Do B A Good Bee......

"Aerodynamically the bumble bee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it, so it goes on flying anyway." ~Mary Kay Ash

I have finally located some bees that were motionless long enough for me to sit and watch them at work. The more I watch the more fascinated I have become with them. They are such diligent workers that not even my photo-taking disturbs them.

I have found out that there are two main types of bees in this area; bumble bees and honey-bees, but I have not worked out which are which just yet. Apparently bumble bees are much less aggressive than honey bees.

Generally they will not attack a human (thank god) unless their life is under threat. So if you do not wave your arms around wildly and instead stand calmly and let them smell that you are not a flower with pollen they will move gently away.

Apparently honey bees are not as amiable lol. Currently there are some poppies in the garden and to my amazement the bees are regular visitors. Because poppies are such an open flower it is easy to watch the changes taking place.

Daisies are another open-type flower that makes it easy to monitor bees in. The flower petals seem to attract the bees, which come along and actually take the nectar in the center of the flower.

If you stand and watch them patiently, you can actually see them sipping the nectar. While they do this they tread through the pollen which gets stuck on various parts of their bodies.

The bees then go to another flower and some of the original pollen gets transferred to the second flower. This was pollination taking place in front of me lol. The pollen was stuck on their bodies and legs and yet they continued undisturbed.

But have a look at the flower after the bee has left it and see the mess he/she makes, you can actually see where they have stompt through it. I once read that if we destroyed bees completely it would have a catostrophic effect on nature, beyond anything mankind could imagine; we would not survive.

"The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee, a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy". ~Emily Dickinson

My evening in pictures.....

This evening Mr J and I walked down to the beach for a swim. It was right on sunset and wow...what a show Mother Nature put on for us.

The evening sunset was glowing in the distance. By the time we had a swim and a walk, some clouds were working their way into land.

The clouds allowed enough of the beautiful lights through so as to reflect on the wet sand. Depending on where one stood, the sunset lit up the entire beach.

And before we made our way home again I just had to snap one more shot lol.

Sometimes I enjoy the horizontal lines of the shore and other times I see diagonal directions and frames when I look through the lens of a camera however this evening was all about colour.

Cleaning time in the tree......

A little bird called past my favourite tree and stopped to clean and tidy himself up. Fortunately I was already out on the verandah with my trusted camera to capture the entire process. Lorikeets are full of such beautiful colours that I never tier of watching them and of course, the more you watch and talk to them the more they perform lol.

I'll just fluff these feathers

Underarm xcruiosos

Scrub my back will you please!

Not to mention that we have to air under our wings!

Now....what about the other side you may ask...

A little rub here and there

And of course I need to bathe my sides as well!

Just reaching around the back here!

There! Finished! Now maybe she will take the camera away!

Home Sweet Home.....

A Bottlebrush near home

Jan. 2009

Well we have to head north to Sydney this weekend. It is terrible when one prefers to stay south of the clean up zone. The clean up being the kitchen that the offspring have been using. Last time we visited home the daughter stayed at her boyfriend’s place and the son went away for the weekend. We rang them to announce that we were indeed back in Sydney and would love to see them. Their response was a succession of grunts and “ahahh”s. John being the more patient and supportive parent of the two of us, suggested that perhaps they were busy and that we could have a proper conversation with them at a later date, for example when they celebrate their 40th birthdays. We cleaned up the kitchen and the ever-present homesickness immediately left me. Being home laundering, scrubbing, washing and tidying the house has that effect; it reminds us as to why I moved out in the first place lol. The kitchen displayed the offspring’s culinary preferences and skills, including bolognaise sauce splashed down the tiles, nachos sweet chilli sauce dropped on the floor and gravy all over the sink. Such colours and aromas certainly added a jovial ambiance to the house. Ahhhh home sweet home.

I noted that the carpet was in an immulate condition meaning only one thing…..they hadn’t walked in that part of the house since I left last. The bathrooms were also in a clean and tidy state, could this mean they haven’t showered for two weeks? OMG not at all possible, I am sure that the daughter has been staying at the boyfirend’s house and the son had been busy working so that probably explained it. Then why oh why, can they not learn to eat out as well. In any case, we will see what awaits us this weekend. I am hoping that the clean up zone will be tidy by the time I get there. Have a good evening everyone

The grass brushes near Callala Beach Jan. 2009

I read this during the week:The adult children had just finished reading the book, Children's Rights When Living at Home.' They stormed into the kitchen and walked directly up to their mother. Pointing a finger in her face, they said, "From now on, we want you to realize that we are the children in this household and that we have legal rights according to the law! Tonight we expect you to prepare us a gourmet meal, and when we are finished eating that meal, we expect a sumptuous dessert afterward. Then, after dinner, you and Dad are going to organise for us a scented bath, so that we can relax after studying all week at school.. And when we are finished with our baths, guess who's going to dress us and comb our hair?"

