Here in Australia we are having our last few days of official summer, although here in Melbourne it has been much milder than some of our summers in recent years.
I find it refreshing to see these light-hearted comments, as Spring is making its first appearances in the northern hemisphere. I think that this joy at the arrival of Spring weather may help to alleviate the Covid19 lockdown restrictions which are in place. While we in Melbourne had very strict lockdown rules, when the infection rate was at its worst, many people – including me – really missed the companionship of our friends and families. Thankfully, the worst now seems to be over for us, and vaccinations of health workers are starting. I extend my feelings of goodwill to all of you who are still experiencing restrictions, but also wish to encourage the recognition that it was those tough restrictions which have enabled us here in Australia to have almost eliminated this infection.
Meanwhile, I have been interested to see my bees very actively visiting a patch of mint plants growing in my garden. These plants are actively in flower right now, and many bees have been actively gathering from them. The flower heads each contain very many, very tiny flowers and it is fascinating to watch the bees visit the flowers which are at the nectar producing stage, and how they ignore the flowers which have either passed, or not yet reached that stage.
