Then again I tend to celebrate bees everyday. We keep a bee-friendly yard by planting lots of flowers that bees favor, such as a huge mound of lavender.
I will often go out and search for bees once the lavender comes into bloom. My favorites are the big black bumblebees. They remind me of little bears as they flit around gathering pollen.
Reading about bees is also a favorite. Here are few recommendations:
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
The Bees by Laline Paull
The Music of Bees by Eileen Garvin
He Should Have Told the Bees by Amanda Cox
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eager
The Keeper of the Bees by Gene Porter-Stratton
And I definitely tune into nature shows about bees. One of my favorites is found on PBS’ Nature called “My Garden of a Thousand Bees.” A wildlife filmmaker is stuck at home in Bristol, England during the pandemic lockdown and decides to film the busy bees in his backyard. I’m on my third rewatch. Here is the preview.
What are your thought about bees?
P.S. Don’t forget to nudge your congressperson to support PBS. Public broadcasting benefits everybody!
I’m an appreciator of bees. They are truly amazing in design and admirable in purpose. I keep bees in mind when landscaping my backyard by maintaining a dedicated mound of lavender, not only because I find lavender to be a fairly perfect plant, I know bees enjoy lavender as well.
Once spring arrives and the lavender starts flowering I watch for the bees to arrive. It’s a Capistrano moment for me.
image: Stockcake
Some years it’s the tiny golden bees that are dominant. Occasionally there is a variety of bee with a bit of red to them. My favorites are the big, black bumblebees. They remind me of teddy bears, yet I wisely refrain my urge to hold them and hug them.
image: Bumblebee Conservation Trust
My penchant for bees came forth when I realized I’m reading my third book, or is it my fourth, where bees are a main focus. I scampered to my Goodreads list to confirm this epiphany. Actually, make that seven books.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd Lily is introduced to the world of bees when she find refuge with three beekeepers and she learns about the power of not only bees but of women.
image: Amazon
The Bees by Laline Paul The Bees is a creative tale of one bee, Flora 717, who is almost put to death for her lack of physical conformity but is spared and readers follow her rise from humble hive janitor to respected forager.
image: Amazon
The Music of Bees by Eileen Graven Three people with deep hurts are brought together through the caring of bees.
image: Amazon
He Should of Told the Bees by Amanda Cox A daughter working with her beekeeper is devastated when he passes away since impacts their business, and the hurt is even more deep upon the discovery she has a half-sister who wants to sell her interest in the business.
image: Amazon
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar This middle grade novel features twelve year old Carol who unexpectedly finds herself helping her parents care for her grandfather who is slipping into dementia. A touch of magical realism as he believes the drought will end when the bees return.
image: Amazon
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie King Sherlock Holmes has retired, passing his days with keeping bees. His interest in mystery is awakened upon the arrival of a young woman who rivals his intuition and maybe even his intellect.
image: Amazon
The Keeper of Bees by Gene Porter-Stratton A classic that is as beautiful in prose as it is rife with politically incorrect references; however, ignoring those or at least placing them in the context of the era it was written, a reader will delight in how a physically, emotionally, and spiritually wrecked WWI soldier is healed through the unexpected experience of caring for an ailing man’s bees.
image: Amazon
Are you a bee lover as well or have you read a book or two about bees? Please share the title, as I aim to keep on beeing a beeliver.
Pam Webb 