Monday, February 27, 2017

Mark's Garden - The Flowerbeds of Timbavati Wildlife Park


As winter draws to a close I think about Timbavati Wildlife Park and the blooming foliage that is the backdrop to our lives and animal family. Spring is on its way and the trees begin to bud and blossom. The grass begins to grow again and one by one, the bulbs from our flowers begin to sprout from our flowerbeds.

When the temperatures get high enough, the bees begin their busywork bouncing from flower to flower seeking their sweet nectars and carrying pollen from plant to plant aiding the winds that they ride upon in assisting the reproductive cycle of the plants that we depend upon for oxygen.

Which brings me to my thought for this week, does the bee consider if the blossom it frequents is a flower or a tree? Is the blossom of an apple stronger to attraction than the bell of a lily. In a world where we constantly look at fauna as our foundation, the flora is our common thread for every interaction that our guests have. A bee buzzes by a blade of grass without thought but theres something about a bloom, again does a bee prefer the blossom of a flower or a tree?

The flower provides a tapestry, woven in earth reaching to heaven and greeting our strolling paths with equal availability for both us and the bee. The tree provides us relief and safety in the form of the shade that it provides to its ability to stand up to a gust of winds bellowing fury.

Regardless to which blossom the bee prefers, the benefit to us is beyond measure. In that spirit, I consider the cycle of the bee and the blossom to be akin to some of us who buzz from person to person and those of us who bloom, flower and nurture the bees that we encounter. As bees, I don’t know which we prefer, flowers or trees, but I am sure that we probably need a steady balance between the two.

I knew a tree whose shade sheltered everyone who was willing to stand under its strong branches. This tree’s limbs were mighty and though the wind might have shook its leaves from time to time, the tree never faltered. For its strength and steadfastness the tree provided a home in its bosom for a beautiful flower, so that every bee who visited the tree experienced a proper balance.

The time for trees and flowers have seasons and fragility attached to them. The honey created by the bees offers us a taste that serves our memories as they do not discriminate which blossom they’ve cultivated their honey from, only that it existed and we remembered it was good to us.

I guess I just really appreciate buzzing by trees and flowers. Literally and metaphorically they are to be treasured, respected, cared for, honored and uplifted. When a tree is uprooted or a flower begins to wilt, though it is no longer there to provide, what it gives us in its time is usually much more than it ever had to. I’m a bee hoping to one day be a tree. In this week’s video our beloved Mark Schoebel talks about what he thinks about when he looks at the ground he is planted in, Timbavati Wildlife Park.

Talk with you next week my friends.



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