The Rituals of the Sunday Drones

The rector droned his homily
While the drone was a very  busy bee
He repeatedly did his waggle dance
The droning rector didn't stand a chance
to hold my attention in the evening heat
while the drone kept moving to his inner beat

What is the bee dance pattern?

Waggle dance - Wikipedia
Figure-eight-shaped waggle dance of the honeybee (Apis mellifera). 
A waggle run oriented 45° to the right of 'up' on the vertical comb (A) 
indicates a food source 45° to the right of the direction of the sun outside the hive (B). 
The abdomen of the dancer appears blurred because of the rapid motion from side to side.

This described what the bee was repeatedly doing about three feet above and in front of me.

Patient Fisherman

Patient fisherman
Waits. Spies. Dips. Stabs. Pierces. Gulps.
Swallowing fish whole.

Digesting food and 
thoughts as his reflections skim
along water's edge.

Butterfly By-Way

Sharing the highway,
a butterfly by-way
or should I say fly-way:

Jubilant butterflies,
Tiger-swallow tails,
state insect of Virginia,
eubilliently zigzagged
across the road
or caught the slipstream
sliding easily and safely
over my car.

The dappled roadside
sun and shade
mirrored
the yellow and black
stripes on their wings

The sweetness
of that country ride
provided the nectar I needed
while butterflies
sought nectar from the
many flowering bushes
and trees.

Who Wins?

We re-tarred the slab
to place the labyrinth on
Nature refused 
to be anyone's pawn 

The very next year 
Weeds appeared in the crack
Nature advancing 
and on the attack

Pond of Pink

Petals settle so pink and thick
That the pond almost looks dry
Until the twinkle, winkle of sunshine
Reflects in the water's eye

April 23–Full Moon of Varied Names

Full moon of April; Spring is at hand
with new growth appearing across the southern lands
pink flowers, green shoots, birds on the wing
but up in the North land it's not yet the thing

Rivers are melting, but still bound by the ice
Hunger is rampant, some food might be nice
The name of the moon depends on the place
where it is called when it shows its full face

• Pink Moon (moss pink or creeping ground phlox, which is one of the earliest and most widespread spring flowers.)
• Peony Moon (China)
• Oglala tribe of the Dakotas (Moon of the Red Grass Appearing)
• Tlingit tribe of the Pacific Northwest (Budding Moon of Plants and Shrubs)
• Various other tribes (Sprouting Grass Moon)
• Choctaw tribe of the Southeast US (Moon of Blackberry)
• Cherokee (Flower Moon)
• southwestern Apache tribe (Moon of the Big Leaves)
• Celts (Budding Moon, New Shoots Moon, Seed Moon, and Growing Moon.
• Colonists (Planter’s Moon. Sugar Maker Moon)
• Winnebago tribe of the Great Lakes region (Planting Corn Moon)
• many tribes in the Pacific Northwest (Fish Moon)
• Anishinaabe tribe (Sucker Moon because of suckerfish)
• Arapaho of Colorado and Wyoming (Ice Breaking in the River)
• Algonquin of the northeast and eastern Canad (Breaking Ice Moon)
• Dakota tribes (Moon When the Streams are Navigable Again.)
• Lakota, or Teton Sioux, tribe (When Wives Crack Bones for Marrow Fat)

From https://www.farmersalmanac.com/april-full-pink-moon

Purple of Lent has Passed But..

The season of Purple still flourishes in the Church Yard

Purple Clover

Purple Vinca

Purple Violets

Purple Wisteria

Purple Judas Tree

Purple heart red bud in bud

Purple heart red bud when in leaf

We did not any purple lilacs, grape hyacinth or irises

“Purple Lilac Buds Across” by Eric Kilby is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

“Spring at the White House” by The White House is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

“Purple and White Iris” by ksblack99 is marked with Public Domain Mark 1.0.

Some spring flowers
drape themselves in the 
colors of royalty,
accepting homage
from insects
and humans 
alike.

Self-Recycling

We've heard of dust to dust
but never grass to grass.
This self-recycling hay bale
is in its own first class.

Happy Earth Day!

Reblog: Merriam-Webster Name that Flower Quiz

Name that Flower Quiz was easier than I expected. (At least to me, the flowers were familiar and not too exotic.)

