beeness

boynton sees that she has been hovering around bees - one of the current kaliedoscope tasks - without even trying. Synchronicity. For instance, the Basho haiku that Robert Hughes referred to ( with a slightly different spin):

How reluctantly
the bee emerges from deep
within the peony

You can see this illustrated with a photo here

And then over at the aptly named about as funny as income tax boynton chanced on the sound that a Hawaiian male bee makes on the point of - bee ecstasy.

Then, again by chance, another quote suddenly darted out:
a bee sleeps in the thicket of my heart: Gide . (via here via Wood s lot).
Almost a swarm.

To add to these wild bees that flew in by themselves, boynton went looking for some links.
A Taste of American Beekeeping History has some great photos of old equipment and clothing.
Though modern protective clothing is just as fascinating. (eg Love this confidence boosting apiary wear.)
The Life of the Bee By Maurice Maeterlink. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1914, described here on the Catalogue page
Not a formal manual of beekeeping, but an interesting lyrical and poetical discourse on the reality of being a bee, with musings on the nature of their civilization, character and behaviours

update: another chance bee just flew in ...scary. (see also paintings. Bunnies and bees)

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Comments: beeness

That haiku syllable count's got me worried...
how do you pronounce pe-o-ny?
Posted by Nora at August 14, 2003 03:36 PM

This is almost uncanny. I've been doing quite a bit of research on bees lately--specifically the bumbling sort--and was thinking of them as I stopped by for a visit. I have to say, you're the bee's knees.
Posted by .es at August 14, 2003 03:54 PM

Nora. I'm never the best at syllable-watch in haiku, but that's as was translated. It may have something to do with that controversy about the way "peony" is pronounced? Fred at Fragments had a good post on this once. I believe some people pronounce the O.

and .es, thanks. I've often had that sort of uncanny thing happen.Maybee this beeness is a bit of a zeitgest?
Posted by boynton at August 14, 2003 04:01 PM

I have a print of that Ryden bee sitting framed on my desk right here.
Posted by .es at August 16, 2003 10:22 AM

The narrative builds...
It was its flight around the screen that really got me. It's a beautiful specimen.
Posted by boynton at August 16, 2003 12:12 PM