THEY'RE ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Up in the woods, where the Maidenhair grows, the loose branches creak, and the black cat weaves through my feet, I discover,

My Bees!

I'm convinced actually that they left and came back - because I took the hive apart in the early spring - finding no bees at all. Did I not take it apart enough to know there were still some survivors? Or did they find a warmer place to overwinter, knowing their hive would await them? I'll never know, those mysterious honey bees only reveal enough to make you think they run on pure logic, and then they baffle you with something miraculous.

Do you think it is a coincidence that after a gap of bee-reading time, this is the week I have been reading Letters From the Hive by Stephen Buchmann? A most delectable book I recently acquired from a friend. The introduction begins perfectly, with a quote from Edward O. Wilson's Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species:

"The more we know of other forms of life, the more we enjoy and respect ourselves. Humanity is exalted not because we are so far above other living creatures but because knowing them well elevates the very concept of life."

And this little bit too, I found truly amusing:

"Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; 'honeybee' is equivalent to 'Johnsmith.'"

The author is also an entomologist, which makes for a very stimulating layer to the book.

Oh what is a bee Mother to do .... I feel totally taken by surprise. Unprepared!

I suppose all I can do now is wait, and see how they clean up the hive and proliferate. If the colony gets good and strong fast, there might be a honey flow. The super combs are already drawn out from last year so they shouldn't be too far behind, other than the massive drop in employees. But I have no extraction equipment! Help! Where's that 'friend' when you need them?

I suppose if the bees can trust enough to call this home, then I should trust enough to find what I need too. The river is sweet, the plants are pure and wild, and the air well filtered with deeply breathing trees. Perhaps blessings ~sweetness~ will come my way soon? One can hope.

Oh to hear that scented hum again ...... better than any Italian Aria.

Tonight, when I light my dried herbs so the smoke can curl around my prayer and carry it to Great Spirits hands, I will send out gratitude for the gift. For the second chance to be a bee Momma.