Bumble Bee (Bombus Impatiens)

Posted on August 30, 2020 by Les
Bombus Impatiens – Common Eastern Bumble Bee

I’m still in need of beauty to get me energized for the coming week.

This is the bumble bee, Bombus Impatiens, loosely translated from Latin means, “impatient buzzing” or “buzzing impatiently.” Minnesota is home to 22 of the 49 bumble bee species in the U.S. Overall, Minnesota has 400 of the world’s 20,000 bee species.

All pollinators are under stress and many, like the Honey Bee, are endangered and deserve strict protection. I know that many people start hyperventilating and flail about when a bee comes near. Some even kill the little guys.

Don’t! They are attracted by sweet and salty substances, depending on the species. Share with them. A gentle wave is all that’s necessary to get them to move along. You are far less likely to get stung if you’re cool than if you flip out.

The biggest thing that anyone can do to protect bees is to make your yard bee friendly. Ditch herbicides and pesticides. You want to see a crisply manicured patch of grass? Take up golf. At home, plant native plants and let a portion of your yard go native. There will be flowers through out the growing season. Pollinators and butterflies will visit and add their colors to the mix.

If you’re a close cropped grass person, in time you’ll begin to see the beauty that a wild jumble of native life offers. Native plants are resilient and offer us a quiet lesson about how to deal with the tumult of life. They have deep roots, are flexible and are able to stand back up after being knocked down, and they keep flowering.

About the Photo

It was a beautiful day when I took this photograph. The light was almost ideal. I used my cell phone. But there were some issues; it was breezy, the bright sunlight made it difficult to see the screen on my phone which made composition difficult and promoted camera movement.

When I went through the images I found several that I liked. However they all had imperfections mostly to do with focus and motion. Little things that made the pictures not technically perfect.

At one time I would have filed them away as unusable and forgotten them. I wanted fine details and rich tonality, I aspired to the perfection of Ansel Adams. I have 10,000s of negatives, slides, and digital files. Most I have put away because they didn’t seem good enough. Which is what would have happened to the Bumble Bee photo back then.

Something changed, years ago, around the time of Becky’s illness and death. I began to look at my photography more in terms of feelings, impressions, something inexpressible. Since then my idea of a good, worthwhile image has expanded. Now, I see more than the object or the event. I have begun to see the ephemeral, the poignancy of the mundane and the transient.

With the above image I have chosen to celebrate the blur of life, the boundary between now and then.

Photo: Les Phillips, CC BY-NC

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I Need A Mind Douche

Posted on August 28, 2020 by Les
Cleansing My Mind Bumble Bee, Late August, Minneapolis, Minnesota

This week has been a freak show.

It began with the latest COVID-19 figures, 180,000 fellow Americans dead and another 5,800,000 infected. If we lived in the 15th century, there would be men pulling carts up and down our streets, ring bells and shouting, “Bring out your dead.” Now we just stack them in refrigerated trailers to wait until they can be respectfully buried or cremated.

Then the Circus of the Dr. Caligari came to town. It was a fascist version of the Ring with all sorts of disgusting monsters crawling out of our screens and shitting in our minds. Kudlow the Klown talked about the pandemic in the past-tense. There may be 250,000 dead by the end of the year. There is past-tense and there is, passed. Choruses of sycophants, wet brown noses held high, told us how they had seen a kindly, fatherly, Trump show interest in their woes. The Great Leader that no one else sees. “Believe us,” they croon with the same mouths that lied to us for years. The economy is great, if you own the right stock, and aren’t one of the millions who have lost their jobs, or businesses, or homes, or health insurance, or lives from despair.

I could only take so much of the Orwellian doublespeak before I decided it was more fun to drive nails into my forehead.

Then there was the riot downtown. A man suspected of killing someone in a parking garage, was cornered by the police on a crowded street. The man pulled his gun, put it up under his chin and pulled the trigger. People nearby thought the police had just shot another black man. The rumor spread like a prairie fire and soon angry young people were raising hell, starting fires and looting. The police in a unique move, released video within 90 minutes that clearly showed that it was suicide. City and Black community leaders quickly began correcting the misinformation, an independent news reporter who had first erroneously reported a police shooting quickly retracted and corrected his story. These actions kept many people from coming downtown and demonstrating. But for the people downtown, it was too late, rage and opportunism were out of control.

The fascists promptly used Minneapolis, the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, and unrest across the US to frighten the white suburbs. Never mind that a 17 year old right-wing terrorist went to Kenosha to join other vigilantes and then shot and killed 2 people and wounded a third. Don’t give a thought to the fact that the Kenosha police welcomed the vigilantes and actually said, “We’re glad you’re here.” I wonder why black Americans are enraged and react quickly

By the end of last night’s Nuremberg Rally I felt unclean. A shower didn’t help. The pollution was in my head. I needed a mind douche.

