BEES
During the week I was asked why I put out water for the bees. Nearly half of everything we eat relies on bees for pollination. Unfortunately bees and butterflies are under threat worldwide. There’s several very easy things you can do, even if you only have a balcony or window sill, to provide water for bees. Here’s a short list of easy bee friendly ideas.
- Shallow containers of water with stepping stones or twigs create landing pads and can be put anywhere for bees to drink and cool off.
- Look at your use of any of the “cides” in your garden. These are insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. They kill insects randomly.
3. Create a bee hotel, a collection of hollow bamboo and other short sticks housed in a box or buy a smart “Bee Hotel” designed for this purpose.
4. Bees benefit from visiting a range of plants with different nectar and pollen, so aim for diversity if you have a garden.
I have added a bee hotel to the garden, selecting a shady, protected position under a blueberry bush. No point in looking for the berries, because I ate them all while I was setting up the bee hotel. The new bee hotel sits above the previous, fast evaporating bee bath.
I’ll plant the seeds included with the bee hotel in a few days.
CHRISTMAS CAKES
During the week someone told me that it’s less than two months until Christmas. That was a surprise, but this has been the fastest year ever. The first job, soaking the fruit in brandy for the Christmas cakes, is now done, but sorting the boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations, a job planned for this year, is not done. Maybe next year.
READING
I’ve read two books this week . One is my book club book which we will discuss on Friday and the other is by local award winning author, Craig Silvey. When we were down south I wandered into a bookshop where Silvey was promoting his latest book, “Honeybee” and I was introduced to him. I worked with his father years ago and knew immediately who he was and enjoyed hearing news about his family. It wasn’t until we came back to Perth that I started his book and couldn’t put it down!
Sam Watson, aka Honeybee, is the narrator and protagonist in this account of how a teenager comes to be standing on an overpass, about to jump. As his story unfolds we understand his despair and confusion. Sam is transgender in a society which neither understands or sympathizes.
Sam’s recognition of and need to be seen as transgender is portrayed with great compassion by Silvey. These are richly described characters. Sam , who feels ” wrong or damaged”, eventually overcomes the difficulties and traumas of his early life. With support and encouragement he discovers acceptance and a future where he feels he belongs.
( I describe Sam as “he” as the sometimes preferred term, “they”, feels awkward and is not used in this story)
Our book club book this month is Wallace Stegner’s “Crossing to Safety”. It is the story of two couples and how their friendship and marriages evolve over 35 years. It is the last book written by Wallace before he died and I wondered if it was based partly on his own life in academia.
Beautifully written, although sometimes challenging unless you are widely read in the classics, we watch as the characters develop as circumstances change, and also how they essentially stay the same throughout the story.
Stegner describes nature beautifully and his sharp observations of human nature make this a special story. I am looking forward to our book club discussion on Friday, waiting to hear how others have reacted to this complex story.
SPRING GARDEN
The spring garden; not mine, my Mother’s! I have been staying with her and wandering around her garden is lovely. The garden is full of colour and bees.
and finally, some of my roses ( Pierre de Ronsard, Abraham Darby and Father’s Love) and my bonsai.
If your read any American posts you’ll know tomorrow is Halloween. You’ll also know that at this time of the year, in American, there’s thousands of recipes for sweet pumpkin pies, pumpkin lattes, pumpkin cookies, cakes and other sweet treats. This puzzles the rest of the world who consider pumpkin a savoury food, to be roasted or boiled and served as a soup or with the main course as a vegetable. We mix pureed butternut pumpkin to make pumpkin scones, otherwise it is not a sweet food.
So, if you celebrate this ancient Celtic tradition, enjoy and eat whatever you fancy!