Today we took a hike in the hills above Santa Barbara. The air was literally buzzing with bees. They were particularly attracted to the mud along the drying ponds, and certain plant, the most popular of which was the Ceanothus (http://tinyurl.com/ckfh6g). The bees seemed to hang here as long as possible, crawling over the plentiful blooms more than they flew, lingering for several minutes, undeterred by our observation.