The mother replied, "The funeral director would be my guess."

One Word Quiz

This one word quiz was emailed to me recently.
USING ONLY ONE WORD! It’s not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you however, you will find that using one word answers is not as simple as it first appears
.
1. Where is your mobile phone? - Loungeroom
2. Your significant other? - Loungeroom
3. Your hair? -messy
4. Your mother? -asleep
5. Your father? - deceased
6. Your favorite?? - holidays
7. Your dream last night? - forgotten
8. Your favorite drink? - coffee
9. Your dream/goal? - peace
10. What room you are in? - study
11. Your hobby? - writing
12. Your fear? -dependance
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? - working-holiday
14. Where were you last night? -asleep
15. Something that you aren’t? -famous
16. Muffins? - chocolate
17. Wish list item? - motorhome
18. Where you grew up? - Guildford
19. Last thing you did? - reading
20. What are you wearingclothes
21. Currently on your TV? NCIS
22. Your pets? birds
23. Friends? - smiling
24. Your life? - hectic
25. Your mood? - fatigued
26. Missing someone? - no
27. Car? - dirty
28. Something you’re not wearing? - swimmers
29. Your favorite splurge? - Beautician
30. Your favorite color? - blue

It's A Beautiful World......

On Sunday we went for a drive to Orient Heads and Crookhaven Heads. What a wonderful surprise they both turned out to be.

Crookhaven Heads is east of Nowra and dates back to 1872 when a lighthouse was constructed on the point. The light consisted of a red lantern from a ship’s mast-head and was propped up by two simple poles. A few decades later on this was substituted with a brass lantern in a wooden lighthouse.

The old lighthouse still stands today, although it is nothing like it use to be. It actually overlooks some of the most spectacular ocean I have ever seen. By the time I walked the track in search of the lighthouse and climbed out and up on the little island, a gusty wind had blown up on that side of the island

It whipped up the ocean’s waves into a frenzy and with great force smashed the waves against the rocks. I stood in awe of the shear power of the ocean, as it was truly a beautiful sight to see.

Meanwhile on the other side of the small island was the most gentle and calm waters that I felt like I was in a completely different area. The waters flow into the entrance to the Shoalhaven River, which is 300km long, the lower 50km is subject to the tides.

Nowra is located about 18kms upstream. One has to sail outside of the heads to open sea and come back into the Jervis Bay entrance to get to where we live. The waters of the river appear to flow from estuary to estuary and go on and on and on. Most are fringed with mangroves, wetlands and marshes and everywhere that we stopped there were locals fishing, shorebirds and reptiles.

I spent hours taking photos and exploring the areas but found my day topped off when a small pod of dolphins made their way out of one of the bays towards the open ocean. I could not attach my 300mm lens fast enough and even with that on I could only photograph them in the distance.

I stopped to talk with some of the locals on the way home, who informed me that the dolphins are there regularly and that I should perhaps bring a tripod and a picnic next time in readiness for them. They even told me where to set it all up. Now how is that for good public relations lol.

Saturday afternoon......

Well I am sure that I have said this many times before....the beach is forever changing. Today I went for a short stroll, camera in hand, to find the beach deserted. The dark clouds were being blown in from the south east as I stood gazing out at the looming storm. They were murky and bleak and made the ocean look leaden.

As I made my way along the sand it struck me that there were very few shells this afternoon, no sea weed, no pieces of drift wood either. Instead, there were thousands of blue bottles.

For those of you who have never seen a bluebottle they have a float or bottle-shaped blue sac, which sits on the water's surface. They have many string-like tentacles hanging down from the float Bluebottles eat tiny fish, small crabs and plankton. Now if you have never had an experience with them, I suggest that you keep it that way lol.

Bluebottles usually attract people when they are washed up on the beach. When they are in the water the bluebottle appears translucent and is often unnoticed. However, against the sand they are quite colourful and are often mistaken as shells or weed. Should you try to pick one up it will give you a good sting.

As children we went to the beach and my sister thought that she was piking up a shell. Her hand was stung badly enough for my parents to take her to a lifeguard. He explained that although the sting was not deadly it was extremely painful causing a massive burning sensation that was painful enough to make a grown man cry. The toxin secreted by their tenticles is about 75% as powerful as cobra venom and leaves a nasty red tail-like welt where the tenticle lays against your limb or body. The lifeguard washed the area with vinegar and my sister lived to tell the story.

Anyway, I took a few photos and sat and watched as the dark blue skies turned to dark gray clouds and eventually they became a light rain. I made it home before getting completely soaked.