Dear Bees
by Nikolai · 18 June 2026 · Biography & Memoir
The tradition of telling the bees — at significant events you go to the hives. Nikolai is an engineer and doesn't believe in bad luck. He tells them anyway. Report: insulation correct, hive not opened. Then: he wishes his wife could have seen the hives. That's how she was.
There is an old tradition in many European countries called "telling the bees" — when something significant happens in a household, you go to the hives and inform them. A birth, a death, a marriage. The belief was that bees needed to know, and that neglecting to tell them brought bad luck. I am an engineer. I do not believe in bad luck as a mechanism. I tell them anyway.
Dear bees. This is your third winter with me and you seem to be doing better than I am at managing it. The roof insulation is correct this year. I checked it in October and again in November. I have not opened the hive and will not until March. I wanted you to know that I know what I'm doing now, more or less. My wife would have found this very funny. She always said I was a slow learner. She was right, and I wish she could have seen the hives in summer. She would have stood at a distance and watched and not said anything for a while, and then she would have said something precise that I would have thought about for a long time afterwards. That's how she was.
Stay warm. I'll see you in March.
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