That’s what the Bumble Bee is all about. It’s image is cleansing. Something beautiful that graced the flower garden behind my garage. My neighbor Glenn is the ultimate gardener. Over the last few years he has been planting flowers in the foot-wide right of way between the garages and the alley. It’s his flowers that attract the bees and butterflies. He is slowly transforming our end of the alley into a strip of paradise.

Photo: Les Phillips, CC BY-SA 4.0

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I’m Doing What I Can

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Les

Sometimes I am at a loss for what to say about the shit show we call the United States. There are so many assaults against decency and democracy that I haven’t got a clue as to where start. I’m forced to ask myself, “What can I do? I’m just one tired old man.”

It was like that, this morning.

I listlessly thumbed through several books on my desk and nothing touched me until this appeared.

The Humming Bird – a Native American Story

Once there was a great forest fire, and all the birds and animals rushed to escape.
Humming bird went to the river and collected a drop of water.
The other birds laughed.
“What are you doing?” they asked.
She replied, “I am doing what I can.”

I’m doing what I can.

Original Photo – Anna’s Humming Bird
CC BY-NC 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ “anna’s humming bird-2”

Photo modified with Photoshop and Topaz Studio, CC BY-NC 2.0

Humming Bird, Song of Life, www.HelenExleyGiftbooks.com,
Helen Exley Giftbooks, 16 Chalk Hill, Watford, WD19 4BG, UK

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Last Minute Appeal: Minnesota VOTE!!!

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Les
This Could Be The Last Free Election, VOTE
Minnesota Primary Election 08/11/2020

Today is Primary Election Day in Minnesota. Your vote counts. Use it.

Today is the most important vote in your life. There may not be another free election after today. The President is doing his best to ensure there won’t be.

Voting is our most important right. It is our opportunity to participate in governing ourselves.

Some say that its pointless to vote, the game is rigged, or they’re all the same. None of which is true.

Today the game is not rigged. But after today its another story.

No, they are not all the same. Public service is an honorable calling. We honor our military for their willingness to serve for us. So too, for emergency medical teams, firemen, health care workers, police, social workers, and teachers. There are many people in our society who have chosen to work in areas that protect us and improve our lives. This is true for public servants, whether they work in government offices like the Post Office or are elected to Public Office.

The people in office are the direct result of our exercising our right and responsibility to vote. Someone once said that the, “People get the Government they deserve.” That’s true if we don’t vote. The President and his Administration are an example. We did not exercise our judgement. We failed to exercise our vote and we can see what has happened.

Every vote is critical. Particularly now when there is an effort to smother democracy and our voices.

If you are hesitating or pretending you can’t find the time, Stop. Get Moving. Our Nation and our Democracy need you desperately. To find your polling station use Minnesota Polling Place Finder.

The polls are open until 8:00 pm. Take your mask and get going.

If you have an absentee Mail-In Ballot get it mailed NOW. It counts so long as it’s postmarked August 11th.

This could be the last free election in our lifetimes. Use your vote while you can. If you don’t, there won’t be another.

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Penny’s Rose

Posted on August 11, 2020 by Les
Dew on White Rose
Penny Touchman

I thought I’d start the week by sharing a gift from a friend. She’s a master gardener living in the mountains east of San Diego. Periodically she sends me photos of her ever spreading Empire of the Plants. This is from a couple years ago. It’s early morning and a heavy dew refreshes the land. The air smells of wet earth, pine, and juniper. Thank you Penny.

What made me think of Penny’s photo was last night’s thunderstorm. It was one hell of a light show. Waking up early this morning, looking out the window to see a grey, wet cityscape triggered my memory of Penny’s photo.

I’m not certain when the first thunderstorm first arrived. I was on my computer learning Blender, a 3D arts program. My old brain was wheezing along and I was oblivious to the world outside, for a while. The intensity of the lightening and thunder wouldn’t be ignored. I finally turned off the computer and went to bed. I just wanted to lay there and savor the elements. It was so intense that when I tried to go to sleep, I couldn’t. Eventually, I went downstairs and sat at the dinning room table with a glass of milk, only illuminated by continuous electrical arcing in the sky. The thunder never subsided.

The storms came one after the other. As one faded away in the east, another approached from the west. The sky was alight from horizon to horizon. The storms fought for attention using their thunder, one cannonade answered by another. The windows trembled at the power.

