The swarming tree

Photo by Sarah Phelan

My neighbor's bees cluster on this tree whenever they swarm.
This year, they swarmed the day after tax day. My neighbor was in the backyard pegging out laundry, when he saw "a tornado of bees" rise up out of one of his hives. For a while, he was "in a cloud of bees, a swarm." Then they settled on this branch of the swarming tree. With a little help,  my neighbor was able to brush this swarm into a box and pour it into an empty hive, which stands next to the hive the bees just left. Hello, wide wide world, hello, same old neighborhood.