Bees...

So I thought bumble bees did not sting. Not only was I wrong, but my thoughts regarding stinging once then dying was also incorrect.

But let me step back a bit... went to Miller-Kingsland to do more work. Decided to magnify the impact of my clean up by working on the road side of the fence. Clearing out the dead decorative grass blades, the weeds, the maple saplings and the poison and non-poison ivy. Looking smashing - sarcasm - with my lavender elbow length gardening gloves and my flourescent yellow safety vest, I was a gal on a mission. Make the people of my town say "wow" when they drive past this historic house. Instead, it ended with multiple "ow's" on my part. Only six more feet of frontage to go and a bumble bee swarms up from the depths, latches onto my face an inch from my mouth and stings! I swat, it latches onto my hand, bites and I get it off. I decide I should clean up, more out of defeat than tiredness. As I am putting the the debris in the bag, the f-er comes back for more. Latches onto my ankle and bites again! Same bee, three stings! What the heck? This meant war, and only one of us was going to come out alive. I pummeled the bee.

My ride came to get me and that was that.I may have had a swollen lip, but I won... or did I? As of right now, my ankle hurts like the dickens... I limp and it is real red and it has been almost 24 hours. To add insult to injury, a bug found its way into my bed last night and bit me repeatedly on my upper legs. I am insanely allergic to mosquitoes and other sundry bugs and I may have to cut all my nails off to keep from scratching....

But I have to walk down the hill today to work on a clean up project at one of the gas stations. I would probably just soak in the cold pool and numb the bites all day, but hubby and I are usually two of the only ones that regularly show up for these volunteer things. And of course, I am just dying to go back to M-K to finish up the roadside job. I am such a glutton for punishment!

On a better note... developed the last roll of film from Portland and it is super! I shot some covert images at the legendary Burnside skatepark with my Yashica 35mm and some great stuff around the bridges. Can't wait to make the contact print. Also printed in the darkroom in the basement for about an hour last evening. The negatives I was printing are not good but I managed something. I have to say, I do not like the Kodak filters. I am just not getting the contrast from a #5 that I expect. I may have to buy 3"x3" Ilfords to fit my enlarger. We shall see...