Autumn Sweetness
Inspired by bees getting an early start, busily gathering pollen in these early days of autumn.
Copyright (c) Bernadette E. Kazmarski
Bizzy
Bizzy
Thistle blooms seem so exotic, vibrant violet fringe spilling from brilliant thorny green vases. They’ve grown along the path all summer, thorny rosettes flat on the ground in spring slowly reaching upward as each month passed. The stems rounded with bony-leafed hands tipped with frightening thorns guarding the precious flower buds, such that I could feel them prick my skin as they did when I was young and running through the old cow pasture and reaching for the pretty purple flower often higher than my head, stepping barefoot onto the rosette of leaves on the ground below. The flowers are gone as soon as they appear, an overnight metamorphosis into a handful of wisp-adorned seeds set free to float on the breeze. I watch the bumblebee, happily coated with pollen, perhaps not even realizing his importance in this world as he bumbles from flower to flower, ensuring their reproduction for the next generation of thistles, and for the next generation of goldfinches, their nests lined with the down, their fledglings learning to eat the seeds filled with energy for their journey of migration. Neither the birds nor the bees can take it with them, nor the plant itself, but only thrive in the moment on the congregation of species, nor I, in my memories and ideals of this afternoon. I could turn my head, walk past, intent on my errands and work, but I spend at least part of an afternoon that might slip by, never to be remembered, held dear in that exotic green vessel.
Shared with
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Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
Breakfast for the Bumblebee
The morning’s brilliant sunshine belied the cool air, but the bumblebee, sluggish at breakfast on the spent seed head, foretold the change to come. The season had been awaiting the moment and the moment was here, and even as the day warmed and the bees efficiently bumbled on their way, grand and beautiful clouds appeared on the horizon, slowly, quietly parading across the sky, their size and numbers more dense each hour until by afternoon the blue overhead was hung with dreamy cotton and the voice of the wind whispered high in the treetops of what was to come. The day grew darker and more quiet until by early evening all was so still and dim that when the first few whispering patters of rain began their sound was clear, though unintelligible, as if speaking a language, like that of the trees, not of this place.
The rain fell quietly all night, lovingly soaking the hardened earth of late summer until, sated, it slept. As the next morning dawned the rain slowed and stopped, the clouds parted and cleared in a reverse of their arrival the day before, leaving the sun to shine brilliantly in the blue dome of morning, but the heat was gone from the earth, once again, for another season.
Before the Change
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Five Sentence Fiction: Breakfast
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Hanging By A Stamen
Hanging by a stamen.
I saw a big happy bumble browsing the blossoms of the ornamental pear that grows next to my deck. The top branches lean sideways far enough to see them right outside the bathroom window and I and my cats had front row seats to watch this big slow-moving black and yellow bee in the early morning sunlight.
From the side.
I had to photograph through my screen, though, and you’ll see an odd doubling of some of the edges of the bee and flowers. Bumblebees will not run away if they see movement or “hear” noise in the form of vibrations as other bees will often flee so I could have pushed the screen aside and gotten a clearer shot, but I wanted to make sure I got a few good shots first. Often enough I try to prepare everything for a clear photo but by that time my subject has decided to move on!
A pretty morning.
Bumblebees are as imperiled as other bees, and in some ways are more important to pollinating certain crops. That loud vibrating buzz can actually shake the pollen off of one flower and onto another so that the bee doesn’t have to visit each flower to effect pollination as do other bees.
Falling!
A female bumblebee can sting repeatedly, but they generally ignore humans and animals. Most of the time they’ll just move away from something that gets in their way so they may fly around you and even land on you, but they’ve got to be pretty stressed to sting you.
A busy bee.
The blossoms will only last a few days so I will likely not have another opportunity to photograph a big bumbling bumblebee in the pear tree until next year. but I really like the effect of the screen on this one. You can learn more about bumblebees on this study page Bumblebee.org or visit the Wikipedia page.
Happy.
This is shared in Inspire Me Monday on Create With Joy.
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All images used on this site are copyrighted to Bernadette E. Kazmarski unless otherwise noted and may not be used without my written permission. Please ask if you are interested in using one in a print or internet publication. If you are interested in purchasing a print of this image or a product including this image, check my Etsy shop or Fine Art America profile to see if I have it available already. If you don’t find it there, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
Starry
Asters on Parade
It’s time for the autumn asters to bloom in earnest. These pale violet asters appear along the road, at the edge of woods, , along a fence, even in your garden if you haven’t pulled everything that’s not what you’ve planted. They’ve been growing there, quietly, all summer long, and now that nearly all else is done, and before the riot of autumn leaves, the asters add their grace. Migrating birds and butterflies depend on them for a meal while traveling, bees make their last honey from their pollen. Celebrate this bounty.
This photo was taken on ISO100 Kodak color print film (don’t remember the brand) with my Pentax K-1000 fully manual SLR, 50mm lens with 1.5X adapter. Now when I look back at many of these photos I see the reddish cast in the prints. I really have to get a film scanner.
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All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
Raspberries in the Bloom
Raspberry in the Bloom
This is a raspberry long before you find it on the stem. Just opened this morning some of its features may look like another common flower, the rose, the family to which the raspberry belongs. It has a ring of five tiny petals but that puffy center and the unopened bud next along with the leaves, though larger bearing the same compound structure with tiny sawtooth edges, and those thorns.
A raspberry is a compound fruit like a blackberry, raspberry, mulberry and many other berries which are clusters of “drupes”, which sounds like an insult but simply refers to a seed with a fleshy outer covering. Looking at that center part, that ring of stamens around the outside has to get in touch with the fluff of pistils in the center in order for each drupe to be pollinated so you find that perfect hemisphere of juicy blobs that, all clustered together, make up a raspberry. The plant itself can take care of some of this, but not all, and if you’ve ever seen a raspberry with a few blobs missing, this is why.
Ready to Eat
What’s all this talk about bees lately? Apparently the Little Green Bee is a specialist pollinating raspberries. Didn’t see any about this morning, but I do know they visit here pretty regularly. Possibly that’s why, though I don’t have too many raspberry plants, the berries are very successful.
Little Green Bee
Personally, I can already taste the raspberries some morning soon, still cool from overnight.
Berries in a Cup
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For a print of any photo, visit “purchasing” for availability and terms.
All images in this post are copyright © Bernadette E. Kazmarski and may not be used without prior written permission.
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