The dog days of summer are upon us, and I confess I have been feeling crabby. I’m sick of the heat and I am sick-to-death of bug bites. I itch all over. Bah!
I grumbled my various complaints to myself as I walked down Massachusetts Avenue the other day. The Capitol building was to my right, Union Station was to my left. There were too many cars about, and they were making loud noises and foul smells.
I was not happy, folks!
And then, to my surprise, I came upon a patch of Black-Eyed Susans. It was delightful and turned my frown upside down. To make matters even better, there were bees flitting this way and that, busily pollenating. I love black-eyed susans – this native flower is the best part of late summer. And I ADORE bees. I worry about bees a lot, so it was marvelous to see so many about.
Hector and I recently decided to practice expressing gratitude on a daily basis and so I stopped to say my thanks to the flowers and the insects.
“Thank you, black-eyed susans, for sharing your beauty with me. Thank you, bees, for pollenating so industriously – no one knows what we would do without you. And thank you, both of you, for cheering me up!”
XOXO,
Bernice
Capital Giraffe - adventures of a washingtonian 
3 responses to “Turning Frowns Upside Down”
HI, Bernice. Supposed to be 97 degrees today here in DC, so try to stay cool! Interesting to me how many flowers are also the names of females (though I don’t think there is a Bernice flower, at least not yet). Daisy, Susan (black-eyed), Rose, Iris, Violet, Jasmine to name just a few. I understand that there are more than 400,000 flowering plant types in the world which is impressive – wonder if there are any flowers that are also the names of males? Glad to know our bee friends were doing their things on the black-eyed susans. The bees are facing major problems not only here in the U.S. but in many countries which is, as you noted, very concerning. I saw in the paper that New York City have police officers who have knowledge of handling bee hives and that they are very busy ensuring that the bees in the city can survive and not create problems for urban dwellers. Who knew?
My best to Hector.
Love,
Dad
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Thanks for the comment, Dad!
I think some folks name their kids after flowers more than the other way around (Daisy, Iris, Violet, Rose). 🙂
I’m going to try to find the article you just mentioned about New York City bees – thanks for bringing my attention to it! Here’s something from the New Yorker magazine on the topic: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/09/17/when-bees-go-rogue-call-the-nypd
I love you.
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I confess I have been doing a shabby job of meeting our goal of expressing gratitude daily. I’ll try harder!
Thank for the reminder, Bernice. I am grateful for it 😀 See what I did there? 😉
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