The cherry tree in our back yard is blooming. One day we could see that a the buds were getting ready to open. The next day there was an explosion of white blossoms in our back yard, transforming the feeling of the space. And we still have frozen cherries from last year. We have guests coming for dinner on Sunday and Susan is planning to make a cherry pie for the occasion. I’ve found that frozen cherries make a fun snack and will take a few from the freezer from time to time between meals.

Fruit trees are one of the unexpected joys of our home here. In addition to our cherries, there is an orchard at our son’s farm that produces apples, pears, and plums. They have planted additional fruit trees each spring since they bought the place so there are new trees coming into production in preparation for the time when some of the older trees complete their life cycles and need to be replaced.

The fruit blossoms are one of the features of the farm that our domestic honey bees like. They also like the pasture where there are quite a few dandelions growing. When the sun is out I can sit for a long time just watching them. They are returning from their trips outside of the hive laden with pollen. Their back legs are positively yellow as they enter the hives. We’ve decided to expand our apiary modestly this year and will have two new colonies of bees arriving on April 20. I met with our bee supplier yesterday and he is excited about the new queens that are getting ready for distribution with their entourages. I built the hive boxes for these bees over the winter and am ready for them to move to the farm. The day they arrive will be a very busy day for me as we have been planning a big gathering at our church for that day. I’ll pick up the bees right at 9 am, take them to the farm and get them settled in their new hives. Then I will need to rush to the church to set up booths and get ready for the 1 - 4 pm gathering. It will be a real celebration of spring. I’m preparing a display on back yard pollinators for the event.

I wish I was better at capturing photographs of the bees. It requires a macro lens, which I have, but focus is critical and bracketing the shots is ideal. The bees, however, move quickly and the depth of field in such a shot is relatively small. I’ve seen some excellent photographs of bees, but so far have failed to get the pictures I imagine I might get. Last year, I sat transfixed on one sunny morning watching while native bumblebees and mason bees along with our domestic honey bees all worked the lavender. There were multiple plants with all three types of bees on the same plant. The bumblebees are ground dwellers. They prefer sheltered areas, often looking for nests abandoned by rodents. Last year I know there were nests under a pile of blackberry canes that have since been burned. The farm, however, has lots of other places for them to nest. Mason bees prefer hollow sticks and stems. They will move into human-provided homes as well. We cut pieces of bamboo and arrange them for the mason bees, but they have found a couple of other places to nest as well. There are some old fence posts near the corner of one pasture that have holes in them dug by other insects, and there are some rotting boards under one corner of the chicken coop where I’ve seen large gatherings of the bees.

Spring seems to be upon us. We still have had some chilly mornings, but the frost is out of the ground. The daffodils are in full bloom and we have tulips that appear to be ready for the blossoms to burst forth any day now. The tulips are a special treat for us. We planted quite a few bulbs in our South Dakota yard, but the deer would eat them as soon as they emerged, before we got any blossoms and after several years, having their greenery eaten before it could nurture the bulbs, the bulbs themselves died and we had no more. What we could grow there were iris. A fawn might occasionally taste an iris, but we’d find the flowers spit out. Deer don’t like the taste of those plants. We don’t have any iris in our yard here, but we have friends who have promised to give us rhizomes this year.

This week is school spring break and we’ve had a few adventures with our grandchildren to celebrate the break and to give their mom a bit of a break so she can get some farm chores done. We went bowling on Wednesday and yesterday there was quite a cookie baking session going on in our kitchen. Today our plan is to go to a children’s science museum. These adventures with our grandchildren are one of the real bonuses of being retired. Susan is really good a planning adventures. It is easy to swap cars with our son’s family so that we have access to a mini-van when needed to transport children.

I’m still adjusting to being retired. The process has been a bit more challenging than I expected. I really enjoyed the work that I did and I miss the people and the work. I know, however, that the time had come. New leadership needs room to emerge and though times of transition can be difficult for congregations, learning to say good bye and hello are essential skills for growing churches.

Spring is a good time to celebrate change and new experiences. There is so much for which I am grateful. I am learning to pay attention to my gratitude as well as offer my prayers for those around me and for the children who are victims of war and violence around the world. Being retired has not shortened my prayer lists at all. It has, however, given me a bit more time to focus on individual situations and prayers and more time to just listen. How grateful I am that the sunshine is inviting me outdoors to pray.