A Rose, a Bee, and Reverie.

 

 

 

Honey Bee Musing

 

Often when I'm photographing flowers, I will come across beetles, bees or bugs of some kind or another.  That's fine.  I like all creatures great and small (I'm not overly fond of flies, mosquitoes or toads, if truth be told, though all have their part to play). 

 

Today, I was caught up in a photographic reverie, taking pics of my neighbours' stunning rose garden, when a particularly inquisitive honey bee performed a couple of comical fly-by inspections of the camera lens.   "Welcome, sweet, amusing creature!" I thought, charmed.

 

Then, he flew over the top of the camera, across my face and past my right ear to land on my right shoulder (bare, apart from the strap of my dress).  I like bees.  However, having been stung before, I must admit, this little fellow now had me a tad worried. 

 

I decided to play it cool... and let the bee sit on my shoulder for however long it wanted.  No argument from me.  The bee sat cleaning his antennae.  On my shoulder.  For ages (well... it was probably only about 10 seconds, but it seemed like ages).  Then, to my relief and subsequent delight, the bee flew off my shoulder and onto the rose I'd been photographing.  He leisurely explored the flower, cleaned his antennae again, then he flew away.  Sweet!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All original text and photography copyright 2012, HL Millen

Mint Condition

Some delicious ways to add mint to your day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just add...

Add a couple of fresh mint leaves to a cup of coffee.  Chocolate mint is divine added to a steaming cup of coffee in this way!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Covered Mint Leaves  

 

 Chocolate covered mint leaves are simple to make, delicious and add an elegant touch to after dinner coffee

 

Wash and gently dry a selection of fresh mint leaves.  I used an assortment of chocolate mint, garden mint, spearmint, ginger mint, eau-de-cologne mint, berries and cream mint and apple mint leaves, for a variety of sizes, shapes and tastes.  If you only have the good old garden variety mint leaves, that's fine - I think they worked the best!

Roughly chop 100g of good quality dark chocolate.  Place the chocolate in a heat proof dish, over a pan of gently simmering water, to melt

                                                                           Dip each leaf into the melted chocolate and lay them out on a tray lined with baking paper.  Put the tray of choc-covered mint leaves in the fridge to set.

 

 Serve your home-made after dinner mint treats with coffee

 

 

  

Peppermint Tea

 

                                                                


Tea made from infusing pure peppermint leaves in just boiled water, is a delicious and refreshing pick-me-up.

Peppermint leaf tea has traditionally been used as an aid to digestion when served after a meal.

  

How to make an infusion of peppermint tea

Into a teapot, place two heaped teaspoons of finely chopped fresh peppermint leaves (or one heaped teaspoon of dried peppermint leaves) per cup of boiling water. Infuse for around five minutes, strain and enjoy!

 Add some fresh mint to someone else's day...

 

 

 

Take some cuttings of mint, put them in a glass of water for a few days (or until they have developed some roots), then plant them into small pots using a seed raising potting mix, and give as gifts. 

 

 

For more information about mint, view my post 

How to Grow Herbs in the Tropics ~ Part 2

 

 

Thanks for visiting!

 

All photographs and text copyright HL Millen 2012

 



Flowers, always and always...

“I must have flowers, always, and always.” Claude Monet

Ever since I can remember, I have been enamoured with flowers.   My memories of childhood are infused with the scents, colours and textures of the gardens and bushland in which I spent the majority of my time playing.  I have always loved the outdoors - and felt most at home - being in the world of trees, flowers, grasses, rocks, streams, plants and animals.

Every chance I get, I immerse myself once again in the scents, colours and textures of my garden - and it is through my photography, sketching and painting, that I am able to express the essence of my experiences.

Like Monet, I must have flowers, always, and always.  I am addicted to colour.  I love beautiful floral scents.  I love the structures and textures of flowers - their petals and leaves.  In each flower is a fascinating world awaiting to be experienced and understood.

Truly Seeing

A poem about truly seeing.
 

Standing quietly by the wall
You smile your wondrous smile
I am caught in surprise... without able to say a word
I just hear you sing
And your song continues
It neither has a beginning nor an end
I bow deeply to you

Translated by Thich Nhat Hanh

 

Here is an an alternative translation, found on the internet -

I Bow Deeply
 

Standing quietly by the fence,
you smile your wondrous smile,
I am speechless,
and my senses are filled
By the sounds of your beautiful song,
Beginningless and endless.
I bow deeply to you.
 

Translated by Thich Nhat Hanh


 

Focus on Kalanchoe blossfeldiana

The blog background image is a colour enhanced photograph I took a couple of days ago, of the sweet Kalanchoe blossfeldiana flowers blooming in my garden.  Kalanchoe is a gorgeous succulent with small flowers and glossy, dark green foliage.  The flowers range in colour from shades of pink through to white, red, salmon and orange.  

