The rhododendron’s anther is a bigtreasure chest for a little sweat bee.

Of the different color varieties, the white rhododendron flowers are my favorites, and I would wager the bees (especially the bumblebees, illustration to come tomorrow) also like the white ones best; the pink come in a solid second with the reds a distant third. I would say my photography set up follows suits. On the pinks, but especially the whites, it tends to produce (much to my delight) an effect of dreaminess, even an ethereality, which I find enchanting, wonderful and provocative. I hope you do, too. A few more shots of this little sweat bee and white rhododendron blossoms follow below/after the break.

When the rhodies are in full bloom, it must seem endlessly bountiful for the bee.

Each blossom has an array of filaments reaching out like the fingers of a paradise, curling inward, beckoning.

Seemingly paradoxical, heaven is temporary and continuous at once: the bee leaves for another blossom and the flower waits for its next visitor.