In the Garden with the Bees

Most of my tulips have finished their bloom cycle but the parrot tulips always come just a bit behind all of the rest . . .

this is my texture study for today. it is a shot of some stone that we have in the cactus bed.

when i seen this petal, my first thoughts were "oh NO~!!~the beginning of the end~!~already~!!~i spent weeks worrying about the buds getting ruined by the frosts then roughly another week watching them open and it has only been a few short days that i have been admiring them, smelling them, watching the bees and other pollinators discover and work them, smiling, smiling, smiling in joy just to see them~!!~ and then this~!!~it will be over before i know it and there will be lovely drifts of white petals under the tree ready to be blown in the wind . . . the only consolation being that this year there will be lots of those little cherries for the birds to eat in the fall and winter . . . sigh.

we have a cactus bed. it is filled with a native cactus and they are beginning to form their buds for bloom . . . see those pointy little spikes~!?!~ but the flowers are beautiful for a short time in the early summer. i have both pink and yellow colored blooms and i think this is one of the pink ones . . .

despite having my head stuck in the tree all day trying to get decent shots of the bumblebees, i was unable to really get any that i was happy with. this honeybee allowed me to shoot her for a time as she went about her business and this shot totally cracked me up because as deep as my head is in that tree hers is in this single blossom~!~i have to actually stand on something to be able to achieve my vantage and i'm absolutely positive that we are getting an extra amount of street traffic as people drive by and try to figure out just what the @#*% i'm doing there for hours on end . . . i hope they are getting a chuckle out of the whole mystery . . . just happy to be making their day a smile or two better than it was before . . . i live in a very small town~!~who knows what the rumors will be~!!~

here she is with her head out of the flower.

just some more blossom gorgeousity~!!!!~

this shot is really terrible but i included it for size reference. that bumblebee is the average size of the ladies visiting this tree. some are actually bigger and some a bit smaller. amazing~!~they often cover the whole blossom when they are pollinating.

this was yet another bad shot of the bee but i loved the detail of her pollen clad hips(?). she and her sister bees have been VERY busy today~!!~i wish that i got such approval for my oversized hips~!!~

i finished that little hand sewn quilt that i was working on. i had a lot of time on the road to get the quilting done and once i got home i bound it and labeled it. i worked on it as a "comfort" project while we got my daughter moved back home and ready to take off for Honduras at the end of June. it really was comforting and i've now given it to my daughter as something to take with her. the label says "home is where the heart is" among other details/things . . .

a detail of the little hand sewn quilt.

once again, i apologize for not doing a lot of visiting of other's blogs these last few days. it has been a very busy time. the good news is that i am feeling okay despite the extra pressures and duties and i really am very grateful for that. i hope to be getting back to a routine of visiting by the begining of next week. hang in there~i will get back to you all~!!~