Loree Burns – Page 53

August 28, 2008April 25, 2015

Hello! Hello!

What a fantabulous August it has been. The Burns family has spent oodles of time at the beach, and on the tennis court, and reading (together and apart), and napping. Okay, truth be told, I was the only one who napped; I don’t think my husband or kids even know how.

Anyway, now my husband is back at his job and the kids are back to school and I am back at my desk. And, believe it or not, there are a lot of exciting things going on here at my desk this fall. There is the bee book waiting for a final run through. And a picture book biography half re-built and needing attention. And presentations to hone and polish. Proposals to send out the door. And, OH JOY!, new research trips to plan. (More on that last soon.)

It’s so good to be back. I hope you had a fantabulous August, too …

(As you can see, I am still playing out-of-doors with my new camera lens. We found this Walkingstick on our hammock, of all places. He (she?) was very difficult to photograph … how to get that six-inch long body ALL in focus at once?)

August 7, 2008April 25, 2015

Update … check!

One of the things I have been working on this summer is an update to my website. I wanted to add some TRACKING TRASH reviews and links to online booksellers. I wanted to put up some school visit photographs and update my Research Trips pages with images from my honey bee adventures. I wanted to put up a recording of me reading a story I wrote in middle school, the dog-eared and yellowed story I pull out at school visits and that kids always want for me to read out loud.

And now, after months of tweaking and hours of hard work by my friends at Schementec, my new and improved website has gone live. Check it out and let me know what you think!

I am so pleased to have checked this update off my To Do list that I am going to celebrate with a long blog vacation. The month of August will be about quiet rejuvination and preparation for a busy fall. See you all in Septmember!

August 1, 2008

On Writing Non-Fiction

“… the one all-important requirement imposed on him who handles a pen is to have something to say that will interest the reader. If the subject has to do with any of the natural sciences, it is more than likely to prove interesting; but the difficult part, the very difficult part, is to clear it of its thorns and present it in an attractive light.”

Jean Henri Fabre
(1823-1915)

Henri’s life and work and words continue to have me transfixed …

July 29, 2008April 25, 2015

Still More From the Purple Patch of Heaven

Okay. I promise that this will be my last post of creatures from my Echinacea patch. But I cannot promise to stop watching them, because I am having too much fun. And if you think this is simply some twisted form of summertime procrastination, well …

… so what?!

ps. You may notice I haven’t identified the insects this time ’round. That is mostly because I am a complete amateur and cannot be sure of most of them. I *think* it goes something like this (from top to bottom): burrowing bee, sweat bee, skipper, honey bee, yellowjacket fly. But please correct me if you know better!

July 25, 2008April 25, 2015

Echinacea

You know, purple coneflower:

I have been working this week on a book about a man I admire a great deal. Jean Henri Fabre was humble and patient and had a great passion for the natural world, most especially for insects. He spent a good deal of his life watching bugs in his backyard. And when I say watching bugs, I mean he lay down in the sand and admired dung beetles as they worked … for hours. Sometimes he would hire a neighbor child to hold a shade umbrella over him, other times he was so lost in the dung beetles that he suffered heat stroke. His neighbors thought he was a bit odd.

What has this got to do with Echinacea?

Well, there happens to be a goodly amount of Echinacea in my yard. The plants are in full bloom now, and as I passed them on the way to the mailbox this afternoon I noticed that there was an awful lot going on in that purple patch of Heaven. Thinking of Henri, I waded on in…

These are only the insects that I managed to catch on film. There were at least two other species of butterfly, several types of bee, and all sorts of flying creatures that buzzed through but didn’t bother to stop. Can someone tell me how it is that I have passed this garden in high summer for three years running and never once stopped to fully appreciate this wonderful chaos?

Who cares what the neighbors think; I’m going back in tomorrow. Anyone want to come and hold the umbrella?

