What is it? That was the question.

Yesterday was a day for working in the yard, attempting to be rid of as many weeds as possible. I was hoping to spend as much time both days as I possibly could. It turned out to be way less than I hoped. It was hot and that makes it difficult to last very long. And I don’t do well in heat anyway.

Since I am always delighted to be reading it wasn’t much of a hardship taking extended breaks to cool off and recover.

One of the chores I felt pressured to get done was pruning several lilac bushes. They are the type that bloom on old growth and need to be pruned soon after flowering so this years growth will be there for next years blooms. With all the rain and hot weather we’ve had everything in the garden has become overgrown, these bushes were encroaching on the lawn making grass cutting a challenge. And it would be worse rather than better as the summer progresses.

While I was in that spot I needed to trim back some low hanging branches on the nearby Lilac tree (which you can see is much different than the bush,) Already we have to duck to get past it and before long it will be even worse. The blooms on the tree are large and as the season goes on they droop even lower with added weight.

I was trying to remove branches without blooms because they are pretty but not prolific. As I cleaned up the mess on the grass I found I’d cut a small branch with a bloom. Such a shame because it wasn’t finished yet.

Rather than toss it I decided to bring it in the house and put it in water, I could enjoy it a little longer, up close and personal.

After a few hours I noticed there was something funny was going on. The flower seemed to be quivering and tiny petals were beginning to litter the table. What in the world? As I went around it there was a tiny insect eating? the flowers, knocking tiny petals off in the process. My reaction was to get him outside, quickly.

I decided to carry the whole thing out the door to let the insect escape. Of course, rather than waiting for me to do this it flew to the window and stayed there.

I had never seen anything like it. It was tiny like a small ant but it had a body and coloring more like a little bee. Very strange indeed.

This morning it was still on the window. I expect it had had another go at the flower as there were more petals on the table. It was a dilemma. It was so small that it would be squished and die if I tried to pick it up. If it stayed inside it would die for lack of food and water. Finally I put a small plastic cup over it and it moved inside the rim enough that I could move outside with it. With a little coaxing it landed on the deck and then quickly flew away. For some reason it was a bit of a shock seeing that tiny bee take off like that.

I haven’t been able to get that little bee out of my mind and I had to see if I could figure it out. It was a surprise to find there are many versions of little bees. Some look like bees but are actually flies. Very interesting. Out of all of them there was one looking most like my little friend. It was called a sweat bee and is drawn to humans because of the salt on their sweaty skin.

Now the question is: was it the flower or my skin that was the attraction?

We will never know.

This bloom’s tree is making a timid appearance at the top, in the right hand corner, with his friend the Lilac bush.

Life is full of amazing surprises!