On that day, I transplanted mint to a larger pot and thinned seedings of Japanese basil and arugula. As always, after I watered all the plants and purified the air around them, I went inside.
While drinking tea and snacking on strawberries in my room, I looked at the sky from the window. Then bombus ignitus, which is a native bumblebee species, showed up in my balcony. Bombus ignitus is a black round cuddly bee. At that moment, blueberry and viola were flowering. Bombus ignitus prefers viola which has short floral tubes, because they have shorter tongues than other bumblebees. And bumblebees are well-known in the western world. For example, they appear in “Winnie-the-Pooh”.
It was the first time to see bombus ignitus in my balcony. It was so cute and lovely. I tasted my happiest moment. Currently, air pollution hinders the ability of finding flowers for bees. According to scientists, bees could catch a flower scent from a distance of over 800m in the 1800s, But now flower scents reach within only 200m for bees. I planted some flowers for bees. So when bees show up in my balcony, it always makes me very happy.
初出：2015年4月29日
Life Begins at Forty 