Flowers have powers
to delight us for hours
The colors and shapes
Allow our minds to escape
On the plant, in a vase
tucked in any place
they are an enhancement
a call for enchantment

Reflections at Sea

Daylight disappeared below the horizon
allowing white lights 
to reflect on the windows
 Night dark sea blocked from view.
unless you moved to one side
where sunset remains 
rimmed the border between
sea and sky

Just a Hop, Skip, and Jump

People are mistaken
when they think
that rain 
only 
falls.

It
can
also
hop,
skip,
jump,
depending upon
the surface
it 
lands 
on.

Before puddling
into pools
of wet.

Reblog: Where the Buffalo Roam by Allan

Where Buffalo Roam

Allan of Photodrop8, lives in one of the Prairie provinces of Canada, During a brief break in extreme winter temperatures in January, he and his wife visited the Elk Island Park, Bison Loop where he captured these amazing photos and wrote a poem that summarizes a history of the Buffalo in both Canada and the US.

Soporific Sound

Soporific
sound
of falling 
drops
of
rain
is putting
me
to 
sle
ep
p
p
p.

Immortals from Francisco Bravo Cabrera

THE IMMORTALS
(sent to Pat’s blog APR 2024)

Some gods might be immortal
and man, perhaps, may not
but immortality can exist in many portals, 
as some men are remembered
and some gods are forgot.

Immortal are our heroes
and what we long for and await.
Immortal is the universe,
unknown and quite mysterious, 
a place we can’t forget,
for we are of the essence
of this eternal place
where God us has created
the immortal human race.

Francisco Bravo Cabrera – 03/04/2024 Valencia, Spain

Francisco also included this stunning photo to complement his poem.

Reblog: The Judas Tree

The Judas Tree

Lougee Season

Every Spring tis time for trees
to bring the suffering to their knees
releasing pollen everywhere
on cars, ponds, and even hair
Distributed liberally on the breeze

Human beings cough and sneeze
as more air in their lungs they try to squeeze
hawking out green gobs of phlegm
which resembles pollen to some of them
not a behavior that is bound to please

What Beckons Us to Watch the Sunset?

What beckons us at sunset
to pause and watch
the sun disappear
into the sea
behind the mountains
over the  horizon
diffused by fog
emboldened by clouds
or
a flash of green
on the rare clear twilight
when nothing is on the horizon
between  us and the sun.

Full March Moon–25 March

It is called the Worm moon because that is when earthworms surface in the warming soil and are eaten by the early birds. At least that was what I assumed, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac also offered this:

However, more research revealed another explanation. In the 1760s, Captain Jonathan Carver visited the Naudowessie (Dakota) and other Native American tribes and wrote that the name Worm Moon refers to a different sort of “worm”—beetle larvae—which begin to emerge from the thawing bark of trees and other winter hideouts at this time.

https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-march

Depending upon whether the March moon is before or after the Vernal equinox, it is also called the Lenten Moon, if before the equinox or the Paschal Moon, if after the equinox. The first full moon of Spring determines the date of Easter each year.

Other seasonal related names for this moon are

• Sugar Moon (Ojibwe)-time of year when the sap of sugar maples starts to flow.
• Wind Strong Moon (Pueblo)-refers to the strong, windy days that come at this time of year.
• Sore Eyes Moon (Dakota, Lakota, Assiniboine)-highlights the blinding rays of sunlight that reflect off the melting snow of late winter.
•  Eagle Moon, Goose Moon (Algonquin, Cree),
• Crow Comes Back Moon (Northern Ojibwe),

Sugar moon shining bright
a welcome sign for sore eyes tonight
have worms for the returning bird to eat
only they might like that form of treat

Bloom in Your Own Way and Time

Not everything blooms at the same time
Some branches don't bloom at all
So let yourself bloom when you're ready
No need to be under a pall.

March 19–St. Joseph’s Day

According to legend, every St. Joseph’s Day, cliff swallows return to San Juan Capistrano in Southern California.

Click to access Swallows-Story.pdf

Cliff Swallows are often confused with Barn swallows. Both build build mud nests and buildings and bridges. Differences can be found in the tail, head, and plumage.

Saint Joseph’s Day, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph or the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ, celebrated on 19 March. It has the rank of a solemnity in the Catholic Church. Wikipedia.

“Swallow Nests, Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano, California” by Ken Lund is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.