Foolishness? No, it’s not

Why is this bee suddenly leaving these blossoming basil flowers — an exquisite source of pollen for honey — and flying off “stage left” into the unknown?

What could possibly have distracted this bumblebee?

Why, the clarion call of the onion bugle horn, that’s what.

Readers of last week’s blog might be fooled into believing the “onion” flower is the same. Maybe, maybe not. The truth is all in the hands and mind of the believer.

This horn can only be played by a child gifted with intuitive skills and a lively enough imagination to know an onion bugle horn when she sees one. And, who, without a moment’s hesitation can pick it up and spontaneously toot out the melodious sweet harmony all bees find irresistible.

The pied piper of bees is young Kaisha, just a few weeks shy of ten years old. No need of fancy electronic gimmicks for her. Just a back yard and garden full of fabulous shapes, forms, scents and mystery.

Yes, she is being playful and, along with me, goofing around and enjoying the summer holidays from school. Just foolishness?

Foolishness? No, it’s not

Sometimes I spend all day trying to count
the leaves on a single tree. To do this I
have to climb branch by branch and
write down the numbers in a little book.
So I suppose, from their point of view,
it’s reasonable that my friends say: what
foolishness! She’s got her head in the clouds
again.

But it’s not. Of course I have to give up,
but by then I’m half crazy with the wonder
of it — the abundance of the leaves, the
quietness of the branches, the hopelessness
of my effort. And I am in that delicious
and important place, roaring with laughter,
full of earth-praise.

Mary Oliver

But it is exactly these summer days out in nature that will give Kaisha the necessary imaginative, emotional, and intellectual stamina to live in the changing world of her future. A future where she will undoubtedly be faced with many questions.

The classroom of nature she plays in today will provide her with tomorrow’s answers. As Mary Oliver knows, this is an “important place” where one roars with laughter, full of earth-praise.

Now, what do you think Kaisha will make of this potato flower? Will the bees know to come back to it?