Busy as a Bee

When I was a little girl, I loved wearing my white sailor's cap with its red monogrammed illustration and adage: The early bird catches the worm. (You can imagine the illustration without my description.) I remember, too, without remembering exactly what article it was, something that said "Life is a bowl of cherries."

A Facebook friend and former colleague has been messaging me about her son's fascination with such metaphorical sayings. We have both been researching meanings and origins of such proverbs as "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." It's an amusing pursuit -- both the research and sharing her delight in her son's fascination with language.

Today, while admiring my old-fashioned spirea with its limber white-blossomed branches, I witnessed the origin of another saying: "Busy as a bee." This little fellow was working so hard that he never noticed my hand and camera within inches of his little body. I had a heck of a time trying to focus and wish I had been able to capture his pollen-smeared head. Alas, the picture is as fuzzy as he was.

Funny how an insect can remind me of my mother and her fondness for well-worn adages. I love the bee and the viburnum and the memories of my mother and the love of language they evoke.