from our homecoming.  I hope you enjoy it.

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The day the bees swarmed.

Do you have any hobbies?  This year I decided that beekeeping was going to be my new hobby, and so far, I absolutely love it.  In the early spring, I attended an eight week course in beekeeping with the Worcester County Beekeeping Association (the oldest beekeeping club in America!)  I highly recommend that anyone interested in beekeeping take a course.  It's a lot to take on without any prior knowledge.  The minute you open your package, there are 10,000 little lives in your hands!!  I hope to be able to share a lot of info and insight into beekeeping as I go, but if you are interested in beekeeping yourself, PLEASE do other research as well.

Today, I'm sharing some photos of us capturing a swarm!  Now, what is a swarm?  I'll tell you!  When a hive feels crowded (basically the queen doesn't have enough space to lay more eggs), they will grow a new queen and that new queen along with half of the hive will leave to find another place to build a hive.  Once they leave the hive they all cluster around the queen high up and send out a handful of scouts to look for suitable hives.  It is when they are all clustered together in this swarm, that they are incredibly safe to handle because they no longer have a hive that they are protecting.  This is also when it is possible to capture an entire new hive of bees #FREEBEES!!  

There is so much more info, but I don't like to get too wordy in these blogposts.  If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.  I'm hoping to be able to edit together some video I took as well, but for now enjoy the pictures from the day!

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Sometimes life can be perfect.

Life is stressful, and sometimes it mercilessly kicks you in the ass.   This is news to no one, I'm sure, but every once in a blue moon life sends us a ray of hope in the form of a single perfect day.  I enjoyed one of these days two weeks ago when me and a couple of friends traveled up to Maine to climb Katahdin.  It began with a foggy morning beach walk in Portland, and ended with us gawking at a gigantic moose in a pond at Baxter.   

I'm putting these photos into the world to share the bliss, and to remind myself  of it when things feel off kilter.  Do enjoy.

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