#25: Peep a Pollinator

Look closely at some flowers and bees and whatnot.

Instructions

  1. Find some flowers.

  2. Check out the nectar-loving bumblebees and other pollinators. 

  3. No seriously—look CLOSELY. 

  4. Take a picture, if you must.

  5. That’s it. That’s enough art. 

 
 

 

Be Kind to Your Fine Flying Friends

For much of my childhood, flying insects equaled bad. Bees would sting you at random points, and yellowjackets were to be slapped with your boogie board. Mosquitos are one of the biggest jerks of nature. Turns out, yellowjackets secrete a substance that signals the others to ATTACK when they sting you. 

 
meme-yellow-stripey-things.jpg
 

But recently I’ve found new respect and interest in pollinators, especially in bees generally and bumblebees specifically. I even love the creepy sound of the cicadas. Last summer, while walking around a greenhouse in Rhode Island, I watched a butterfly get UP ON a flower, darting its tiny tongue in to get some nectar. WHOA. (The coffee was good, sure, but not THAT good.)   

Nowadays, my neighborhood is teeming with echinacea plants. They have bright petals and a hard, spiky center. (Wikipedia says the name is derived from the Greek word for “sea urchin” and boy howdy—good pick, language people!) 

No Need to Make (or Be) Anything

One of my favorite meditation instructions, allegedly cooked up by Mary Orr, is:

nowhere to go,
nothing to do,
no one to “be”. 

I hope as the calendar flips into August you get a moment to experience that “no need to”-ness. It’s important work, as Mary Oliver points out (hat tip to my pal Davi for mentioning this one):

“Invitation” by Mary Oliver                                       

Oh do you have time

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy

and very important day

for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

as they strive

melodiously

not for your sake

and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude –

believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing

just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.

I beg of you,

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:

You must change your life.

– from “A Thousand Mornings: Poems”, Penguin Books, 2013

**** The bottom part *****

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David Hart