Bees in Texas

Cari Amici,

When I was a child, I believed it when someone told me that if a bee lands on you, stand very still and it will not sting you. In a field one day, I stood very still and waited for him to fly away. After my nose was stung, I ran towards our family’s apartment on the American military base in Germany, realizing that if I had NOT stood still, the bee could not have made contact with me. As I opened the door to the hall, I stepped on a dead bee in the threshold whose stinger was facing up and got my second sting of the day right between the toes.


Despite this, I have always had a fondness for bees. In college, my friend Jamshid bought me a honeycomb beeswax candle for a gift. I was enchanted enough to find out how it was made and while I still worked as an image preservationist, I started a hobby business making beeswax candles. After building up my business with the aid of the Internet, I sold Lumina Candles & Art in January 2001 to become a full-time artist.

This morning, I looked out of my kitchen window and saw the Texas Green Cloud Sage beginning to bloom lavender flowers. And then I heard the distinctive sound of buzzing. And I saw many little bodies flying around the flowers. I went outside to see a fantastic sight – tons of bees harvesting nectar! How wonderful.



For years, honeybees have been having problems. Migrating Africanized bees were a threat as they took over hives. And several years ago, I heard that the California almond tree farmers were upset that fewer bees meant less pollination for crops. I have never seen here this many bees on one plant, but then, this sage is the only plant around with flowers on it in this 100 degree Fahrenheit weather.


I watched and photographed the bees this morning for quite a while. They were pretty oblivious of me. Oh – in one of the double photographs shown here, there is a green spider on the top of the sage while the bees work the flowers below him. Later, the bees disappeared as the temperature rose. Perhaps tomorrow I can follow them and discover their hive.

PS My apologies for the bluish images. I did not realize that my camera was still set on 'incandescent' light for when I was photographing people in the aeroporto. And the sun was so bright that I rarely saw what I was photographing until I returned inside.