...via the U.S. Mail, apparently! But this should be good news for those of you who follow this blog. These particular bees caused quite a stir in Little Italy, New York, recently. Here's the scoop.
While at the cabin making stuff last week, I decided it was time to photograph a few items for my shop. I wanted a bit of foliage to use in the photos, so I went outside and plucked a small cone bud off a pine tree overhanging the deck. I came back inside laid it on the table next to my ceramic pieces then started my little photo-shoot. About an hour or so into the shoot, I noticed fine yellow pollen all over everything - the pine bud had released its pollen and it was just everywhere. I had never seen this around the cabin before. Then my husband Don came in from outside and remarked that ALL of the pine trees surrounding the cabin had released a huge amount of pollen. It was everywhere, all over the deck, the car, like a pollen bomb had gone off. He remarked that in all the years he had grown up there (this is land that has been in his family for many generations) he had never seen anything like it. I jokingly remarked that it was my fault for picking the pine bud off the tree.
What was odd is that when we figured out the timing, the bud inside the cabin and the trees outside all released pollen at the SAME time. We later noticed that there were a lot of bees around - in numbers that we had not seen in years.
I wondered if the bees had anything to do with the sudden and extreme pollen release, and parallel to that, if the trees outside somehow communicated to the little bud inside (or conversely) to produce the synchronized release.
I never heard of or seen pollen being released from pine cones like that... and I'm surrounded my conifers. Very cool. That you witnessed it must've been a special experience for you. As well as the presence of the bees. Seems to me that you happened to part the veil, so to speak, and glimpse one of those magical - nature-related moments.
Hmmm... could there possibly be little ceramic pine-cone beads lining up to jump in your kiln...? :-)
In a semi-related story...
ReplyDeleteWhile at the cabin making stuff last week, I decided it was time to photograph a few items for my shop. I wanted a bit of foliage to use in the photos, so I went outside and plucked a small cone bud off a pine tree overhanging the deck. I came back inside laid it on the table next to my ceramic pieces then started my little photo-shoot. About an hour or so into the shoot, I noticed fine yellow pollen all over everything - the pine bud had released its pollen and it was just everywhere. I had never seen this around the cabin before. Then my husband Don came in from outside and remarked that ALL of the pine trees surrounding the cabin had released a huge amount of pollen. It was everywhere, all over the deck, the car, like a pollen bomb had gone off. He remarked that in all the years he had grown up there (this is land that has been in his family for many generations) he had never seen anything like it. I jokingly remarked that it was my fault for picking the pine bud off the tree.
What was odd is that when we figured out the timing, the bud inside the cabin and the trees outside all released pollen at the SAME time. We later noticed that there were a lot of bees around - in numbers that we had not seen in years.
I wondered if the bees had anything to do with the sudden and extreme pollen release, and parallel to that, if the trees outside somehow communicated to the little bud inside (or conversely) to produce the synchronized release.
What a great story!
ReplyDeleteI never heard of or seen pollen being released from pine cones like that... and I'm surrounded my conifers. Very cool. That you witnessed it must've been a special experience for you. As well as the presence of the bees. Seems to me that you happened to part the veil, so to speak, and glimpse one of those magical - nature-related moments.
Hmmm... could there possibly be little ceramic pine-cone beads lining up to jump in your kiln...? :-)