Photography And Half-Thoughts By Mitchell Hegman

...because some of it is pretty and some of it is not.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Mayday Tree


My Mayday tree is in full bloom right now.
That is a noteworthy event.
The powerfully sweet fragrance of the blossoms is enough to lift you straight off your feet.  If you walk near the tree, the steady hum and blurred swarm of hundreds—maybe thousands—of bees ping-ponging from branch to branch quickly makes your head swirl.
I spent about ten minutes standing under the tree yesterday afternoon, taking in the full sensory overload.  Nothing is more alive or more important than bees to flowering trees.  Here, the dance and the sex.  Here, the quick and the ephemeral.  Here, the soft and the everlasting.  Here, the ancient.  Here, first life.
The event so overwhelmed me, I thought, felt, smelled and heard nothing but bees and flowers for the whole time I stood there.
I am posting two pictures I snapped of the tree yesterday.  One photograph reveals how prolific the flowers are.  The other captured some of the bees enveloping the tree like a sort of living corona.
 
--Mitchell Hegman

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