I am the same way. Have you read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein? Since reading that I no longer call myself a dilettante but a generalist!
I need to try to find bee-friendly plants that don't drive my allergies wild because I would love to have more of them around.
The bees that visit our plants seem to love foxgloves and the thistle that grows near the woods at the edge of our yard.
Great article, Danny. I've always had an appreciation for bees, and I've always wanted to dedicate a little garden to a bee sanctuary. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to most of the plants they love most.
Danny, I really like this essay and my relating is viscerally personal. Looking at my life, I would often compare it, mercilessly, to the discipline of the engineer, or even the deep-drilling of historians able to bore into some specific era of human history. Such specialization tends to bore me. Paradoxically, as a younger man, I envied the quantitative and chronological focus of these specialists, while admitting to myself that the comparison made me feel inadequate. Later in life when funds were low, I vindicated myself by my DIY auto-mechanic era. A neighbor - an Eastern airline pilot – turned me on to the benefits of DIY-specializaton. “If you work on your car, just drive one model.” He drove VW Rabbit diesels. I opted for VW Bugs, graduating up to Volvo 240s. The benefits were obvious - familiarity minimizes surprises. And the quantitative work off-set my silent fear of technical-inadequacy. Still, it never satisfied in winter. I hate cold. So it went.
The plight, flight and function of bees seems to have attracted new focus of late. Certainly this is old stuff to bee-keepers and probably growers of wild-flowers. But lately I also find myself wanting to allocate portions of my humble yard to colorful bee-attractive tracts. They would be protected from pesticides and toxic fertilizers, and planted in tasteful prominent spots dotting my mowed and manicured Ponderosa. Is this new-found focus on bees evidence of a true collective unconscious? It’s probably just television. PBS I suspect. At any rate I think it’s a good thing. But back to bee brain and tattoos.
I haven’t put myself under the ink either. To me it looks addictive and feels like a fad. I suppose that makes me judgmental, but the decision is purely personal. I don't mind "your" tattoo. It's just that I’ve encountered little in life that moved me to want an image or slogan as a permanent accouterment to my person. Further, I admire bee brain and appreciate it as the ability to sample life as a bountiful buffet, a blessed liberation. Taking your image further – pollinating the many minds encountered in a classroom mandates the natural curiosity of a pollen-collector - rather than a gong-banger, drumming down the familiar thud of theorem, algorithm, equation or ancient battle-plan.
So, yes, beyond math basics I’m adrift on a cold, floating “berg” bouncing on the Stormy Sea of Google. But I can manage construction of a few stairs with a safe banister. Surely I can handle the basic mechanics of semi-ancient automobiles if the weather cooperates. Do I think myself better than the specialists? No. I’ve seen the advantages. Indeed, I’ve used them to drive to work in ancient European sedans and coupes. See, we all have our place, functions, disdains and delights on our seasonal lawn of life. And perhaps the best we can accomplish is to recognize and celebrate our own pleasure as we fly through our seasons, offering respect and homage to the bore-beetle as well as the pollinating bee, serving the hive, the Queen, and our own changing seasons under the Sun.
What are your favorite bee plants, Danny? Catmint is one of mine: looooooong season of bloom, and late rebloom if sheared after the first bloom fades, and it gets swarmed. Very good for the bee-loud glade.
I am the same way. Have you read Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World by David Epstein? Since reading that I no longer call myself a dilettante but a generalist!
I need to try to find bee-friendly plants that don't drive my allergies wild because I would love to have more of them around.
The bees that visit our plants seem to love foxgloves and the thistle that grows near the woods at the edge of our yard.
Great article, Danny. I've always had an appreciation for bees, and I've always wanted to dedicate a little garden to a bee sanctuary. Unfortunately, I'm allergic to most of the plants they love most.
Danny, I really like this essay and my relating is viscerally personal. Looking at my life, I would often compare it, mercilessly, to the discipline of the engineer, or even the deep-drilling of historians able to bore into some specific era of human history. Such specialization tends to bore me. Paradoxically, as a younger man, I envied the quantitative and chronological focus of these specialists, while admitting to myself that the comparison made me feel inadequate. Later in life when funds were low, I vindicated myself by my DIY auto-mechanic era. A neighbor - an Eastern airline pilot – turned me on to the benefits of DIY-specializaton. “If you work on your car, just drive one model.” He drove VW Rabbit diesels. I opted for VW Bugs, graduating up to Volvo 240s. The benefits were obvious - familiarity minimizes surprises. And the quantitative work off-set my silent fear of technical-inadequacy. Still, it never satisfied in winter. I hate cold. So it went.
The plight, flight and function of bees seems to have attracted new focus of late. Certainly this is old stuff to bee-keepers and probably growers of wild-flowers. But lately I also find myself wanting to allocate portions of my humble yard to colorful bee-attractive tracts. They would be protected from pesticides and toxic fertilizers, and planted in tasteful prominent spots dotting my mowed and manicured Ponderosa. Is this new-found focus on bees evidence of a true collective unconscious? It’s probably just television. PBS I suspect. At any rate I think it’s a good thing. But back to bee brain and tattoos.
I haven’t put myself under the ink either. To me it looks addictive and feels like a fad. I suppose that makes me judgmental, but the decision is purely personal. I don't mind "your" tattoo. It's just that I’ve encountered little in life that moved me to want an image or slogan as a permanent accouterment to my person. Further, I admire bee brain and appreciate it as the ability to sample life as a bountiful buffet, a blessed liberation. Taking your image further – pollinating the many minds encountered in a classroom mandates the natural curiosity of a pollen-collector - rather than a gong-banger, drumming down the familiar thud of theorem, algorithm, equation or ancient battle-plan.
So, yes, beyond math basics I’m adrift on a cold, floating “berg” bouncing on the Stormy Sea of Google. But I can manage construction of a few stairs with a safe banister. Surely I can handle the basic mechanics of semi-ancient automobiles if the weather cooperates. Do I think myself better than the specialists? No. I’ve seen the advantages. Indeed, I’ve used them to drive to work in ancient European sedans and coupes. See, we all have our place, functions, disdains and delights on our seasonal lawn of life. And perhaps the best we can accomplish is to recognize and celebrate our own pleasure as we fly through our seasons, offering respect and homage to the bore-beetle as well as the pollinating bee, serving the hive, the Queen, and our own changing seasons under the Sun.
Your share made me think of the memoir The Honey Bus ... do you know it?
I never wanted a tattoo myself ... until the day that I did: https://createmefree.substack.com/p/semicolon-a-grief-tattoo-story
Nectar into honey, Danny. No greater calling.
[Star Jasmine - climber. They’ll love you for it. As will your summer nose!]
What are your favorite bee plants, Danny? Catmint is one of mine: looooooong season of bloom, and late rebloom if sheared after the first bloom fades, and it gets swarmed. Very good for the bee-loud glade.