Arts and Crafts

MLK EVERY DAY: Recently we were asked to help with some decorations for a Martin Luther King Junior-related celebration at the kids' former school. We were happy to help out!

We decided to make some colorful, large-scale centerpieces for the occasion. It involved trips to four different Dollar Tree stores (for bargain table runners). For each table, we made a flower pot (oversized 'bottomless' soda cups I've saved for years from our trips to Safeco Field. (I knew I was saving those for a reason.) We had to cover each cup in yellow paper, and then Annabelle put a fun zebra-print tape around the rim. We used enormous Popsicle-type sticks for flower stems, and Annabelle used her Cricut to cut out big flowers.

One point of the celebration was that MLK could not and did not do his important civil rights work alone. Rather, a number of people were involved. We featured some of King's contemporaries on the flowers. One side of the flower featured a portrait, and the other side featured a quote and a few biographical facts.  CJ helped track down quotes, photos and wrote most of the biographies, including this one about Bayard Rustin, whom we'd never heard of before. (He's worth learning about!)

(In case you're curious, Bayard Rustin was a Civil Rights activist, particularly supporting African-American and LGBT rights. In the 1940s, Rustin collaborated with A. Phillip Randolph on the March on Washington, a movement designed to combat racial discrimination in employment. Rustin played a key role in introducing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Gandhi’s teachings of nonviolent conflict resolution.)

In all, we made flowers featuring the following: Ralph Bunche, Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, Jesse Jackson, Rosa Parks, James Bevel, Ralph Abernathy, Diane Nash, Mahalia Jackson, Bayard Rustin, Benjamin Mays, Harry Belafonte, Hosea Williams, Dorothy Height and Amelia Boynton. It was quite a history lesson!

SPORTY CAKES: Today, we put the finishing touches on our latest Birthday Dreams donation. This one was for a nine year old Seahawks' fan. We used an 'ugly Christmas sweater' cake pan for the jersey. It was our first time using that pan (a Value Village find), and it worked out nicely, I think. (The recipient's name is purposely obscured in the photo below.)

We also made a dozen cupcakes to go with. The kids had fun decorating them last night. No two were the same. 

The kids were liberal with the sprinkles, naturally.

I've been meaning to share that the last cake we made for Birthday Dreams was featured in their January 2019 newsletter and on their Facebook page.

Their newsletter shared some thoughts from the birthday boy's very grateful mother. Titled "
The Gift of a Smile: A Birthday Dreams Story," the article reported ...

In early 2018, a permanently disabled single mother lost her housing and became homeless. This mother has a servant's heart, providing for 13 children, three of whom were "hard to place" children that she adopted. With wait lists for permanent housing 2+ years long, she and her children have been couch surfing and staying in low-end motels. Basic needs like food and shelter a top priority, the holidays were looking bleak—let alone any hope for any type of celebration for one of her sons who had a December birthday.

Aware of the need, the child's school offered to reach out to Birthday Dreams. Circumstances were such that the mother was unable to hold the party at her transitional housing, so plan B was set into action. The Birthday-in-a-Box was delivered to the school. The celebration took place over the lunch period prior to the winter break, making the young man's birthday and holiday season a little brighter. This is the feedback we received from the mother, "It was the difference between despair and hopelessness to faith in people and sunshine in a sea of darkness. We are forever grateful."

In describing the impact of the birthday on her son, she said, "It took a kid totally depressed about his situation to kid with a big smile, who feel accepted by his peers and hopeful for the future."

And last Wednesday, Birthday Dreams' Facebook page shared thanks from the school the boy attended. ...

The birthday boy and his family were thankful for Birthday Dreams. The staff, faculty, and kids are still talking about that cake, and how beautiful everything was. Thank you for bringing some beauty and light into his life, and to our entire school community! We are all so grateful.

When you are homeless, it is difficult to plan when you are living day-to-day. To think this party was almost cancelled, because the families plans changed at the last minute. Our office negotiated to deliver the party earlier and delivered the party to the school. He was able to celebrate his birthday with his schools friends. Our staff and volunteers work tirelessly everyday to make birthdays happen. Without them this party would not of happened. Now this boy and his friends now have important memories. We were able to create birthday smiles for this boy and his school. #WhyWednesday #BirthdaySmiles

Flight of the Bumblebee

WINGING IT: Saturday afternoon we had a million tasks we really needed to take care of. So what did we do? We headed to The Museum of Flight for a presentation about beekeeping near SeaTac airport. 

I asked CJ to provide a write-up about the event, hosted by the most interesting Bob Redmond, founder of Urban Bee Company.  A poet and Rhodes scholar, Redmond has an interesting resume. He's a fulltime beekeeper now, and founder of The Common Acre, a non-profit which restores food and farm culture

Unfortunately, CJ's report is barely cursory. (I'll talk to him about that later.) Here's his way-too-short account. ... 

On a mostly dreary Saturday, on 19 January 2019, we went to The Museum of Flight for the fifteen quadrazillionth time. This time, it was for that day’s Honey Bees And Airplanes (HB&A) event. HB&A primarily concerns two topics: The Flight Path project (FPP) (a non-profit project dedicated to the sustenance of a bee ecosystem in land near the extremely busy SeaTac airport,) and a comparison between bees and airplanes.

According to the Port of Seattle, the FPP has been in place since 2013, when it was established by the Port of Seattle, as well as a local non-profit organization, The Common Acre, to turn the-unused green land in the south part of the SeaTac airport into a pollinator habitat, thus helping the local bee population. Roughly 36 beehives are in the FPP’s area.

Beekeeper Bob Redmond, who gave the presentation, displayed an infographic comparing SeaTac with the FPP. Notably, the FPP has nearly a dozen times the number of daily operations that SeaTac does (SeaTac has ~1045, the FPP has ~125,000.)

One of the things we learned during the presentation was that not only are there bees near the SeaTac runways, there is also a bee-inspired public art installation within the airport itself.

We also learned about the gentleman who invented the beehive frame, L. L. Langstroth. Born on Christmas Day, 1810, Langstroth was a teacher and clergyman. He's pictured on the right, below. Redmond said the man on the left was a 'model' on the patent application, and he has no idea why his head is so small, ha ha.

I compelled CJ to tell you more about him. ... 

Today, the most common form of a beehive frame is a "Langstroth hive," a hive design featuring several movable frames, for easy harvest of honey. It was patented on October 5th, 1852 by L. L. Langstroth, a clergyman and teacher often known as "the father of American beekeeping." In the years since its introduction, has become omnipresent in beekeeping, and an icon of the practice. The way Langstroth hives are constructed, bees cannot attach honeycombs in a way that would connect adjacent frames, or connect the frames to the hive's walls. Langstroth hives are notable for the presence of vertically movable frames, which, prior to its introduction, were rare.

While "hive frames" had existed as early as 1814 (with the earliest known one created by Ukrainian beekeeper and inventor Petro Prokopvych,) their frames were often difficult to remove, making the seemingly simple process of harvesting honey from the frames an annoyance. Meanwhile, Langstroth's invention made the lives of beekeepers around the world much easier and less irritating by using easy-to-move frames. Today, beekeeping would probably look very different (and a whole lot more frustrating!) without Langstroth hives.

We also learned about the many different types of bees found in Washington and around the world.  The SeaTac beekeepers collect specimens to track which of the winged wonders are inhabiting our area.

After the presentation, people had an opportunity to taste some honey produced by the SeaTac hives. We were first in line. :) The kids report it was delicious (I was busy taking this photo.)

A couple of fact sheets for you to peruse if you choose.