Celebrating Bees

 The United Nations has declared 20 May 2018 as World Bee Day.  I really admire Bee Keepers, and enjoy honey wherever it can be had.  My small contribution is to grown a range of flowers attractive to bees.

Currently my friend Paul who has his hives on the Somerset Levels supplies us for most of the year.  Soon there will be a New Year's Harvest, which I am looking forward to.  On Thursday I went to my first post holiday Irish Set Dancing session at Dinder Village Hall.

I have been on a very slow burner since returning from holiday, and for the moment that suits me very well.  However when I heard that today is World Bee Day, I decided that this is really the day for me to break out of my doldrums....(dulldrums sic?)  

Over three and half thousand years ago there was a commissioning patron, artists and craftspeople capable of bringing into the world this most splendid of pendants. It is remarkable that it has been rediscovered and it is now displayed in The Archaeological Museum in Heraklion.

It is really the tiniest of masterpieces, only 4.6cm wide...and the term pectoral pendant conjures up a a large item. 

This famous gold pendant, one of the finest and best-known examples of Minoan art, represents two bees or wasps storing away a drop of honey in a comb.

The composition is centered round the circular drop, which is shown schematically as a disc with granulated decoration. The two insects face one another, their legs touching the drop, their bodies and wings finely detailed with minute granulation. Gold discs hang from their wings, while an openwork sphere and suspension ring stand atop their heads. This masterpiece of Minoan jewelry, brilliantly conceived and naturalistically rendered, illustrates the fine craftsmanship of the Protopalatial period.

(sources: Ministry of culture and tourism, minoancrete.com)

Here is my picture blown up and cropped, taken with my little compact camera.

At breakfast on Crete l I dipped into the large bowl of local honey most breakfast times.  Although they had the most extensive of choices at Breakfast time, I did miss my sheep's yogurt and found some to buy, which we kept in the fridge, and brought down to the dining room with us.  It was the best 'Greek style Sheep's yogurt ever!  On a tour of the kitchens The Maitre proudly told me that the honey used in their cakes and served in the large bowl each day came from bee hives based on the hillsides just behind the Hotel.  We saw many hives dotted around the hills on our various excursions and walks.