gardening, spiritual life

Just a bumbling along

JOY journal
I didn’t pet this sleeping bumblebee, but such a thing is possible. Imagine!

“...even the insects in my path are not loafers, but have their special errands”. Henry David Thoreau, American writer

Bumblebees sleep in our garden.

It’s true. I often find them early in the morning, still tucked into bed in the depths of a gladiolus like this one or sprawled on top of a zinnia. They’re not exactly morning folks, often staying in such a torpor until the sun is climbing that they can actually be petted a bit.

Bumblebees don’t get the press that honeybees do. They’re not as busy — drifting from flower to flower in what looks like leisure rather than working like little demons. As a result, they produce enough honey for themselves, but not enough to stock the shelves of big-box stores. Thus no one “keeps” them. They roam free.

But, they simply cannot jet about in that freedom. If you look at one closely, it’s a marvel they can even fly. Yet, they do.

They fly, they sleep on silken petals and, sometimes, they roll around in what looks like pleasure. I’ve seen them do this in rose of sharon blooms until they’re so coated with golden pollen they can barely achieve lift off.

I like them.

I like them a lot.

They remind me that life is not a race, that life is more than work, that life is more than, well, accumulating. They do what is needed. Nothing less. But, most delightfully, nothing more.

It’s enough.

Published by JOY journal

After a long career writing for local newspapers — and, on rare occasions, for publications such as The Washington Post — Nora's word life is now focused on blogging and occasional writing projects of special interest. Also the author of several books, Nora lives in Appalachia with her husband and a goodish dog named Finn, who is delighted whenever the family's two adult daughters are home from college.

14 thoughts on “Just a bumbling along”

  1. I love bees, they’re always buzzing round the garden when I’m hanging out the washing or gardening. I have put a couple of little dishes with stones so they can stop to drink – another idea learned from the internet. I haven’t actually seen any landing at the ‘bar’ yet. Our photography friends who do macro photography take marvelous pictures that show just how cuddly bees are!

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    1. My husband, the science guy, says bumble bees can actually function warm-bloodedly when they have enough dietary energy. But, it’s physically easier to just stay in torpor until their bodies warm up with the day! Fascinating!!

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  5. Sounds like retirement. 😉
    What I love about bumblebees is that they can fly, even though experts in aeronautics say it’s physically impossible. Their wings are allegedly too small to carry their relatively large bodies… I guess they’ve never talked with the experts. 😉

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