August 8...(Day 16)...Big travel day. Next Stop: Amanda's Aunt Inga Maj and Uncle Hans' home for lunch and a plum picking good time.

Jonathan picking plums: After a fantastic lunch, we picked the tastiest plums I have eaten in a long time. Wow, they were good. Thank you so much for your wonderful hospitality Inga Maj and Hans.

Next Stop: Amanda's Uncle Erik and Aunt Ann-Mari's home for a bit of "Bee Keeping 101".

Bee Keeping Fashion Plate: Yeah...I know...I am a veritable fashion plate...Aw...Gee...Gosh...The outfit is very important to wear. It must be loose fitting so the bees cannot penetrate the fabric. The pants were ski pants (I think), and the rubber boots made it impossible to get stung on the lower legs. The hood was very comfortable and had lots of mesh for good air exchange. I was wearing Ann-Mari's outfit. Amanda was the brave photographer for this gig.

Happy Hiving: I was so excited to be allowed to share this experience with Erik. It was so magical to be surrounded by bees, to hear the buzzing, to see inside the hives. It really takes a lot to annoy honey bees. They are very docile.

Erik inspects bee box: Each box was opened and inspected for hive health. The bees became quite a buzzzzzz with excitement when this was done.

 Erik chooses honey comb to inspect: The bees hang onto the honey comb as he lifts it from the box.

Erik inspecting honey comb: Each honey comb was inspected for honey in the cells.

Erik replacing lid on hive: Each bee box had to be closed up after honey inspection. This was a very poor year for honey yield. My thanks to Erik for a great lesson on bee keeping.