Did You Thank a Honeybee for Your Great Pumpkin?

Hats off to our honeybees for this year's hefty haul of pumpkins.

A Poem Is Like A Social Wasp

10/22/09

A vespid alights
on the latex-white puddle
of melted vanilla—
desperate for October’s stolen flower.

—Gerry Gomez Pearlberg

Artist of the Day

Been looking at a fair amount of art lately, and was especially thrilled last week by the plum blossoms, willows, and critter-renderings of 18th c. Chinese artist Luo Ping at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. If you're in NYC, check it out, and while you're there do not miss the amazing Astor Court—a hidden treasure nestled deep in the quiet recesses of the museum's Asian galleries.

Meanwhile, a bit closer to home—on the desktop, in fact—I've been enjoying the paintings and drawings of Zane York, a Brooklyn-based artist whose wide-ranging interests include bugs, birds, and critters of the mammalian persuasion.

What I like about this work is its meticulous accuracy and intelligence, through which, in subtle ways, a sense of appreciation and fondness for the subject matter percolates through.

Some of my favorites are:

A dragonfly.

A squirrel.

A hapless bug stalked by two cats.

An oil painting of a dead blue jay that evokes a 19th century specimen study, but with heart.

A horned beetle rendered in all its talismanic glory.

An in-your-face blowfish.

NRDC Member Alert!

Are you a member of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)?

If you're a beekeeper AND an NRDC member, NRDC is looking for your help in gathering information on pesticide use and its effects on bees.

NRDC members who keep bees and would like to assist this great organization in going to bat for bees are encouraged to contact Levi Jones at ljones (at) nrdc (dot) org.

Bee Photography Tips

A friend was kind enough to send this impressionistic shot of a bee in flight over a sea of pink flowers.

The photographer, Ronan Palliser , provides a detailed explanation of the techniques used to take the photo and his musings about the challenges inherent in photographing bees and butterflies. It's a nice little conversation starter.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised at little camera-power I've needed to get some pretty cool shots of my honeybees and the local population of bumblebees and other flying insects. I certainly don't aspire to greatness on this front, but my little Canon Elph has come through well much of the time.

Patience is, perhaps, the most important ingredient for successfully photographing the fast-moving insects. A macro lens, even a basic macro setting option, helps too. Learning through time and observation how different insects move about is useful as well. In any event, it's fun to go outside, find some bees working the flowers, and snap a few photos in the least intrusive way possible.

Shakespearean Bee

Signage from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Honeycomb on the Go

Whilst walking, minding my own beeswax, I happened upon these.

Kid Bees in NYC

My bro sent me this picture, taken over the weekend at some sort of eco-event at Madison Sq. Park in Manhattan.

Bookish Bees

Noble Skep

From the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where I was born and raised. Doorway of a bank, symbolizing hard work and thrift. Alas, the bank is now a Gap. So it goes.

Thrift Shop Bee Patch

Found in Bklyn, of course. So cool.

Apes. Tools. Honey-Getting.

Forest-dwelling chimps use tools to gather honey.

"No Rest for the Wicked"

Errant bee menaces winged poppy-hopper. The artist is Wm. Barribal. The year is 1935.

Looks like Barribal also did birds.

Fun With Bugs!

Sweet friends imported this bee from Baltimore. It now resides in Brooklyn.

Bee-Friendly Reporting

A reporter sent this my way, and I though ya'll might enjoy it.