Bee Calm and Carry On

It's the first day of Fall here in New England. But all I can think of is Summer and the sunflowers.

There is a place in Griswold, Connecticut called Buttonwood Sunflower Farm and for two weeks in July it turns into a magical place with acres and acres of giant sunflowers. I spent a Saturday there in July photographing these giants, taking in their quiet majestic beauty. It's a sight to see and if you live in the area or are passing through during this time, stop and check them out!

Buttonwood Sunflower Farm, 2012

It was early that Saturday when I got there and I was meeting up with several fellow photographers to test our macro photography skills out on these golden flowers. We spread out, finding our own way through the fields, the sun starting to climb and the crowds still a few hours from arriving. Buttonwood started this event several years back and use it as a fund raiser for Make-a-Wish of Connecticut (a truly wonderful organization btw!). The memory that is the strongest of that day was the sound of the insects, bees in particular. It was so quiet it felt like I could hear a thousand bees buzzing, all happy to be there and going from sunflower to sunflower, seemingly drunk on the pollen.

My favorite picture of the day, and it was hard to choose, is this one. I call it "Glutton". And I think you can tell why. This bee was intent on collecting as much pollen as his body could carry. I love the detail in the photo and the feeling it gives you of this small creature intent on his mission to bring his bounty back to the hive.

Glutton

As I was there among the bees and flowers I remembered an event sponsored by the Attleboro Garden Club, of which I'm a member. Earlier this year the club sponsored a fascinating talk, given by a local Massachusetts beekeeper and owner of Little Beehive Farm, Tony Lulek. His insight into bees, their habits and how they live was fascinating. Did you know that virgin Queen bees lay two thousands eggs a day? That, of course, the Queen is female as is all the worker bees? Fertilized eggs become female worker bees and unfertilized eggs become male drone bees (who, umm, are really just there to well, service the Queen... ahhemm). And did you know that honey bees build the hive in a hexagon shape because it's the strongest shape in nature and holds the most honey? Fascinating!

Incoming!

So as I was there that day, remembering Tony's talk of the bees, being outside around them felt very peaceful. After all, they were just doing their job and it hit me that those bees could have cared less that I was there, they had a mission and by golly they were going to fulfill it. After all, they have a Queen waiting back at the hive they need to keep happy. To quote a popular saying right now, the morning was really all about "Beeing calm and carrying on!"

If you want to add a little sunshine to your Fall, take a peak (a different kind of leaf peeping!) at the full gallery of images.

Mountains, Lakes, Grizzlies... Oh My!

Did you ever have a really amazing vacation, come home super refreshed and for some reason, maybe about a week later have a bit of a let down? Well, that's been me the last two weeks. After seeing the amazing, seriously jaw dropping grandeur of Glacier National Park in Montana and seeing the otherworldly Mt. St. Helens in Washington, things around home, well, seemed a bit blah. Don't get me wrong, I'm an East Coast girl, I love almost everything about this part of the country that I live in. But really, we don't have anything that looks like Glacier around here. There's no active volcano sitting locally ready to blow at any moment (there is still a "blast zone" around Mt. St. Helens ... seriously!).

So it's taken me a bit to get back to what is my normal routine; sleep, work, photography classes - you know, life. And part of the funk is feeling that while I wanted to share my pictures, somehow keeping them to myself felt like the experiences were still just mine. But that was a silly thought and sharing is caring, right?

Here is one of my favorites of all that I took. This is Bowman Lake at the upper west part of the park. I followed the map to this spot, driving a half an hour down a one lane, rutted dirt road to reach it. The whole time I was literally talking out loud to myself; "why did I do this?", "how far have I driven!?", "oh my god here comes a pickup and there's no where to pull off?!?". I was starting to worry about the state of this poor little Nissan Sentra I had rented and wondered how much coverage I have on my own personal insurance if I go off the road into a ditch when I finally made it to this spot. I wasn't the only one there but it was still a peaceful spot, everyone just seemed to be enjoying the beauty and stillness of the area. At one point I spotted a Bald Eagle flying overhead, out over the lake. I sat there for almost an hour, soaking it in, letting the stress of the drive wash away and taking a picture of the lake every few minutes.

Bowman Lake, Glacier National Park, August 2012

Another favorite might be more about what it took to get myself to one of my other favorite places in the park and the worry that around the next corner would be a Grizzly. Seriously, everywhere in the park are these signs...

Scary right? So you'd be a bit leery too if you were trying to get to a spot off of the super twisty road know as Going to the Sun Road while it's still dark (4:30am), having bats fly out of the rocky mountain walls at your headlights (one bounced off the car!) to reach Logan Pass, the midpoint and what feels like the highest spot on the road. I wanted to be there for sunrise and I was but what I realized quickly is that I was pretty much the only one there. I then got a bit wussy and only went so far down the trail because, well, I was by myself and there were more warnings not to hike alone, threat of bears and oh, a new one, mountain lions! I'm happy though that I got to see the view from up there and how the light was coming across the mountains while the moon was still visible.

Logan Pass, Glacier National Park, September 2012

Overall, there is something I realized when I was leaving Glacier. It's a destination that I'll be choosing again and again over the rest of my lifetime. Exploring beyond the Sun road, going deeper down those trails (Grizzlies or not!), taking a ride down the rivers and paddling the lakes. It's nice to know and I think safe to say, that a place that has been there for a thousand years will be there a thousand more.

For more pictures of my time at Glacier, please go to this gallery @ http://www.malundquist.com/Travel/Glacier-National-Park/25713215_gdpNZp 

p.s. I actually DID see a grizzly, from a nice safe distance (300 feet), kind of cool.

Grizzly, Many Glaciers Entrance, Glacier National Park, September 2012

Michelle's Manic Adventure

It has been awhile since my last blog, a year almost. It felt right to kick it back off while on vacation in Montana, right outside Glacier National Park. My goals are simple, see it all, photograph it all. This might be a photographer's Mecca.

I've been thinking of this trip for what feels like forever but its more like four months and the time leading up to it both work and personally was nothing short of chaos and madness. But it hit me recently that while I feel like everything is out of control it's all good. Work is crazy but I have a good job that challenges me and offers me a lot of opportunity. Personal is busy as well but of my own making as I try to continually learn more about photography though it means a lot of my free time is spent taking pictures and working them through an editing process. With all that though, where is the problem in any of that really? 

This vacation overall is a bit of getting lost and found and lost again. Something I think I'm doing everyday but at least the outcome here will be some great pictures (she says hopefully...)

RANDOM PICTURE ALERT: Driving out of Spokane on Wednesday, my colleague and I stopped by our clients Alpaca farm. Here is one of the cria's (babies) I met. So cute!