The Lone Bumblebee

We have an assortment of flowering things around the house. One section contains a lot of Russian Sage which seems to be a favorite with the bees. Sometimes, I can just stand there and watch them work. And the closer you look, the more you seem to see.

Today, we have a day that is more fall like than the summer fall we’ve been having. But it is also cloudy and we’ve had some rain so it is a dark and damp day.

As I was walking down to retrieve our garbage bin, I noticed a single bumblebee in the Russian Sage. Now, it could have been some other type of bee. I’m not an entomologist so I can’t positively identify all of the bee species we have here. I can certainly distinguish between honeybees and bumblebees but that’s as far as I will go. Wasps and hornets are another category that we won’t go into.

I’m fairly sure the bee doesn’t think like this but I wondered if they realized they were alone. Like did they question where all there friends had gone because the bush is typically filled with them. Again, it is certainly possible this was a solitary type of bee (I know male bumblebees come out in the fall and keep to themselves).

I know my last post mentioned some of the things I do like about fall but, for me, there is just an underlying tone of sadness associated with this season. In Spring, the world comes to life. In Summer, that life is everywhere including the buzzing of bees. Fall is where a lot of the world dies or at least goes into a dormant state hoping to survive the winter. Winter is brutal but there can be peace in the quiet and as it goes along, you can start to see the hopeful signs of things coming back to life. Despite the pretty colors, fall is a time where a lot of life ends.

As if you needed further confirmation that I’m a spring/summer person. Here I am talking about death just because of one single bee. Probably the weather adds to my mood.

Again, I know it is all part of the cycle and that there will be plenty of bees next year. Can’t help being a little sad that this guy isn’t going to be one of them.