Bee Lore

I was still intrigued about the whole affair when the beekeeper arrived.  She parked her car well down the road and walked up the small drive in a white bee-keeping suit.  She had a hat on that made her look like the cross between a nun and Joan of Arc.  A veil hung down from the brim of the hat giving the image of a soon-to-be-wed bride.  It was difficult to put an age on her because you could not see her face properly.  She appeared completely beautiful and the white suit made her angelically radiant, oozing calm and serenity.  In her left hand she had a metal container that looked like the cross between a watering can and an old metal milk jug.  It was battered and had smoke burns on it.  In her right hand she had a box which was about the size of a cardboard wine crate you get from a wine shop.  She put both objects down on the ground a few yards away from the swarm and then she very gently walked up to look at the bees.  They were much quieter now, although the bees on the outside of the ball were still moving about.  (I later found out that a swarm of bees is like a colony of penguins.  The ones on the outside keep the ones on the inside warm and then move into the inside to make themselves warm.)