Give Thanks!

Great native on a sunflower today. Longhorn bee. That eye just gets me. And that left antenna (vs the right) really shows how razor-fine the plane of focus is on these shots (as if you need to be reminded).

Diversion here – skip this noise if you’d like:

I’m not a fan of holidays, really. This is because I think that setting aside a single day for gratitude or generosity or celebrating a person or remembering those who have passed (those just as examples – there are many more) really isn’t enough. All of those things are good things. And there’s probably nothing wrong with an annual fixed focus on those things.

I think what I’m trying to say is not so much a dig on the single-day, hard focus, but rather that I’d hope that these things would be habits in us – have become (or are becoming) innate. That we’d not need a day to honor our mothers, for example, but that would be part of who we are and how we behave – every day.

Be grateful every day and give thanks. Call your mom on a random Thursday if she’s still around. Give a gift randomly just because you’re generous – and you know it’s something the recipient will never acquire for himself. Send a “just because” card in addition to the annual birthday card.

That was kind of a loose rant. Maybe I’m saying that the reasons for the holidays we celebrate are generally good reasons. And I’d hope that these reasons are something that we can all internalize and integrate and reflect every day. And I’m looking at myself first.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

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Longhorn on a Sunflower

Longhorn Bee on a Sunflower of Dubious Genealogy

Here’s a nice profile of a longhorn bee. Their eyes…the color and the pattern. They intrigue me. Beautiful and perfect with the aesthetic. This one is fairly clean as longhorns go. They’re often covered. They don’t groom as often or well as honeybees do. At least that I’ve noticed.

And none of them seemed to quite get it in whatever bee kindergarten they didn’t attend. They rarely share and rarely play nicely with others. If they have a flower, they’ll defend it. If someone else is on a flower, they’ve got no compunction about knocking that someone off and taking it. The only exception I’ve noticed is on the larger sunflowers. Occasionally they won’t bother another bee and will work the other side.

They’re one of my favorites to shoot. They are interesting and complex from all angles. Just a beautiful creature.

And, again, the sunflower. Weeds according to some. But gems according to the pollinators. Plant some. Let them seed themselves and wander through your yard from season to season. They’ll take over for a season…then seed and begin again – there and elsewhere. One of my favorites.

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