Many shrubs and flowers are doing their part in the great cycle of life. Imagine you are a Bumble bee and looking for a grocery store. (Yeah, yeah I know.. it is bad enough to anthropomorphize dogs and cats…but insects…come-on). Stick with me for a minute. So you fly into my back yard and notice that the False Spirea has burst into bloom.

The sight overwhelms you and the smell is intoxicating so you and your buddies drunkenly blast into the mess of pollen laden flowers to gather as much pollen as possible on your body hairs.

In your frenetic bobbing for pollen you don’t notice the spider diligently dropping sticky strands of spider magic among the flowers.

One foot pad gets caught and you momentarily hang in mid air.

Survival instincts kick in and you thrash about until the foot is free and you can go back to gathering your groceries.

Other pollinators share the task of magically moving the tiny pollen grains among the flowers.

Beneath the Spirea bush there is a whole microcosm of decay, composting, and rejuvenation. The cast of characters working diligently in this dark, damp world is only partially visible without a microscope.

I’m not going to convince many people that a fly we work hard to swat into oblivion is beautiful but up close they are fascinating.

The sour cherries are beginning to fill out. Many are providing food for the birds. We will eat what the birds leave for us.