A pleasant break from the heat and humidity today encouraged me to do a bit more trail scouting in the northwest area of the property where we want to plant more chestnut trees. We won’t be planting the little trees for a while but I wanted an excuse to do some more exploring. I went off the main trail through an area of such sandy soil that little will grow there except scrubby Sumac trees and a few thin dry weeds and grasses. After a turn and a dip into a little swale, however, the landscape suddenly became lush and I found myself totally surrounded by asters and goldenrods growing higher than my head. The blooms were the biggest that I have seen so far this year and they were dazzling in the afternoon sun. The buzz of hundreds of bees enjoying the flowers filled the air. Despite that fact that I couldn’t really see where I was going and that grape vines were tangling around my legs, it was a wonderful moment.
One Response
andrew
Hi Dad,
Your post reminded me of this Yeats poem, especially the last part of the first verse.
The bees in BC are angry with the lack of nectar. Got a sting on the tip of the nose today right through the veil, one on the back of the neck and numerous others though I was fully suited. Looking forward to keeping bees in a place with a late summer and fall nectar flow!
I WILL arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,
And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;
Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,
And live alone in the bee-loud glade.
And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 5
Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;
There midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
And evening full of the linnet’s wings.
I will arise and go now, for always night and day
I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; 10
While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements gray,
I hear it in the deep heart’s core.