Billie's Folly

I just returned from a long week (week + two weekends) in England (London) and Ireland (Kinsale).  I hadn't been to London in some time, and had fond memories of spring window boxes and afternoon tea.  I went without much of a plan, except to end my London visit with a day at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.  I stayed at the Beaumont Hotel in Mayfair, which was lovely. 

I'm now several days into my bee-keeping or  apiculture.  But there's more to the story of my initiation day.  As Aurel was about to leave that day, he looked around at the field of grapes.  He spotted the plentiful cover crop growing between every-other row of vines--a crimson clover mixture. 

I apologize for the quick succession of blog posts, but things have been happening and I want to keep up.  I mentioned several months ago that I was going to get a bee hive.  In the meantime I mentioned this to a friend who said she knew just the fellow to give me any help I needed.  His name is Aurel and he lives close by.  He makes his living with bees--leasing them out to pollinate orchards in different parts of the country.  He came over once, shook his head at my 'hobby' hive, told me the additional things I would need, and showed me where the hive should go.  Not to look lovely in my meadow as I had planned--but to the spot with the longest hours of sunshine--near the grapes and my fruit tree saplings. 

I hired a drone photographer to take some shots of my property.  The house and garden photos were great, the territorial shots were most interesting, but I especially like this direct overhead of the house and cottage.  

Wabi Sabi  is a deep and profoundly rooted notion in the Japanese spirit.  Something between an artistic concept, a philosophy of life and a personal feeling.   It   is imperceptible but everywhere  in Japanese culture; as subtle as the appreciation of a crack on a teapot, the wood of an old door, green moss on a rock or the reflection of the moon in a lake. And characteristics of the aesthetic, including asymmetry, economy, austerity, intimacy, and appreciation of the integrity of natural objects and processes  are applied in classical Japanese aesthetics like flower arranging, poetry, the tea ceremony, and Zen gardens.