Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: BeesDate: July 3, 2020 at 9:48:16 PM EDTTo: Alan Skeoch <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>
BEES AND BEEKEEPING…AND THOSE CLOUDS
alan skeoch
July 4, 2020
There is a long trail winding…lifetime trail.
I was a failure as a beekeeper many years ago. Decades ago, At the Parker Pettit farm sale I bought all
his old bee hives and then proceeded to learn beekeeping. The old hives were
contaminated and my days as a beekeeper ended when I had to set the hives afire.
Sad. Guilty.
Today our son Andrew, now a big man, has taken up beekeeping thanks to the advice
of Russ Vanstone, my lifetime friend. New hives, new bees, new place with shelter
and fields of flowers at different stages.
Some say that certain skills ‘skip a generation’…i..e our children become more
like our parents than like ourselves. Certain truth there in this case. Only in this
case the skip went back two generations to his great grandfather, Edward Freeman,
who could do anything he set his mind to do. Great wealth never fell his way
but happiness did. He was a contented man.
These are going to be happy bees. Just wait until you see where they are
living. And then lose yourself in those ‘Jone Mitchell’ Clouds.
alan skeoch
“What a great day for dreaming…;puts
me in mind that snippet from John Lennon’s
song Imagine.
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
CLOUDS NEVER GET IN MY WAY
The Joni Mitchell lyrics to her song Clouds have a negative thrust
as the song unfolds. I prefer the first four lines….the angel hair, ice
cream castles, feather canyons. I spend a lot of time looking at clouds
and interpreting the shapes on summer days. I will always look
at clouds that way.
“Alan, keep your eyes on the road and stop seeing
things that are not there.”
“But they are there, Marjorie…look at those clouds…they speak to us
of things that only our imagination can let loose…like those three
puppies at the dining room table over there in the sky.”
“And the old man smoking a pipe.”
“And the full bodied woman over there.”
“And the house lost in a snowstorm.”
“And the huge honey bee loaded with nectar and pollen on tis legs
heading back to the hive.”
“You are better than I am at seeing things that are not really
anyplace other than your mind, Marjorie. “
“Let’s just stop the car…pull off this empty road…
and see what our minds can see in this wonderful sky
on this wonderful summer day.”
Rows and floes of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I’ve looked at clouds that way
Do you want something to do?
Take a load off your feet and see what you can
find in these clouds.
alan skeoch
July 4, 2020
Sent from my iPhone