RUE BEE

I know, I know, there have been bees-in-flowers pics up the yin-yang recently and this one is nothing special except that he is a rather flashy orange Italian bee and he is about to land on a tiny rue blossom.

I was out there taking pics of a wild Mediterranean mint, nipetella or Lesser Calamint, which has planted itself in the herb garden and for which I am very grateful. It is an herb many Italians feel they must have to use when cooking porcini mushrooms. If this one hadn't planted itself almost right outside the kitchen door I would have to go tramping in the woods to find it. It's rather like a cross between oregano and mint and has a woody flavour.

There are no porcini to be found just now and the mint is going to seed but I noticed that the herb rue was buzzing. There were three types of bumblbees feasting upon it, two very, very small and this one fuzzy orange one. So there I was, crouched on the garden kneeler, for far too long. The sound of church bells wafted across the valley, my dog, Cloud, huffed back and forth, indignant that the "Friends of Jesus" had rung the gate bell and worse, that the spaniels across from the church had dared to bark.

I thought that there must be better things for a grown woman to do of a Sunday morning but at least I've done the bee pic. Not quite in focus but hey, he's still in the air flapping his wings.