Auntie Beeswax

Swarming to OMSI

Dear Liza,

We went out to OMSI the other night for a Science Pub, a program that we have gone to before, but usually at The Kennedy School. Like other pubs, you can have beer or wine, sodas, snacks, and learn stuff!

The big show currently at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is about Dinosaurs, but we walked right past them (after saying a polite Hello from a safe distance, of course) and into the Empirical Theater.

Urban beekeeper Mandy Shaw was there to talk about her love of, and work with, bees. We are all interested in the buzzy, pollinating honey-makers and Auntie Bridgett’s main character, Auntie Beeswax, is a beekeeper, so we wanted to learn everything we could.

And we did! In Mandy’s hour long talk (complete with great video and even audio recordings of different bee activities) we learned that male bees don’t mate with their own Queen, but with Queens from other hives, at a place called The Drone Zone. This was a complete surprise, and now I wonder where our local Drone Zones are!

We also learned that if a hive makes too many Queens, the spares are killed by the bees swarming her in what is called a Murder Ball, or “Cuddle of Death”, where their body heat literally cooks her. Gruesome, but necessary. This Cuddle of Death is also used to protect the hive from invaders such as Yellow Jackets and Wasps.

Mandy obviously loves and admires bees, and told us about honeycomb ‘memory’, Mason Bees, and how bees build their own honeycomb in a process called “festooning”.

It would take another two dozen blogs to tell you all I learned, and there are folks on YouTube, podcasts and elsewhere who will give you better information. So, go learn! My brain is still processing!

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Banner for Auntie Beeswax

Dear Liza,

One of my recent sewing projects is a new decoration for Auntie Bridgett’s booth where she sells her Auntie Beeswax books, buttons, and artwork.

We chose fabrics in colors that Auntie Beeswax wears… orange, green, and blue. Some of these were fabrics I’d had for years. The orange cat print had been kitchen curtains in our house in Salinas, and I made the stripes out of scraps from other projects. We did buy a few new fabrics at Bolt, and added them to the collection.

Once we chose the fabrics, they needed to be cut into triangles, sewn, turned, and pressed to make nice sharp flags.

I love the way all the colors work together!

Next, all the flags needed to be sewn to a length of seam binding to make a long banner. This got tricky! The seam binding was so narrow, it took some careful maneuvering and pinning to get it put together.

But now it is done and ready for het next art fair, which is the Art Picnic on September 16th.

Love,

Grandma Judy

A Real Bee Guy

Dear Liza,

Walking in the Going Street neighborhood was a real delight. Folks were happy and chatty about their gardens. Auntie Bridgett complimented a lady on her sunflowers and how popular they were with the local bees, and the lady referred us to a beekeeper, just around the corner. “He sells honey on his front porch,” she said.

Since Bridgett’s main character in her Auntie Beeswax comic keeps bees, we wanted to know more! We walked a bit, and found a house with espaliered fruit trees serving as a hedge. We could see a table and sign advertising local honey, so we knew we were in the right track.

On the other side of the hedge we found Glen Andresen, who is indeed a local apiarist (beekeeper). This is the busy season for bees, so he couldn’t stop too long and chat, but he and Auntie Bridgett found they have a common interest in both bees and cartoons, so they hit it off.

Glen works with a local beekeeping supply and education group called Bridgetown Bees, and judging from the busy thirty-odd hives we saw , he knows what he is doing. He and Bridgett will talk bees soon, I’m sure.

After we let Glen get back to work, we walked towards Bolt Fabric Boutique, talking about how often it happens that being early (or late, or lost) turns into a delightful adventure.

I’ve often called this navigating by serendipity, and this adventure proves that it still works!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Books with Pictures ComicCon, 2023 Part 1

Dear Liza,

This past Saturday was the second annual Books with Pictures Comic con, held at Auntie Katie’s bookshop. Of course, Auntie Bridgett set up her Auntie Beeswax booth.

The whole day was busy, fun and exhausting! Happily, it went very smoothly, mostly because of Katie’s wonderful staff and dozens of volunteers. Here is Alex, who was on the morning shift, getting everyone’s tents set up.

