Rick wrote:

> While I never met Richard Taylor in person the lilt to
> his written words have the same effect...you can quickly recognise the man
> hearing the message. I dare to call it a universal message of "slow down
and listen
> to the world all around.

How true.  I read his 'Joys of Beekeeping' before I bought my first hives
and
I am sure that it made me want to have bees even more!  In it, he described
his honey house as a place for 'puttering and pondering'.  That was the
first time that I had come across the word 'puttering' and it has stuck in
my mind ever since; whenever I saw his name I had this vision of a very
contented man 'puttering' in his honey house, his inner sanctum, and I often
think of this when I am puttering.

Of course, the dictionaries are less kind.  They define puttering as:
'To occupy oneself in an aimless or ineffective manner', or
'To waste (time) in idling: puttered away the hours in the garden'.
But I am certain that Richard's time was not wasted, for his writing brought
us not only the joys of beekeeping but also made us think rather more deeply
about the whole purpose of life.  It seems inadequate to say that he will be
missed.

Peter Edwards
[log in to unmask]
www.stratford-upon-avon.freeserve.co.uk/

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