bumblebee Archives - Owl Medicine: Shamanic Healing

Timing

Timing – and the little choices we make from moment to moment – often has a profound influence on our life. Every day we have opportunities to make choices that have the potential to make a huge impact upon us. Sometimes we don’t even make a choice, one way or another. (Which is its own brand of choice.) And what’s even weirder is that most of the time we don’t even realize we’re making choices that could alter our destiny.

I was thinking about this as I took a walk earlier this evening. I’d come across an extremely thick and heavy chunk of a tree limb that had fallen onto the dirt and gravel roadway in the state park. I was grateful that I’d not been walking with Spartacus at the moment that chunk fell down.

Obviously the branch fell directly on the road, so neither other cars nor bicyclists were harmed. But it does make a person wonder – how close did I – or any of us frequenting this road at this time come to potential injury or death?

Bumblebee Exiting Peony Tree Blossom – Photo: L. Weikel

Another Perspective

Another way to appreciate the vagaries (or perhaps they’re hidden blessings?) of timing is the photo above. What are the chances that I could catch that bumblebee exiting the tree peony blossom at such an auspicious moment?

Of course, truth be told, they’re higher now than they ever were before (at least in my case) because of my iPhone. This exact frame of the photo I took of the bumblebee is the one that showed up in my photo feed. But even if it hadn’t, I technically would’ve been able to ‘freeze’ this single frame of the ‘live’ photo.

I find that to be amazing. In a sense, we don’t even have to be as talented or lucky as we used to be. This technology actually stretches time, giving us the opportunity to point to the concept of ‘timing’ with a knowing nod, but an ace up our sleeve.

Nevertheless, I’m still delighted by the fact that I can post a photo I took of a bumblebee literally midflight as it hauls ass out of a flower.

All of This to Say…

Don’t sweat any of it. The big stuff we worry about probably has less likelihood of messing up our lives than the little decisions we make every single minute of the day.

(T-94)

Bumblebee – Photo: L. Weikel

Two Visitors

While I worked at my laptop on the porch this morning, I entertained visits from two distinctly different creatures. One of my two visitors was beautiful, but terribly destructive and most unwelcome. The other was not only beautiful, but also singularly and adorably focused upon fulfilling its purpose of being a master pollinator, making it a most welcome and appreciated guest.

Busy Bumblebee – Photo: L. Weikel

Little Bumblebee

I was delighted when the bumblebee you see in these photographs started immersing herself in the begonias hanging off the edge of our porch. These blooms have been – bar none – the best flowers to grace my porch probably ever. This particular hanging basket of creamy peach, brilliant orange, and dazzling yellow faces has consistently churned out blossom after blossom since early spring.

When this bumblebee showed up this morning, bouncing from one blossom to another, intently burying its head, thorax, and abdomen deep into the begonia’s sensuous petals, I grabbed my phone, hoping to get close enough to capture the intimacy of the moment.

As you can see, little bumblebee was more than happy to show me its best side and allow me to document its efforts to being the best pollinator in its age group. I was especially fascinated by the big blob of something sticking to one of its legs. It could be pollen, I suppose. But it actually looked, to me, like a part of the blossom’s plumbing.

Anyway, I was over the moon that bumblebee permitted me to get so close and capture some shots of it without seeming perturbed at all by my presence.

Photo: L. Weikel

Unwelcome Intruder

As I stood on the edge of the porch marveling at the details I could see in my bumblebee photos, I felt something thwack onto my left shoulder. In fact, I could just barely see it in my peripheral vision, but I had a feeling I knew what it was – and I was not happy.

I flicked it onto the floor in front of me and – sure enough – it was a spotted lantern fly. UGH. Shocked and appalled at the audacity of this intruder to actually hurl itself onto my body, my loathing overrode my initial, natural inclination not to kill things. Knowing they are extremely quick to evade capture or death, and before I even thought twice, I stomped on it.

They don’t belong here. They’re killing our trees.

Within the span of five minutes I was graced with visits from two diametrically opposing creatures. One that spreads life and one that destroys it.

Not sure what I make of that. I wish I didn’t have to kill anything, but sometimes we’re forced to make choices we wish we didn’t have to make. I’ve asked them to leave, but they’ve insisted on remaining and going after our trees. They’re invasive and persistent.

So…it’s from this: