Summer Bees

I have just returned from a week and a half of vacation, which I spent on Mt. Desert Island, ME.  Before leaving, I was super anxious about a potential swarm from this hive.  The day before I left, I opened the hive, brought two frames from the lower chamber into the upper hive body, and cleaned up at least ten more swarm cells.  I cleaned up as much of the excess propolis that I could and felt somewhat calmer when I closed it back up, thinking that the bees would begin to move upwards with that little rearranging.  

While I was away, I called home to have people look at the hive for me.  There is little that can be told from the outside, but just to hear that they appeared 'normal' was reassurance enough.

Also while I was gone, I read a great book, titled 'A Book Of Bees' by Sue Hubbell.    While I think that a lot of the charm of this book could be lost on someone unfamiliar with beekeeping, there is an overall sense of serenity and natural harmony in this book.  It is just as much a story of the year in one woman's life - her interactions with local farmers in her small town, the different creatures and plants she encounters in her daily routines, the chores of running a farm and a business - as it is about beekeeping.  

It really spoke to whatever in me is so compelled by beekeeping.  I still don't know why I began, or what it is that keeps me so fascinated.  All I know is - and I continue to encounter this - that people who keep bees all care very, very deeply about their bees.  It is a poetic, encompassing emotion that cannot be adequately described - though this book came close.