On being covered in a sticky film

Today is the honey harvest. Or rather the start of the honey harvest because due to a lack of Porter bee escapes (little plastic things that allow bees to exit but not return), it has to be done in two parts. Tomorrow morning, I will go raid the remaining hive.
The harvest is so-so. We will have enough honey for our needs and that is about it. I am not entirely convinced my dh's plan of using only single brood boxes rather than double (ie two) worked. We had the same number of swarms but the bee nest size was smaller, thus fewer workers.
The other problem I discovered is that somehow the Queen bee in the fourth hive became trapped in the super -- and we have a very small brood nest. I shall have to reunite this colony with the one next to it tonight.
In the meantime, I have spun out my honey. It is a lovely smell down in the garden room -- wax and fresh honey BUT there is is a layer of honey over everything including me.
One of the great joys of harvesting honey is that you do get to take a sample of fresh honey every now and then. Fresh honey is like nothing else in the world. Wonderfully sweet with the tang of wildflowers. My favourite is a little bit of honey comb.
To make matters worse, the plums are ripe. The plum tree by the greenhouse is notorious through out the village for its profusion of plums. This is because I think the people before never used to pick them and everyone would see this tree laden with Victoria plums. Me? I pick, give away and freeze. The courgette glut continues unabated, joined now by a tomato and chile bonanza. Fried green tomatoes are actually rather good.

I have start reworking TSD and can see what my editor meant by a bit of repetition. She was being kind. I need to nake it flow better. It was too static. Hopefully I will get through this round of reworking within theweek, and then comes the paper read through, and then the random read through. And finally, the I am totally sick of finding errors read through.

By answering my editor's question about a rough time estimate with the promise it would be in before 30 September, I have bought myself time. It also means I can enjoy my lunch with other authors and the senior editors later this month without worrying about whether or not my editor has looked at my full. There is also a party I get to go to. It will be my day for swanning around, being I am A Lady Novelist rather my usual guise of Mother and chief housemaid cum gardener.

The younger two have gone back to school. They were very excited about this. I suspect they were getting bored. It is good for children to get bored. It forces them to think creatively.

They also like being out of the house when I am editing. I have a tendency to play a single tune over and over again-- when I am taking a break. For The Lady Soldier it was a tune from the Sharpe CD. Love Farewell. With Gladiator's Honour, it was John Spiers and Jon Boden Prickle Eye Bush. The children have hidden the CD. I am not sure what I will use this time...