Beeing: Life, Motherhood, and 180,000 Honeybees

A warm and engaging memoir of beekeeping.

Review :
""Beeing "is fluidly penned . . . lyric in description of the changing seasons. And, there are lessons to be learned here, not the least of which is, 'If you want to get honey, you have to be prepared to get stung.'" --"Dallas Morning News" "Rosanne Daryl Thomas's tale of her enchantment by bees is a delight to read. It also contains close observations of the natural world, tales of failure and triumph with the hives, and a stellar cast of characters that includes her daughter, their cats, the hapless Farmer Tom, Pete the crossing guard, and, most important, the Bee Master. Every word tastes sweet as honey." --Janet Lembke, author of "Despicable Species," "Skinny Dipping," and "Dangerous Birds" "Rosanne Daryl Thomas guides the reader through a chapter of her life when she turned to bees to sustain her through a difficult transition. The combination of pathos and hilarity leave us rooting for her and 'her girls' (the bees) as they tackle the hard and fascinating work of ""Beeing "is poetic, literary, factual (an annotated bibliography is included) and chronological by seasons. There is a nice balance between the poetry and the hive maintenance, the literary references and the remedies for stings. But perhaps the following quote from the 'Berlin Magical Papyrus' that opens Thomas' tenth chapter, best sums up her drive to succeed in this humming, foreign world: "'Take the honey with milk, drink of it before the rising of the sun, and there shall be something in thy heart that is divine."'" --Melanie Lauwers, "Cape Cod Times" Books editor ""Beeing is fluidly penned . . . lyric in description of the changing seasons. And, there are lessons to be learned here, not the least of which is, 'If you want to get honey, you have to be prepared to get stung.'" --"Dallas Morning News "Rosanne Daryl Thomas's tale of her enchantment by bees is a delight to read. It also contains close observations of the natural world, tales of failure and triumph with the hives, and a stellar cast of characters that includes her daughter, their cats, the hapless Farmer Tom, Pete the crossing guard, and, most important, the Bee Master. Every word tastes sweet as honey." --Janet Lembke, author of "Despicable Species, "Skinny Dipping, and "Dangerous Birds "Rosanne Daryl Thomas guides the reader through a chapter of her life when she turned to bees to sustain her through a difficult transition. The combination of pathos and hilarity leave us rooting for her and 'her girls' (the bees) as they tackle the hard and fascinating work of turning life into honey." --Mary-Ann Tirone Smith, author of "An American Killing "Through Rosanne Daryl Thomas's witty prose the reader is catapulted into a land where bee colonies, with the ever-swarmed queen, prove to be remarkably similar to human society. . . In between her Ball jars of sugar honey and countless trips to True Value hardware, we also come to know August, an amazing little girl who is able to encourage her mother's spiritual growth while acting like a regular kid." -- "St. Petersburg Times Review "Warm and funny, "Beeing is a charming memoir of a year of discovery...Thomas' enchantment with her bees is infectious and stirs in the reader that childish sense of wonder that too often liesdormant in adult hearts." --"Intermezzo