The Nature of Things

I remember a song from my childhood called "Apple Blossom Time." It was a big hit, I think, for the female trio that sang it, the Andrews Sisters. I thought about that song when I looked at my apple tree this morning and now I've had the tune stuck in my head all day. Although the song lyric speaks of May as being "apple blossom time," March is definitely that time here in Southeast Texas. My old Ein Schmer apple tree is sanguine about late winter in our part of the world and so it is holding back some of its buds. It will open them slowly over the next week or so, thus just in case there is a late freeze, it won't lose all of its blossoms. It will still have more buds to open when the weather warms again. The bees are very happy about these blossoms. Both the honeybees and the native bees have been busy today visiting the apple blossoms and the blueberry blossoms that are open. The blueberries are much more profligate with their blossoms, more trusting...