Shelter in Place, San Francisco, California
June 23, 2020: Sated
I watched this little fellow yesterday flit from blossom to blossom, gathering pollen until he could barely lift into the air. Right now we have ample delectables for him to choose from, but the hydrangea seems to be the kind he fancies, landing on a blossom head and rolling in the stamens (or are they pistils?) until another catches his eye. He doesn’t look like a honey bee, so I have to wonder what he’ll do with all that pollen once he stumbles home.
I’ve heard funny overabundance stories during these pandemic times - people thinking they’ve ordered five potatoes and having five five-pound bags delivered to their door instead. Sometimes the problem lies with the newness of the system on both ends - we don’t read the descriptions carefully enough, and delivery services make mistakes. There’s been a learning curve. But what happened to us yesterday was entirely our fault and left us, among other things, with three heads of lettuce and two of kale, eighteen huge and knobby carrots, three jars of rice vinegar, one single, too-small sweet potato, six avocados, three different kinds of artisan cheeses, and more fruit than two people can eat before it spoils. In our defense, we have three main sources of food delivery, and one of them sells overstocks and slightly damaged or undersized produce that grocery stores won’t take. Their list of available items varies from week to week and some run out even after our order goes through, so it can get confusing. We compensate with our other sources which are only a bit more reliable, and this time we got it wrong. At any rate, mistakes were made, wires got crossed, and the refrigerator is embarrassingly full with what we cannot store away or freeze. Oh dear, I know myself too well. If I’m not careful, I’ll eat more than I need or want in order to avoid anything going to waste. And if that happens I’ll end up, unfortunately, a little like this bee!