Bees on the Joe

On Saturday monirng (there we are again, misspelling morning) while I was innocently shaving my neck, my back kinked (twinged, spasmed). Uh huh, bearded me does shave my neck.

Who knows why it spasmed, but I knew that I had to take it easy, particularly since I really needed to keep my cystoscopy appointment today. (I am possibly there as you read this.) With all of my post-surgery infections, I really want to see my urologist and get his input on my problem, for at present, I am on my fourth round of antibiotics since mid-June. You could count it as three rounds since one antibiotic was switched out for another mid-round, but the problem is concerning as we can't seem to beat it.

While I was nursing my ego and wounds in my easy chair, Sue went out back to take some photos of our Joe Pye plant for her group project. This Joe Pye or Eutrochium purpureum plant is not held in high regard because it can grow like a weed where people don't want it. In fact when I googled it to find the Latin name, it was identified as a weed. And those who have read Anne of Green Gables may recall that the mean girl was called Josie Pye.

But our version of Joe is a newer cultivar, and it is magnificent. It is a herbaceous perennial that dies off every fall. As it pokes its tender shoots out in May, it seems impossible that it will grown fence-high, but it does, every year. I love it.

Some stalks and flowers are higher than the fence.

What surprised Sue was that the plant was swarming with bees. She snapped many photos, and they were all good. Here are a few of them.

I maintain that for quick macro photos like these, it is hard to beat phone photography. In fact, I tried with my camera on the nest day, and they weren't as good.

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Sue loves to play with collages etc. After I drafted the above, she did ↓ these. The first was done with Adobe Photoshop Express, the second with Picture In Picture. It is a pretty automated process in both cases. Modern software is quite impressive.