February, in the honey house -- by Noëlle De Roo Lemos (Madame Miel)

The author, an anthropologist, has done research in Martinique (West Indies), Portugal and Mexico. Later, for approximately two decades, she did environmental assessments in remote areas of Quebec, like the Middle and Lower North Shores and the Nunavik (Northern Quebec), then as a project manager, before retiring. As a hobby, she and her husband have been keeping bees in the region of Montreal for more than thirty years. She promises more stories.
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This weekend I decided to have a look at the honey house. It's February. The bees are sleeping in the beehives outside. They bravely face the cold in the warmth of their cluster. A few are lying dead on the snow. They were unable to resist a little outing on an unusually warm day.

The empty honey house still smells beautifully... of wax and of flower scents from last summer's honey.

Curiously enough, at the very same time, a friend who helped construct our cottage ten years ago, sends me this email: "When revising your plans with the Company, we used your name for the honey extraction room: 'Honey Room'. The men working on the plans had great laughs with us. To them 'honey room' meant a room of love: a boudoir."

Coincidences, words, smells, feelings intertwine -- like this little winter honeymoon in the honey room.

(Please click on picture to see all the details) Photo: N. Lemos