This afternoon I finally restored some kind of order to the chaos of my life: financial statements checked and reconciled, emails deleted, answered or archived, my desk as uncluttered as it’s ever likely to be, new external drive populated and working normally with Lightroom. My stress level, which I believe I’m right in saying was photographed by the crew of Artemis II the other day, somewhere out in deep space, promptly dropped by about 97%. I’m still a bit unhinged, obviously, but within normal tolerances.
All of this has meant me spending many hours over the past two days closeted in my study, fuelled by mini pork pies, large mugs of Earl Grey tea, and desperation, and once Project Find The Desk Surface was completed I felt that I deserved a bit of fun – which in my case means going outside, and mindfully stalking very small things with a very big lens. I think we can all agree that there are worse ways of getting your highs.
Today’s very small thing is a female Yellow-legged Mining Bee (Andrena flavipes), which I spotted on the Spanish bluebells growing outside my neighbour’s house. The yellow legs aren’t apparent here, but her neat little stripy abdomen is pretty diagnostic. There’s more information about the species here.
And – breathe….
R: L2, C7, D18.
