Category Archives: Honey Bee

Lately Only Honeybees Guests

03 Saturday Apr 2021

Posted by in Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Bee, Canon, Flower, Garden, Home Garden, Honey Bee, Pollination, Pollinator, Sloat Garden Center, Spanish Lavender

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I spotted this Honeybee yesterday buzzing around our Spanish Lavender plant. We have purchased a few of them from the Sloat Garden Center and Costco. I have not see the Bumblebees or Hummingbirds much this past week. Hopefully they will come a lot more often later this Spring. I miss not seeing the bumblebees and hummingbirds in the yard. I keep attempting to analyze and figure out what I can do to bring them back. Do I need brighter flowers? Is it too noisy in the neighborhood, and therefore they are staying away?

One reminder I am learning is how to prepare for guests whether human or other life. I do miss not being with family, relatives and friends for gatherings and enjoying a good meal together. We’ve only eaten with a handful of people for over a year. Mother’s Day will be the first larger gathering we will have with vaccinated family and relatives in an outdoor setting.

A goal during the pandemic was to declutter which is an ongoing struggle. We’ve made a little progress but still have a mountain to climb to accomplish. Whenever we should welcome guests into the house, we do have a little work to do to tidy up and throw away.

Even as we plan for our future Mother’s Day potluck celebration at my cousin’s home, my wife wants to prepare separate packaged portions of food just to be safe. She will probably have little bags of cookies and covered containers of Asian noodles with vegetables. Guests can just pick up a package or a container without risks of any contamination from individuals.

We’ve been blessed with a large circle of “our” people. Not only do we need to welcome back guests with physical food and comfort, but we can welcome others with our demeanor. If I am in a “bad” mood, no one would want to be around me. We can feel good or bad vibes from people. People can sense our genuine concern. Hopefully, we did not totally isolate ourselves that we forgot how to show genuine care for others even in SIP.

As we prepare for Easter, how will we celebrate Christ’s resurrection? Will we celebrate “He is Risen” and show His Love to others who may not understand this sacrifice. If you are not meeting with others due to the pandemic, can you still share a meal together remotely?

We’ve been supplying my parents with holiday meals even though we are not quite ready to eat together. We realize they enjoy a change from their routine cooking. Tomorrow’s resurrection meal will be a Ham and Asparagus.

We look forward to welcoming all creation in spirit and in truth!

Photos help reflection!

Thirsty Honeybee

31 Wednesday Mar 2021

Posted by in Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Bee, Canon, Garden, Home Garden, Honey Bee

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After I watered my potted Avocado plants, I noticed this Honeybee taking a drink of the water that came out from the bottom of the pot. It was a sunny and warm day, and this Honeybee was thirsty. She came by a few times to take a sip of water before the water evaporated off the concrete in our backyard.

Notice the intricate wings. The veins in the wing resemble tree branches. It is pretty interesting to see the honeybee suck up the water. The wings look so fragile, yet they are quite strong to fly quickly and efficiently. The wings’ appearance is deceiving. The honeybees fly quickly and travel great distances for a small creature.

We can all relate to being thirsty like this bee. Especially during this pandemic, many of us have found new drinks to entertain ourselves. I’ve become our local coffee barista at home. An electric coffee maker was our former choice to brew our morning beverage. When it broke, a decision had to be made what to purchase next.

We do like making cold brew, since the flavor is intense with less acid. We especially enjoy Philz Coffee as our choice for making cold brew. We have a big cannister to make cold brew in addition to individual tall cylinder glass containers to allow the coarse grounds to sit and slowly brew the coffee.

Having a hot cup of coffee in the morning is also good. My wife reminisced how her mom would brew coffee on the stovetop each morning for her dad. Brewing coffee on the stove top is a contraption that will not break like an electric coffee maker. I investigated this idea. I decided to buy this Farberware Stainless Steel Stove top Percolator from Amazon. I love this percolator. It does take a little more time to brew coffee. But the flavor is mellow and different than the old electric coffee maker. An electric coffee maker makes a quick cup of Joe. But taking a slower method to brew does give taste benefits.

Have you found a new thirst quencher during this pandemic? Our new drink choice is to use a bunch of meyer lemons from our garden and add to our pitcher with a center reservoir for the fruit. We add water and plan to use fresh mint with the lemons for a healthy easy drink.

