Do You Want to Share My Fantasy?... (part I)

I have a strict rule that every single post on this site MUST contain a photograph of an actual bee, so when Melanie and I hiked the Cone Peak Meadow/Iron Mountain trail in the High Cascades this past weekend I was on my knees begging the higher powers that I would get one.  I really wanted to share this with you. 

There were pollinators everywhere, but they were super quick and hard to photograph.  The wild honeybees (they're really all wild though, aren't they? even mine?) were really loving the mountain cat's ear (Calochortus subalpinus), and the bumblebees were loving everything else without shame.


This is a crude description, but it was an ABSOLUTE floral orgasm up there (excuse the shouty capitals).  Melanie agreed.

It is a major fantasy of mine to have a day without schedules, with perfect weather, with peak wildflower displays, with a great hiking companion....and I lived it.

We spent an hour at the top enjoying a very Euro-inspired picnic of hard parmesan cheese cut with a pocket knife, dill crackers, smoked salmon, cherries, salted chocolates....you get the idea.  And we met a couple that outdid us and packed up chilled wine, which they were nice enough to share in the lid of my water bottle.  Cheers, kind strangers!

Here is another justification that this post is about bees.  They were also loving all the blooming sedums.  But the flowers want your attention again...

That was great, wasn't it?  And I got to live out another fantasy the very next day, this one a tiny bit naughtier.