The Wonder Of It All

The other day I was sitting on my deck, enjoying a favorite magazine and yummy breakfast, when I found myself gazing into a tree in our yard. Something looked oddly different about it. There appeared to be some sort of growth that had occurred on the trunk among the branches. Then I realized it was moving!! The "growth" was actually a swarm of bees who had landed there for a rest and some shade.

They fascinated me. Where did they come from? Where are they going? Were they killer bee's, or just friendly honey bee's? They all seemed pretty happy just buzzin' around and hanging out.  (I have to admit, I was a bit nervous about them though as killer bee's are pretty popular in my area. We even have The Killer Bee Guy guy in town who specializes in removing their hives and then makes these awesome, award winning honey products.)

I thought about the journey they are on,  as I was also reflecting on my recent Summer travels. With my loving partner, we traveled from AZ to ME and back again. Along the way we saw some very beautiful landscape, lots of same-city-USA, freaky car art in the middle of the desert, huge wind farms, a goat sitting on top of a VW bug, amazing people, various kinds of weather, and many things that boggled our minds.

We often marvel at the distance that a bee, or a migrating bird travels. What do they see when they do? Are they able to stop and explore with a sense of adventure, or are they narrowly focused and determined? Personally, I was pretty amazed by the degree of our travel, by how many miles can be covered in one day, and the variety of landscapes that can be seen. I think it is pretty incredible that we have the technology to get ourselves from point A to B in a relatively short time, traveling thru many time zones and different environments. (Of course, I wish our technology would improve to be more environmentally friendly!)

I think it is equally fascinating that a bee, or a whole swarm of them, can do the same.