This bee needed hydration and comfort. We all need this during our pandemic life. We’ve learned new ways to create drinks at home to give comfort and help us relax.

Identifying with this bee and his thirsty needs reminds us to enjoy our drinks and feel comforted. Hope the bee’s drinking will help encourage others to find new drinks for entertainment and comfort.

Photos reminds us to be comforted with good drinks!

Being in the Center or on the Edge

21 Thursday Jan 2021

Posted by in Back Yard Garden, Backyard Garden, Bumblebee, Canon, Dwarf Sungold Sunflower, Garden, Home Garden, Honey Bee, Sunflower, Sunflowers, Sungold flower

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The Bumblebee in the first picture is having a good time on the peripheral of the Dwarf Sungold Sunflower. He is feasting on the nectar as he makes his way around the flower. The Honey bee in the second picture is planted in the center of sunflower for his sweet feast. Which bee is smarter in its position in the flower? I’m not sure if there is a sweeter part of the flower between the center and the petals.

The Honeybee do produce more honey than the Bumblebee. The Bumblebee is good at using their bigger bodies to vibrate the flowers until they release pollen. Releasing the pollen helps plants produce more fruit.

Is it better to be closer to the edge to shake things up compared to being in the center where it may be safer? In the case of the bees, it seems that each position is important.

It is usually more comfortable to play it safe. I like to look at the ocean for the view, but I do not like to spend a lot of time at beaches. When we went to Hawaii, we did visit the beach but did not lay out on the sand. When we were in Costa Rica, we chose to be in the 4 foot deep spacious swimming pool over going to the beach in the resort. In our area, recently there have been sad incidents where people have been hit by waves on the beach and disappeared into the ocean. While these incidents can be rare, I am pretty content not spending a lot of time on the beach.

Conversely, there are times it is advantageous to take a risk and try something new. In our pandemic life, we tried playing family games with participants in 3 different locations. We played 3 different online games for the first time in a Zoom meeting. It was fun to learn the games and interact with each other.

Doing this blog and sharing my photographs is something I never thought I would do. I keep learning new things as I continue to shoot and examine my pictures. I appreciate all those who take a little time to look at my blog. Taking risks continuously teaches me new lessons.

Lastly, there is a time to play it safe, and there is a time to take a risk. Both actions are important to do. I’m learning that I need to do both and learn when I should take a risk and when to play it safe.

The Bees are doing the same thing by being in the center or on the edge. It’s all good!

Photos give valuable lessons.

 

Honey Bee Seeking Sweet Lavender

18 Sunday Oct 2020

Posted by in Backyard Garden, Bee, Garden, Home Garden, Honey Bee, Lavender

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Our neighborhood Honey Bee was busy getting nectar for her hive and pollinating our Lavender Plant. It is pretty fascinating examining the flight of the honey bee. The eyes of the bee are pretty big. It’s wings seem so thin yet are powerful for the fast flights.

I get energized sitting in my backyard to find good shots of the 3 B’s — Bees, Butterflies and Birds (basically hummingbirds). I am learning patience as I sit in my chair looking out for these buddies who are also getting to know me. They are trying to figure out if they can trust me. Unfortunately, my big lens is intimidating to the hummingbirds. I notice the hummingbirds come more frequently if I do not have the big camera lens around my neck.

I am trying to learn how to gain the trust of the hummingbirds. I try to be still when they fly close to me. I am trying to wear colors which will not be offensive to them. I watch my actions so not to scare them away.

This is also a lesson in life. Do our actions allow for people to trust us? I am trying to attract these critters to my garden and me, so I can shoot photos. Can we seek to show our integrity and genuine concern to others, so they will feel comfortable to seek help and advice for us? Some may think it is better to not be involved in other people’s lives. People are too much work. It is easier to just have a small pod of people. Yes we can only see a small pod of people of the pandemic. In reality our sphere should not just be limited to our pandemic pod.  But our sphere can expand if we are interested in helping people.

Just as I do not want to scare off the bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, I also do not want to scare off people in my life. Just as the bee is attracted to the lavender for sweetness, can we show “sweetness” to people during these pandemic times?

Photos teach us about sweetness!