The original photograph (I love these soft colours) ~

Colour Play ~ A Bouquet for Every Mood

My love of colour and sense of play led me to experiment with my photography program in order to create various colourful versions of the original...

Sweet Bouquet in Blue Notecards for purchase

Sweet Bouquet Notecards for purchase

 

 

Sweet Bouquet in Pink Notecards for purchase

These images and a small selection of my floral and nature photography can be found here at Pixdaus.

Thanks for visiting!

What's in a Name?

Well, it has certainly been a while since my last (and first) post.  Where to start?  I guess an explanation of why I chose the name "Wild Honey Designs" may be a good launching point.

Every year in Spring, a busy hive of native stingless bees appears behind the drain pipe out on my front porch.  Their return always makes me feel grateful and happy.  The native bees are an important part of the ecology here, and they help to pollinate the flowers in my garden.

The native bees' search for flowers and pollen, and their transformation of that pollen into wild honey (apparently a beautifully flavoured honey), was my inspiration for the name of my business.

Not only does the return of the tiny bees bring me joy, it is also a time for celebration for the Willy Wagtails that nest out the front each year, as quite a few of the little bees end up as food for the wagtail chicks!

A native stingless bee "fully loaded" with pollen from a portulaca flower (my own photograph)

Thanks for visiting!
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A World of Colour and Friendships

Photograph of yellow gerbera by HL Millen

With yellow the eye rejoices, the heart expands, the spirit is cheered and we immediately feel warmed.  - Johann von Goethe (Theory of Colors, 1840)

My first ever post is inspired by the following lines in an eloquent letter I received the other day, from my lovely friend, Erika -

"I never visualize you or your world in black and white... I see you and your life in bursting color."

I got to thinking not only about how fortunate I am to have such a dear friend, whose beautifully worded and richly descriptive letters are always a source of vivid imagery and vibrant splashes of colour for me, but also how lucky I am to be surrounded by - and work with - such a visual feast of colour.


Cherished friendships bring a world of colour with them, and just like friendships, colours provide their own unique kind of nourishment and nurturing.  We may be comforted by the warmth of chocolate brown and caramel tones, enflamed by a passionate deep red, calmed and rejuvenated with a dose of fresh green.  The lush, tropical surrounds in which I live, do provide endless sources of wonder and inspiration for my photography and my art.  As well as this, being attracted to and surrounded by such a dazzling array of colours, brings me a feeling of deep appreciation and joy.  I love colours.

It's little wonder colours have such a powerful influence over our moods, with each and every colour having a unique energy vibration, or electromagnetic frequency in the light spectrum.

 Focus on Yellow

Yellow is the colour of the third chakra, the solar plexus or Manipura.

"Moving out of the prime center of raw matter, having joined with polarity we now come into a seat of personal power and awareness. Yellow is the dawning of a new perception. As the sun is the center of our galaxy, the third chakra is a golden energetic orb of centralized force. It can feed us, sustain us, teach us, and magnify our (already magnificently intense) ancillary energies. Yellow is the beacon held under a magnifying glass. What we submit for contemplation is amplified by the solar plexus chakra. This is because we have entered the dawn of specialized perception. When yellow gently strokes its fingertips across your awareness, it's prompting focus. Focus into the core of inner being, inner intelligence. This yellowy core asks us to honor the fullness of who we are."
Source: http://www.whats-your-sign.com/chakra-color-meanings.html

Improve Your Mood

"Ditch your white panties for yellow ones." says an anonymous writer for a fitness magazine article, "Sounds crazy, but color theorists say your body absorbs the vibration of colors, which, in turn, affects your brain and can actually alter your mood. Yellow connects us." 

While I'm not about to go running out to purchase bright yellow knickers in order to enhance my chances of forming romantic attachments, the idea that a colour may have the power to help people connect, I find intriguing.  Yellow certainly is a joyous, cheerful and stimulating colour for me, evoking powerful images and sensations of sunshine, flowers, light, warmth and clarity.  Yellow makes me feel happy.  It makes perfect sense, that the vital energy generated and emitted by certain colours can, and does, have a positive effect on our well-being.  That vibrant, life enhancing energy then, in turn, flows out and touches others, increasing the possibilities for making new connections, or at least brightening someone's day.

So next time you are feeling a little blue, consider finding a splash of bright yellow to focus on for a bit, and let the positive vibes work their magic!

The photographs featured in this post are from a series of vibrant gerbera images I shot for my range of notecards and greeting cards ~

I'm currently working on creating my own Wild Honey Designs website.  In the meantime a small selection of my nature photographs can be viewed at Pixdaus

Thanks for visiting!


All photographs and original text by HL Millen, copyright 2012