Bumblebee

The wind is howling and making the window in the kitchen buzz… But I heard a different buzzing this morning, and not from the window. I looked and in amongst the foliage and there was a large bumblebee trying to get out. I grabbed a cup and some paper.. But I just could not reach and the bee kept falling down. Then. I remembered, I’ve had this bug catcher for years. It still took a few goes, you have to place the catcher over the creature with the sliding door below it then swivel it so the door is above. You give the trap a little shake and the door should slide down. In this case the door stopped part way so I had to get a knife and tap the top of the door so it closed. Then I released the bee outside (you turn the trap round so the door opens up again), so happy to let it go safely. Glad I remembered the bug trap, now back under the sink.

Boarded up

An old ruin made of pinkish grey stone. The window has a white windowledge stained with green algae caused by the wet atmosphere in the area. The window is boarded with some sort of chipboard. The lower section is sodden with damp from successive rainstorms. It must be screwed into the window frame because it is sunken into the window surround, not flush with it. A bracket of metal, almost the shape of the number ‘2’ is on one side of the window, and a thin line of stonework shaped almost like an eyebrow sits in the stone course above the boarded window. This is on the first floor of the building so it would not be easily accessible from the ground. The light on the building is grey, reflecting what the sky would look like if it was visible in the photo.

I was trying to write this in a simple descriptive way. It’s harder than I thought to be accurate!

Through the arched window

Arches are strong. Arches support weight because pressure is pushing inwards towards a central point. They have a keystone that holds everything together. I wish I knew the mathematics that explained this. But it is something amazing when you see arches in churches or castles or other religious or secular places supporting the rooves of buildings. They can be so elegant and flimsy looking but they have innate strength. All due to forces, and geometry.

View

Looking out of our house, I can see gardens on the side and rear of the house, but a grey factory building in front. I wish we had a view of the sea or countryside. The road in front of our house is on a steep hill, and quite often cars roar up and down it, ambulances rush by with sirens blaring, or motorbikes speed up, exhausts popping and banging. The hill is one of the steepest in the area and seems sometimes to be a racetrack! Oh to see a yatch in the distance, sails catching the rising or setting sun. That would be magical.

Pears on the tree

View out of a side window, heavy with pears the branches are bending down on our pear tree. The trunk is propped up because its gone over to about a forty five degree angle partly caused by strong winds and partly just from the weight of pears on the branches. This from a tree bought from Woolworths twenty five years ago as a small sapling. Every year I marvel at the productivity of the plant. And looking out the window at them? Makes me proud of what you can do if you let nature take over.