July 24, 2008April 25, 2015

Flotsametrics

If you’ve read TRACKING TRASH, then you know Curt Ebbesmeyer is an oceanographer with a passion for floating garbage and the things he can learn from it. What you may not know–and what I am thrilled to tell you today–is that Curt has written a book of his own:

FLOTSAMETRICS AND THE FLOATING WORLD will be published by HarperColliins in March 2009, but
amazon is taking pre-orders now.

Congratulations, Curt!

July 18, 2008April 25, 2015

Bee Coolness

I try to be all cool about the bee sting thing, but truly I am not fearless around bees. For example, yesterday Ellen and I visited the home of our favorite beekeeper, Mary Duane, for a final bee book photo shoot. The idea was that we would help her harvest honey, capturing images of and fascinating facts about the process along the way.

Fascinating fact number one: honey right out of the hive is irresistible. The smell is intoxicating and the stickiness is endearing (at least to a newbie like me) and the taste, good lord, the taste is incredible. Mary let us try comb honey … the wax/honey mixture that is a by product of the harvesting process. It looks like this:

Ellen and I went outside to take that photo in the natural light, and we planned to follow it with a shot of me popping the comb honey into my mouth. But then this happened:

And as soon as I saw the bee on my hand I FREAKED. I screamed. I ran. And the bees followed me, of course, because I had raw honey in my hand. Ellen and Mary say I was quite entertaining; Ellen was laughing so hard she couldn’t even get a photo of the rediculousness.

Not so cool.

What is cool, though, is that we bottled some of the honey I helped to harvest, and there is a dollop of that honey in the cup of tea sitting here beside me, and I will drink that sweet tea as I begin to write the final chapter of the bee book today.

Very cool, indeed.

July 17, 2008April 25, 2015

The Backyard Beekeeper

THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER
By Kim Flottum
Quarry Books, 2005

Category: Nonfiction for all ages

Of all the beekeeping books I have read in the past eighteen months, this is my favorite by far. It is clearly written, thoroughly illustrated, and beautifully designed. In its pages you will find everything you need to know about keeping bees of your own. (You want to keep bees of your own, don’t you?)

THE BACKYARD BEEKEEPER explores the whys and wherefores of the beekeeping business, its equipment, and its tools. It explains basic bee biology, the job of the beekeeper, and the myriad uses for hive products. Among the latter is a chapter of honey recipes, including ‘Honey Dill Dressing over Red-Skinned Potatoes’ and ‘Crispy Honey Cookies’, both of which may have finally convinced my family to let me keep bees of my own.

How can they resist?

By the way, author Kim Flottum also edits the journal Bee Culture, a must-have for beekeepers … or non-beekeepers who happen to be writing about honey bees. In his June editorial, Flottum said about Colony Collapse Disorder: “Whatever it is, it’s still out there and it’s still killing bees.” The line gives me goose bumps.

July 15, 2008April 25, 2015

Retreat

For six glorious days last week, I lived here:

Inside this cabin I wrote and read and dreamed. I worked on the bee book, thought deeply about a stalled project, played with some new ideas, gave myself time to breathe, relax, and stretch. Six days!

It was heavenly.

And, believe it or not, the cabin and the space to create were not even the best parts of the week. No, the best part of this writing retreat was the company. My cabin was surrounded by ten others, each home to another working writer. When our work was finished–or when we needed a break from it–we walked in the woods together, shared our stories, talked, laughed, even cried a little bit.

Oh, the air around those little cabins hummed with creativity and friendship (to say nothing of prop planes and weirdo insects) … and I soaked up every last drop!

July 5, 2008April 25, 2015

Our Hammock

I know, I know. It looks as if this picture is about the daylilies, but that’s just me trying to be fancy with composition. The image is meant to be all about the hammock in the background, which was a gift to my husband on Father’s Day … and which has become my absolute favorite place to read (er, nap?) on a Sunday afternoon.

Many thanks to Cindy Lord, who suggested this fabulous Images from Home exercise. And many thanks to all of you who stopped by to visit, or posted images of your own home. Thinking about where I live and how to share it here has been a whole lot of fun.