New queens, nine pounds of newbees, the sound of a swarm

BEFORE TIM DEPARTED ON A HONEYBEE-SHOPPING TRIP to Brushy Mountain Bee Farm (Moravian Falls, N.C.) today, his two new queen bees arrived. They're delivered via U.S. express mail in the little queen cages shown at right, with about half a dozen "nursing" bees to clean, feed, care for them (since these ladies don't seem to know how to do ANYthing for themselves except mate and maintain the buzz level throughout the hivehousehold).

TIM BROUGHT THE TWO NEW QUEENS OUTSIDE so I could get a picture and as you can see they were immediately "found" and hit upon by some of the homeboys. In the photo above left, Tim is unpacking today's cargo, including three hives, with three pounds of bees each, shown up close in the photo below left. I had to take these pics FAST as we've learned the bees HATE the electromagnetic fields emitted by digital cameras and cellphones... .) I SHOT THE VIDEO BELOW WHEN ONE OF THE HIVES BEGAN TO SWARM (or so we thought) on a very warm morning recently... the loud whooshing/humming sound you hear in the background is the bees. Eventually, they all settled down and bee-haved.

Dressed for Guess, Nest & Fashion Fights Poverty

LOVE the photos that arrived this a.m. of Sophie and Jane Pyle with Blonde Charity Mafia girls at last night's opening party for the new Washington, D.C. location of Guess. The fashion brand joined forces with Teen Vogue and Fashion Fights Poverty for the event, with a portion of proceeds benefitting Nest. As I understand it, Fashion Fights Poverty works within the fashion, textiles and design industries to identify, support and raise awareness about initiatives dedicated to the eradication of global poverty. Nest helps women artisans in developing countries obtain micro-credit loans to create sustainable entrepreneurial businesses. Some of Nest's funding comes from apparel and home accessories produced exclusively for the organization by well-known designers as well as recipients of Nest loans. SOUNDS LIKE a good organization... and reminds me of what Vici International is doing in South Africa (beautiful Thornvale embroidery and textiles) to empower rural craftspeople; and Silkroute is doing in Afghanistan ("One Rug at a Time") to provide sustenance for war widows. In the latter instance, the weavers, if they have children, must complete the rugs at home and provide school progress reports to prove their children are attending school. Similar goings on behind the scene at the Design South Africa Home Lifestyle showroom at the Atlanta market, where we met Esther Mahlangu. (right, sophie pyle at the South African Home Lifestyle showroom at AmericasMart, Atlanta 2007)

While we're on the subject of nest-dressing...

I snapped this photo of our art director/style blogger Wes Kennedy with Thom Filicia, of the Style Network's Dress My Nest and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy at a party at the High Point Market this past Sunday night. Wes and Thom, at right in the photo, are standing in front of Thom's new rugs for Safavieh. Dress My Nest is produced by PB and J Television, the same company producing Blonde Charity Mafia...