Birdy Haiku

This bee skep is one of my favorite things I have ever bought.  I do not keep bees.  If I did I would have looked for the kind of skep with a spigot at the bottom.  The kind where you just turn the handle and gooey golden goodness gobs forth.  (I am in an alliterative kind of mood.)  It turns out, sorry to disappoint anyone here, that the spigot-variety only exist in cartoons.  

This one was in a tidy little garden shop way back when I did not have children and I could spend idle days thinking about how to use this in my garden.  Then I brought it home and put it on a storage shelf and left it there--for more years than it deserved to be sitting all alone and unloved.  

When we remodeled the kitchen, I picked out fire engine red counter tops over espresso cherry cabinets for half of the kitchen.  The rest is a glazed knotty alder with espresso counter tops.  The walls are a shade of green.  Red glass shades on the pendant lights.  You may not have picked up on my little dilemma yet so I will help you out: I was stuck trying to accessorize a red and green kitchen.  My solution was to work the browns, add some black, and find some texture to mellow the shiny red counters.

Don't go thinking I don't love the red.  I still smile when I think about how they match half of my shoes.  But they were still shiny and red.  During the install the counter-man laughed and said, "no one has ever ordered this color before."  

And while digging around in my house for things to go on my new bookshelves, I found the bee skep.  Brown, textured, same benefits of a basket without having to dust any plastic fruit.  It now sits on the counter below an oil painting of poppy fields.  I keep a copy of The Secret Life of Bees nearby just for fun.

And now just look!  This wee tiny little birdlet has moved in.  

Yes she sings, no stings, 

Found among dear Joanie's things.  

Itty painted wings.