Once everyone was set up, I took a few minutes and gave the garden a good watering. Our weather has been very hot, and the garden was going to see a lot of action during the comic con.

The food carts that are behind Books with Pictures were doing a fine business, with everyone enjoying sandwiches from Underbite and waffles from Honeycuspe.

Auntie Katie was busy all day, making sure vendors had everything they needed and that visitors felt welcome.

There were fifty different vendors showing buttons, books, stickers, cards, patches, earrings, clothes, magnets, zines, games, and all sorts of handmade goodies.

Staff member Nico even designed a pamphlet that had a map and list of vendors and a schedule of activities that were going to happen in the garden.

We got to meet a lot of interesting and friendly people and see wonderful art, and by the end of the day we were pretty much wiped out. Until next year, BwPcon!

Love,

Grandma Judy

National Cartoonist’s Day

Dear Liza,

Friday was National Cartoonist’s Day, and I celebrated it by reading my two favorite cartoonists. The first, Gary Trudeau, has written Doonesbury since 1968. I started reading it in our local newspaper when I was in high school, collecting the paperback collections as they came out.

The characters and stories in the strips were funny, intelligent takes on people very much like people I knew. Crazy Zonker Harris reminded me of one of my brothers, and Americanism zealot B.D. reminded me of the other one. The strips spoofed college sports, the anti-war movement, women’s liberation … all the hot-button topics of my teenage years.

The series of strips about Phred, the Vietcong terrorist, and his struggles during the war was enlightened and delightful.

Bridgett Spicer is my other favorite cartoonist, and your own Auntie Bridgett. She started writing her first comic strip, Squid Row, in 2002. It ran for in the Monterey Herald newspaper from 2009 to 2014.

It told stories about people I knew, too. Starving artists and their search for art supplies and folks with irrational fears of garden gnomes… people everyone could relate to. Like Gary Trudeau, Bridgett shows her characters’ flaws as well as their strengths.

Squid Row wasn’t nearly as political as Doonesbury, but every now and then Bridgett felt the need to make a comment on world affairs. When there was a controversy about cartoonists drawing the prophet Mohammed, she made this strip about a cab driver.

In 2015, she closed out Squid Row and started Randie and Ryan, showing her two main characters’ adventures as newlyweds. And when we moved to Portland, so did Randie and Ryan! That strip ran for four years.

After a few months , she started other projects and let the cartooning slide for a while. Then, in 2021, her friend Jack Kent, who does the comic Sketchy People and was working for our local Willamette Weekly, offered her a spot on their comics page. Who could turn that down?

Auntie Beeswax is a slightly eccentric lady who lives in Portland. She is always upbeat as she cares for bees, cats, chickens, and her melancholy niece, Mallory.

I love seeing our everyday life in the comic strip. A well-done comic takes real life and lets you see it differently.

PS. You can find all Bridgett’s works, including paintings, collages, and lots of comics, at bridgettspicerart.com

Love,

Grandma Judy

Belated Travel Journaling

Dear Liza,

Your Auntie Bridgett Spicer is an amazing artist. Not only can she create delightful comics like her “Auntie Beeswax” and wonderful paintings and collages, but she can draw and vacation at the same time. Here is a page from her sketchbook of our trip.

Her brain works like that.

Mine does not. I made a really cool cover for my travel journal for our last trip to Europe,

but am only now (three weeks after we got home) finishing up my account of our journey. Here is a page showing our train ride from Amsterdam to Utrecht.

I started with good intentions, but then it just got away from me.

I happily sacrificed journaling time for time spent with family in wondrous operas, delightful museums, and fabulous gardens.

So now I’m catching up, and I’m glad I waited. Not only is my Journal a more interesting synthesis of the journey, with my own sketches and all the sorts of paper you collect on a trip, but I am getting to re-live the whole experience!

It’s like watching my favorite movie all over again.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Auntie Beewax Ooops!

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett has been writing her new comic, Auntie Beeswax, for the Willamette Week newspaper for a few months now. Readers have gotten to know cheerful, eccentric Bee, her cats, her chickens, and her hive of honey-makers.

And apparently, they like what they see!

