I found long ago that bumblebees and other flower bees sleep deep inside of flowers at night. Here, they are snug little bugs! In the morning, they have a ready source of pollen for breakfast before they go about their daily business. Most flowers, such as lilies, squash blossoms and trumpet vine blooms are sturdy and provide shelter against rains and the chill of night. However! Sometimes, the choice of bloom can be a mistake.
Last night we had torrential rains. Everything became soaked. This morning's hike proved to be rather soggy with the leaves and blooms still dripping water. One small bumblebee was quite soaked. It had made the mistake of choosing the bloom of the Althea bush as its nighttime quarters. Normally, while this would not have been the best choice, it definitely would not have been the worst. The blooms of this shrub are "one time only" blooms. They open during the day and then close...for good...at dusk. If a bee climbed inside the bloom, the soft folds of petals would gently caress it like soft blankets as it closed for the night. In the morning, the bee could still wiggle its way out of the petals. With the rains, however, the petals would almost "glue" themselves together making a tightly enclosed "cocoon" around the bee. Obviously, our little bee had sense enough to climb out of its bed and "ride out the storm" on the outer edge of the shriveled bloom. Poor, little bee was covered with water droplets but was still clinging to its bloom!
It seems that this summer has had two things going for it. It has been hot! We have had near record temperatures. It has also been wet. Rainstorms pop up almost every evening. as of late. These storms have a lot of wind, lightning and thunder. The little bee endured quite the ordeal last night so I am in hopes that it finds a safer place for tonight's slumber. Perhaps it should try the new hotel called "Madonna Lily" down the garden a ways. I hear tell that its "open all night" and is touted to have strong petals. Sweet dreams, Little Bee!
After another rainy, rainy night, Mark and I headed to the pier. It was quiet with only the birds acknowledging our arrival. We watched as the sun peeped through the clouds and hoped that the rain was through for the day. This was wishful thinking that did not come to fruition, About mid-morning, the clouds gathered and the showers pelted us once again. Things are getting a mite soggy here! This weather routine has us all watching the Gulf. It is that time of year again where any bit of low pressure that makes its way into the Gulf has a potential of becoming a storm. This one? According to the weather folks, does not have much chance of becoming anything major but may be "just a rainmaker". Wow! Just what we need! More rain....
As we headed back up the hillside, Mark called my attention to the water droplets that were slowly slipping down a smilax vine. Like a well trained marching band, the droplets stayed in perfect step. Not one droplet bumped into another as they slowly marched down the sloping vine. They stayed evenly spaced until they came upon a joint in the vine where a tendril curled its way up and over the main stalk. The droplets halted, slowly squeezed between the loops then continued marching down the vine.
Some folks think I spend far too much time enthralled by the wonders of Mother Nature. They think that perhaps the time would have been better spent doing chores. I say that sometimes you just have to let go of what you "need" to do and do what you "want" to do regardless of what others think. Personally, I think that observing and learning of the wonders of nature is far better than feeling obligated to do chores. Those who think otherwise can just get over it. Had I not spent the time as I did this morning, the spectacle of the rain droplets marching in perfect unison would have been wasted. Maybe Mother Nature knew I would appreciate her effort and put on this show of perfection just for me!
Walking around on a foggy morning lets one think about many things. Pondering seems to be one of those things that I do best. I ponder...I may not know the answers to what I am pondering...but I ponder. The absence of a "view" around me keeps the mind thinking instead of just peering at things. One of the things I reflected on during my most recent foggy hike was water. Water...that wonderful, life-giving substance that is all important. Since our bodies are made up of about 60% water, it stands to reason that without it, life would cease. Water is in practically everything around us. Without it, Earth would be a barren wasteland. Then again, since water is never really "used up", we are sitting pretty good...quantity wise but maybe not quality wise. Think about it. Water is basically always recycled even if we don't really do our job of conserving it. The stuff is in a constant flow between the rivers, oceans, humans, animals, plants...it never stops. Dump water on the ground and it soaks into the soil, is taken up by plants or filters through and makes its way to underground "rivers" (hopefully as pure water again) only to be pumped back up to be used again. Leave it sit in an open container and it evaporates into the air where it accumulates only to be rained back down upon us. It passes through us, it passes through plants, it passes through animals to be filtered by the soil and sand, purified and reused.
While thinking this, I came across one of the peach trees that had droplets of water dangling beneath each limb. The moisture from the heavy fog had accumulated to form droplets on any surface available. What is not absorbed by the tree will soon become a large enough droplet that it will fall to the ground. The cycle would start all over again. The water may change a bit in its journey but it is always there.
Don't get me wrong. This does not mean that we should be careless and overuse or abuse our water. While the water, itself, will still be around, being clean, usable water is a different thing. That is where the problem arises. Too many folks have no qualms about dumping toxins into our rivers and oceans. They do not think of the runoff from their pristine lawns, busy factories and even kitchen sinks. What we dump into the water takes time to remove. Mother Nature can only do so much and to hurry her is ridiculous! Filtering water through sand can take years upon years. Pollute the water we have at our disposal and trouble begins. Duh! It makes more sense just to take precautions before doing something stupid. Don't ire Mother Nature with your lackadaisical attitude toward keeping our water clean!! Use a bit of commonsense! Mother Nature will appreciate it...and so will every living thing on Earth!
Yeah, I ponder a lot of things while out hiking on foggy, foggy mornings. Some good...some bad...but I ponder just the same. Most of the time, however, my thoughts mean diddlysquat to anyone else but I just thought I would throw this one out there for anyone interested.
This morning's sun was completely blocked by a thick blanket of fog. A total whiteout of calm had taken over the Bayou after the severe weather that had ravaged the area last night. Once again, high winds, hail and torrential rains pelted the Little Bayou House but, once again, it held strong and kept us safe. The fog brought with it peace.
The morning hike served as a good time to reflect on things as nothing could be seen further than about twenty feet ahead. The footsteps were soft on the wet leaves and drips could be heard echoing through the woods. Once on the pier, things felt strange. Calls from mergansers and geese were the only things that broke the stillness. The damp air over the Bay proved to be too much for my light jacket so I headed back to the woods. There, the overhanging branches provided at least some shelter.
It was here that I found spiderwebs suspended between the branches of many of the low lying branches. As usual, the simplest things enthrall me. Each web was strung with droplets of water that had accumulated overnight. These droplets sparkled like jewels even in the low light beneath the canopy of tree limbs. The strength of the thin webs was remarkable. Even with dozens and dozens of droplets on a strand, the web held. Yet, with the whisper of a breeze or the gentlest of touch, the droplets would shower down to the ground like pearls from a broken necklace. The web held yet the jewels fell and were broken into a thousand pieces. I was in deep thought about the spiderwebs when the sudden bark of a coyote sent my thoughts whirling back into reality. Time to head back closer to the house.
