If Bees Are Few

We are bees then; our honey is language. ~ Robert Bly

Maybe humans are not exactly bees, but we do depend on them. During a recent visit to the library I was pleased to find If Bees Are Few left on a table, and I sat down to read it. It's an anthology of bee poetry edited by James Lenfestey. It was published to call attention to the many threats that bees are up against, such as colony collapse disorder, the varroa mite, insecticides, and a reduction in food sources. 

The title comes from an Emily Dickinson poem To Make A Prairie:

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,
One clover and a bee.
And revery.
The revery alone will do,
If bees are few.

Pablo Neruda's evocative Ode to Bees is included:

Multitude of bees!
in and out of the
crimson, the blue,
the yellow,
of the softest
softness in the world;
you tumble
headlong
into a corolla
to conduct your business,
and emerge
wearing a golden suit
and quantities of
yellow boots.

Some of the entries are more poetic than others, like this short and to-the-point entry from Sherman Alexie:

The bees are gone. 
We need new bees 
Or we are fucked.

If you happen to come across this lovely volume of accessible poetry, it may well "bee" worth your while. (Sorry, I just couldn't resist.)

Three on Thursday

Joining Carole and friends for Three on Thursday, today with What I Did On My Summer Break. 

1.  Had a lovely visit with Ryan

For many reasons, we flew Ryan in for ten days. There were talks, discussions, tears, commiseration, and plans made. (We also enjoyed some delicious reuben mac and cheese at C3ntral Tavern.) He and John are heading to Montana next week on a fact-finding mission as Ryan contemplates the best way to move forward in his life. 

2. Drank wine and decorated the garden

My SiL started adding blue bottles to her garden several years ago. I don't remember why, or if there even was a reason, but I've always liked how they look. They are especially lovely when the garden starts to wind down in the fall, and beautiful against the snow. Ryan and I finished this bottle of Riesling, so I decided this was the perfect opportunity to start my own garden of blue bottles. This one is marking my blueberry bush, and when I finish the second bottle that's currently half-empty in the refrigerator, I'll put it out next to my other blueberry. 

3.  Worked in the garden and kitchen

Our first-year garden in MD has been a real success. It may be because it was brand new so the soil hadn't been depleted of nutrients at all, or possibly John's careful tending, but I have barely been able to keep up with beans and tomatoes during the last month. At last I am caught up with blanching, roasting, and freezing and have a freezer almost full of snow peas, beans, and roasted tomato sauce. There may also be some corn in there in the next couple of weeks. I've complained about the work involved on several occasions, and that isn't a very exciting photo, but it makes me feel happy and accomplished looking at this freezer packed with produce.

Head on over to Carole's for more Three on Thursday thoughts.

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday. I'm still working on my second sock blank Hitchhiker, and it's almost there ...

The colors remind me John Deere tractors, but they also blend in pretty well with the corn.

I'm still reading Snowball in a Blizzard, but have also recently started Living Proof. This is a collection of essays from mathematicians about the struggles they experienced along their mathematical journeys. So far the main points seem to be "work hard and you will succeed", but as the mother of a struggling mathematician, I'm hoping there might also be a few about what happens when you work hard but don't succeed. 

I also spent some time browsing Overdrive last night and borrowed a short story collection called If I Loved You I Would Tell You This. When I added it to goodreads, it turns out I read it four years ago. I'm enjoying the quick read of short stories and have found several of them intriguing, so I think I'll stick with the reread (especially because I don't remember any of them)!

What are you making and reading this week?

Summer Break

I'm taking a bit of a summer break. I hope that when I return, there will be more sunflowers,

more Radler,

fewer beans to blanch,

and much less hazy, hot, and humid weather (and crankiness on my part). See you soon!

Sometimes Monday ...

... is a day to tear out beans. In a sign of slowly-approaching fall, they have slowed their production, and are beginning to senesce, so out they come. Pulling them out is kind of satisfying and there are still some big beans to be picked before the vines go on the compost pile.

It still feels very much like summer outdoors. It's already 80 degrees at 6:45 and the heat index is supposed to feel like 105 later, so I'm starting early. I hope your Monday is also off to a good, productive start, doing something where you can clearly see results!

The View From Here

This is the view from my kitchen window, looking over the ivy-covered fence toward my neighbors' house.

It's tough to read, even enlarged, but they've written "Change is Good" on a slate. It's gotten a little faded from recent rain, but I see this five or six times a day when I'm at the kitchen sink. I've thought about it a lot - Why would they choose to hang this directly in my sight line? Why did they write this statement on it? And is change really good?

Whatever the reasons, as someone who is resistant to change, just seeing this sign has made me think about change quite a bit. There are signs of it as summer slowly winds down, but I think it's more than that. I'm not sure what forms it might take, but stay tuned  as I read the writing on the wall and take heed.

Three on Thursday

Joining Carole and friends for Three on Thursday, today with Three Reasons Why I Did Not Write An Unraveled Wednesday Post Yesterday.

1.  I thought I was getting tantalizingly close to a lighter green section of the sock blank, and if I just knit a little bit more it would be more interesting than another photo looking much the same as the previous ones. It turns out that was not really the case. 

2.  I let myself get waylaid by three loads of laundry, and then a washing machine that would not drain. The laundry is done, I've cleared the clog in the drain hose, and order has been restored to clean clothes world, but this took me several hours.

3.  Today is John's birthday and I baked him a cake. He's celebrating 72 happy years! (Just kidding.) It is his birthday, and he is a mere babe of 61, but he argued with me for far too long on my birthday this year that I was 65. I was actually 62, but it just makes me feel good to chuckle at a semi-private birthday joke. He never reads my blog, so I'm the only one who know I'm making the joke. Shh ... don't tell him!

Head on over to Carole's for more Three on Thursday thoughts.