We found this out in a sort of backwards way. Today is the day the newspaper comes out, and we were going to pick one up this afternoon. But before we had a chance, Bridgett began getting alerts in her phone.

Where was Auntie Beeswax?

Our friend Jack, who originally placed Auntie Bee in the paper, has been laid off due to budget cuts. The part time (probably lower-paid) person the newspaper hired to manage the design dropped the ball, and left Auntie Bee off the funny pages. And people noticed!

We are sad for the slip-up, but it is good to be missed. And I’m sure all will be right in the end.

And just so YOU don’t miss it, here is today’s comic!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Auntie Beeswax Goes Public!

Dear Liza,

Auntie Bridgett’s new comic, Auntie Beeswax, has just had its first publication in our local newspaper, Willamette Week! We are so excited, we ran out and got a dozen copies. It is just so wonderful to see her art in the paper.

This morning, Grandpa Nelson even showed us how people who don’t live in Portland can see the comic. This is how you do it.

Google “Willamette Week”. Once you get to the WW page, go to the bottom of the page, where it says “Print editions”. Click on THIS one.

Once you are at that issue, scoot the arrow to page 29, or just flip through the paper (using the arrows) until you get to the comics, which are at the back.

And in case you have trouble, here it is!!

There is a new edition every Wednesday, so just follow the same steps and click on the issue of that date and go to the back to find Bridgett Spicer’s Auntie Beeswax!

Beginnings are delicate, exciting times, and I have a feeling this is the beginning of something big for Auntie Bridgett.

Hooray!

Love,

Grandma Judy

After the Heatwave

Dear Liza,

Wednesday was the first day of human-level temperatures since our historic heat wave began. We woke up to cloud cover, cool air and even a bit of dampness. It felt wonderful.

I went to the garden early. My friend Tonya gave me one of her parsley plants, and I planted it between my radishes and lettuce. My garden is doing well, even though it isn’t as tall as the other ones. They have five foot tall trellises and arbors hanging with peas and beans. I have a magnificent beast of a zucchini.

I walked around Laurelhurst Park for the first time in a week, enjoying the cool green, the ducks, and all the people out doing their people thing. Tai c’hi classes, guitar practice, dog parties….. it was life as normal, out on the grass.

After a morning of sewing, French lessons, crossword puzzles and cartooning, the three of us headed off to Grandpa Nelson’s favorite lunch spot, Zach’s Shack. Auntie Bridgett got to go because she isn’t working at the SideStreet Arts gallery anymore. Her new comic strip, Auntie Beeswax, allows her more flexibility with her time.

We ate hot dogs and fries, and, since the sun had come out, appreciated the icy cold sodas.

Then came ping pong! Zach’s back patio has a table and enough hard surfaces that even if the ball misses the table, you can keep it in play. We get a little nuts sometimes, and it is fun!

We played until we were played out, then walked home by way of the Taylor Street chickens. The day had warmed up to 88 degrees and we were happy for the air conditioning.

This heat wave was bad. It send a lot of folks to the hospital. We need to figure out how to help our planet heal so we can all be well.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Dear Liza,

Did you know that your Auntie Bridgett Spicer was a cartoonist? From 2009 to 2012, her comic strip called Squid Row ran in the Monterey Herald newspaper. It was about an artist living in a touristy seaside town. Since Auntie Bridgett was an artist living in Seaside, California, it made perfect sense. The strip was really popular, too.

After we moved to Portland, she took a few years off from cartooning to do painting. She joined the Sidestreet Arts Gallery and helped make it a better place for people to see and buy art. And now she has starting cartooning again!

The city of Roseport and some characters

Her new comic strip is called Auntie Beeswax, and will be in the Willamette Week newspaper here in Portland. Auntie Beeswax is an eccentric lady who lives in “Roseport”, a thinly disguised version of Portland. She keeps bees, cats and chickens, rides her bicycle everywhere, and is an organic gardener. In other words, she is a delightfully ordinary Portlander. But she always does things just a little differently.

The comic will be about her adventures, and will include a young niece who learns about life ‘outside the box’ from her Auntie Bee.

I am so happy to see Bridgett smiling and sketching, getting her stories all ready. I look forward to reading about Auntie Beeswax!

Love,

Grandma Judy