Love in the New York Times, Bumble Bees and Clementine

Once in a while it all falls into place like poetry.  A day that starts with flowers for my yard can emerge as perfectly versed in every way.  That is what has happened to me on this day.  It is a day for the NYT's, Bumble Bees and Clementine.

Love in the New York Times
With this Cottage... appeared in the times this week and was revisited this morning in a corrected version.  The charming story is about two people, one an artist with tourettes and a man that fell madly in love with her.  He is very neat, she lives like a rock star, trashing the world around her with artistic furor.  They cannot live together and they cannot live apart.  So they own two houses, side by side and co-habitate both together and separately.  I loved the story of two people that are so different finding a way to love each other.

When I opened the Times this morning and saw this story again, I smiled.  Yes the NYT's does publish stories about good people but better yet, they also make mistakes that need correcting.  My day is complete.

Bumble Bees
Did you know that only the queen bumble bees survive the winters here in the northwest?  I didn't.  Not until I looked up from my flower bed to be greeted by a man carrying an empty pill bottle and a small plastic box.  It was a sunny day and we were both smiling.


Do you mind he asked if I look in your yard for bumble bees? The heather is in bloom and they love the blooms.


He went on to tell me about the habits of bumble bees, a lesson he had learned from a young student from Oregon State University and his tulip farm.  He had farmed the piece of land my home sits on when he was a young man and his uncle lived in a house that still stands on the corner.  He told me the scientific name for the bumble bees and how they are propagated.  He walked away with a single bumble bee in his plastic box and we were both still smiling.  A man searching for bumble bees...how lovely is that!

and Clementine
Clementine was washing her car.  I had not seen her since my return from Arizona but it was as though no time had passed when we greeted each other.  She fill me in on her family, her husband and how she was doing.  I love talking to her.

When my husband and I moved into our new house last summer we met Clementine and Clarence.  He turned ninety a few weeks after we moved in.  I had never in my whole life dreamed that I would meet a friend like Clementine.  She walks each morning and drinks bourbon and water at cocktail hour.  She has a large family of children and grandchildren. She and Clarence came back to live close to their children a few month before we moved next door.  The family is devoted to the couple and I think they all wanted their parents close-by because they loved spending time with them.  What a joy it is to see a family like this.

And best of all we get to live next to Clementine and Clarence...it is as though our prayers have been answered too.  Life is good!

So there you have it...Love in the New York Times, Bumble Bees and Clementine!  Have a wonderful day.

b