the bee's knees

In a series of time-wasting events this morning, I ended up watching this video. I realize that I'm not nearly excited enough about life. I think we could all use a little more excitement. Or thinner air, so that we can seem as hype as this guy seems to get living on top of his hill.

This weekend, I had a coffee with my friends on Sunday. Then Joe & I were back out for the afternoon. That means I got two walks through the park & three hours out at cafés. My favorite days are like that, when you can be at a small, round table for hours & only spend four euros. When you can read in the sun & not feel guilty for taking up a table. When flowers everywhere are opening & peacocks are screaming for mates. (Get it. I don't think anything could be as annoying to women as the male's mating ritual is.)

I got my camera back out & took some pictures of what the early switch to spring. You can have a look at those, if you like.

I also got to have the window open a lot on Sunday, since it was not nearly as rainy as Saturday. We heard a lot of buzzing & learned that our apartment seems to be surrounded by "les bourdons"–bumble bees.

Other words for "bee" in French:

abeille: bee
faux-bourdon: male bees (abeille)
reine: queen, a necessary word when discussing bees

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem. I am absolutely against the killing of bees, & I find them incredibly adorable. Check out their Wikipedia page for cute pictures of them & fun facts about how important they are. Not only are bees one of the most complex insects in terms of social structure & communication patterns, & not only do they give us delicious honey, but they also pollinate a large portion of our crops.

Eighty percent of flowers are pollinated by insects. Global Action on Pollination Services, a tiny piece of the United Nations, has lots of great information about this. Bees are really struggling to adapt to climate change. While humans can argue with science, bees cannot. They're dying out in large numbers. This means that plants, unable to quickly adapt & attract enough other pollinators, will be dying out.

This isn't a fringe fear, either. Scientists from around the world & across political "cultures" have been concerned about bees & their affect on global food supply as summer temperatures increase. Here's a Canadian story about it, or here's a more dramatic blog post about it with links to some real sources.

So like I said, normally the bees around the apartment would not be a problem. I feel like I've called them to me like some sort of bee super hero. They know I'm a safe place. But that's the problem–I have a tendency to ignore risks with cute things & try to love them. Joe usually warns me against this or stops me in time, like when I try to pet a pigeon. I forget that a scared animal's response to fear is violence.

"But Megan, how is this connected to bees?" Glad you asked. I'll get to the point.

French. windows. do not. have. screens. When the window is open, it is open for the whole world, be it dog, bird, person or insect that wants to jump through. On the fourth floor, our dangers are limited, but it does mean that instead of enjoying the buzzing of these very furry, very fat & deeply brown bees, the sound is a sign to jump up & close the window for a bit. At least they're courteous enough to announce their arrival instead of just crawling in like these drain flies are continuing to do.

We do not protect drain flies. So, while you're protecting bees, if you come up with any ideas to drown out the drain flies in my apartment, let me know! The sun is hitting the window & I'm going to go throw it open. Maybe the air is still too chilled for their little wings to be moving this morning.

Go to Bee Guardian to help the bees. And thank them when your flowers start blooming.

P.S. Bees do, in fact, have knees*. They actually work as "hairy baskets" for pollen carrying.

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