Honey Bees

I’m a bit obsessed with honey bees, I’m not sure why, but they’ve always evoked magic to me. The short months I spent tending bees while I was at Hampshire still remain vivid clearly, and potent. Keeping bees is one of the siren calls encouraging me to stop my wandering ways, and sink deep roots. (that and wanting a koi pond) I occasionally feel guilty about this quiet passion as my brother is extremely allergic to bees, and I feel like perhaps I’m acting out some hidden aggression, but I digress. Today however I did not need to go looking for bees, today bees came and found me.

3 Bees

As I sat in a patch on the grass in a patch of white clover this morning, I was surrounded by bees crawling over and around the white flowers. Happily content for the company, I was saddened to notice that 3 of the bees closest to me had Varroa mites. Mites, and harsh weather have wiped out wild honey bees, and severely reduced the numbers of domestic hives, a honey bee holocaust. Wanting to now surround myself with bees, I finally resolved to go find a good picture of bees, and honey, and flowers, and comb, so I visited iStockPhoto.com, without much confidence, as I never seem to find what I’m looking for on stock photo sites. Pleasantly surprising them was to find that Honey – Natural Remedies is the featured design of the week, and hilights a number of good images.

Matt also saw a bee, and by extension the same bee turned up on my laptop.

Yesterday morning, hot sun and hot pavement, I found a dead bee. I can’t remember the last time I saw a dead bee – not since I’ve lived in a city, I guess – and this one was still brightly coloured, fuzzy and fat. I poked it with a piece of leaf for a while. That knot of complexity!…I witnessed a bee, not built on top of reality but part of reality itself. Indivisible from it. A window to the true reality so far from me. “Auspicious event! Going to be a good day” I texted Es, excited. “Not for the bee” she replied.