Summertime and Busy Bees!

One of the the things I like most about summertime is the opportunity to watch some of nature's smallest creatures.

After a rather long, cold and wet spring and early summer, we finally have some warmth and sunshine.

Pollen covered bumblebee, busy feeding from a common yellow weed

The bees are very busy now, and it's good to see that they were not too reduced in numbers by the coldest winter in 60 years.

We have very few butterflies this year, but the bees are out in good numbers. I don't know what it will take for the butterfly and moth population to grow again, but hopefully it will recover.

This one if really "diving in" on the lavender!

It is interesting how summer unfolds differently following a winter with extreme climate swings.

Not only did we have the coldest winter in 60 years, but then we had 3-4 days in late March that were close to the all-time record highs. Not sure what to expect next — we live in strange times!

We get many regular honeybees because we have beekeepers living close by

Haven't really had much occasion to create labyrinth-related posts this year, in part because we were out-of-town for World Labyrinth Day this year. Normally we have our own event here and open the labyrinth to the public, but we were in a different part of the state for an unrelated event.

Hoping to get back on the blogging bandwagon here, though!

Perfect seed "puffball" on a common milkweed

Absent any labyrinth news, I'll probably stick to sharing nature photos from our surroundings.

Nature is beautiful, and sometimes the most relaxing and healing thing we can do is to just pause and truly look at what is all around us!

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

All images are our own, unless otherwise credited!