Obsessions

I admit it: I'm obsessed by taking photos of bees. I can't help myself.

I was in the back yard this afternoon, doing a bit of pruning and watering, and the air was filled with buzzing bees, loading up on blackberry pollen and nectar. As soon as my chores were done, I grabbed my camera and my inadequate zoom lens, and took nearly 200 photos of bees, trying to follow specific ones as they darted from flower to flower. 

I ended up with a couple of modestly interesting photos, but nothing that excited me, so it's a good thing I took a couple of photos while taking care of errands this morning, including the one you see as today's blip. I've long admired the large murals outside Mallard Ice Cream downtown, painted by local artist Ben Mann, but never have been near them when the light was right for photos until today.

Mallard Ice Cream is one of the reasons we moved to Bellingham. It's made in five-gallon batches and an ever-changing range of flavors, updated daily. We currently have their Fig ice cream and Black Currant ice in our freezer, and we really should get some of the Fresh Strawberry ice cream, made from local berries---and maybe try something exotic, like Chocolate Ghost Pepper. 

I have a cold coming on, the first in a long time; I'm sure some ice cream would make me feel much better... and it's fair to say that outstanding ice cream is another of my obsessions!

(Many thanks for the stars and hearts that took my borage flower to pages 1 and 2 of "Popular" today!)