In the middle of all this, I thought about my grandmother, she preferred to be called Mother Grayce, and a favorite song of hers, Ghost Riders In The Sky. This is the Marty Robbins version. Here are the lyrics;

An old cowpoke went ridin’ out one dark and windy day
Upon a ridge he rested as he rode along his way
When all at once a mighty herd of red eyed cows he saw
Plowing through the ragged skies and up a cloudy draw

Yipie I ay, yipie I oh
Ghost turned in the sky

Their horns were black and shiny and their hooks are made of steel
Their brands were still on fire and their hot breath he could feel
A bolt of fear shot through him as they thundered through the sky
He saw the riders coming hard and he heard their mournful cry

Yipie I ay, yipie I oh
Ghost riders in the sky

Their face is gaunt their eyes were blurred their shirts all soaked with sweat
They’re ridin’ hard to catch that herd but they ain’t caught ’em yet
‘Cause they’ve got to ride forever on the range up in the sky
On horses snorting fire as they ride on hear them cry

Yipie I ay, yipie I oh
Ghost riders in the sky

As the riders looked on by him he heard one call his name
If you want to save your soul from hell a riding on our range
Then cow-boy change your ways today or with us you will ride
Tryin’ to catch the Devils herd, across these endless skies

Yipie I ay, yipie I oh
Ghost riders in the sky
Yipie I ay, yipie I oh
Ghost riders in the sky

This morning I looked for hoof marks in the backyard, siding and roof. I didn’t hear anyone call my name. Se Nada.

But the storm did deliver 5.5″ of rain, winds that peaked at 72 mph, and hail ranging in size from peas to softballs. The sound of each icy pellet’s whack echoed through the house. Impressive.

It’s odd what triggers a memory. Odder, what memory is conjured up.

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Voting 2020

Posted on July 26, 2020 by Les
Just Got My Primary Vote By Mail Ballot

It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

I am celebrating the arrival of a fat gift from the Democracy Fairy, my Vote By Mail packet for Minnesota’s upcoming Primary on August 11, 2020. Mail in votes must be postmarked on or before election day, August 11.

Our Primary was postponed 5 months ago, in March, at a time when we had no idea what COVID-19 really meant nor how stubborn and suicidal some Americans could be. We do now. In that short time our world changed forever.

If I were to pick a bit of music symbolizing where we are today, I’d pick the march that the British played when they surrendered at Yorktown on October 19, 1781, The World Turned Upside Down.* Our world has certainly turned upside down.

Republicans Denied The Right To Vote Their Consciences

Well, the first election to be killed by Trump and his fascist followers is their own Republican Convention. How fitting and ironic, that Trump’s first actions to stifle democracy are to silence the voices of his own constituency. By killing the convention he crushed the delegate voting process and muted any opposition that might have surfaced.

This is a clear warning of what is coming for the rest of us.

What Are You Waiting For, A Miracle?

Waiting to express yourself by voting on election day, November 3, isn’t foolish. It’s stupid. Each and everyone of us must let our elected officials, Trump and his rebel enablers, know that messing with the election through voter suppression, poor security, inviting Russia or China to meddle, or misinformation and lies will result in their trials as rebels and traitors with harsh penalties.

We can’t guard our freedoms by sitting on our butts. We all need to become actively engaged now and continue through to the election and then beyond.

ACT (Civilly and Respectfully)

Join an organization and support it by volunteering and/or donating. These can be political groups, special issue groups such as women’s health, justice, environment, gun violence, and religious organizations. Our entire society is rising up.

Talk with your family and neighbors. Show them the jeopardy that they’re in and encourage them to join the effort to defend themselves. Your concern is a powerful motivator.

Write to all of your elected officials, to your city council, to local and national newspapers, and Trump and his appointed or temporary administrators. Feeling bold? Write to to your local Republican officials and celebrities and let them know what they are doing is unconstitutional and a betrayal of the United States.

Emails and petitions are another way to get counted.

Now is the time to get involved. It’s never too soon but it can be too late.

VOTE

This year, regardless of the hardships and dangers, every American who values their freedoms and the democracy that provides them, must vote. Don’t believe the polls no matter how positive the numbers are. The only numbers that count are the numbers of voters who show up.

There will be no do over. This is for the United States and promise of a better world that our Founders started to build 244 years ago. Do not let the American Dream die.

Vote, Goddamn It!!!

* I went looking for the tune, The World Turned Upside Down, wondering if it had lyrics and what it might have said. Often popular tunes were converted to marches and it wouldn’t have been the first time that some bawdy dogrel had wound it’s way into historical propriety. What I discovered was that, no such tune/march appears to have existed in 1781. It wasn’t until 100 years later that the tune was mentioned. It’s source was dubious, the equivalent of “my buddy said that his cousin, knew a guy who had heard.” Somehow, it got picked up and eventually legitimized by historians. Attempts have been made a few times through the years but turned up bupkis. My thanks to the Colonial Music Institute for killing a great myth.

So why did I leave it in my piece? Poetic license.

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