#Archaeology, #Climate, and #Bees

For those of you who follow me on twitter, https://twitter.com/KimMcMahill, you’ve probably noticed that most of my re-tweets fall into three categories— archaeology, climate change, and bees.

I find archaeology and paleontology fascinating. Artifacts and fossils are tangible objects that can help piece together the past. When a shard of pottery, temple ruins, or a fossilized imprint of an animal are found, it’s difficult to argue the existence of the people who made the pottery or the temple, or the animal immortalized in stone, though some people will still try. In a day when so many accept the sentence or two making its rounds on social media to be the gospel, it’s always exciting to see something real.

Weather and Climate have always been a passion for me. I watch the weather daily to help determine how I should dress, if it’s a better indoor or outdoor day, and if there is anything of concern to look out for like hail, icy roads, blizzards, or torrential rains. I’m also interested in climate trends. Some changes in climate happen so slowly that we’ll likely not notice it in our lifetime, but others are happening much faster. Those who follow wildfires, glacial retreat, flooding, hurricane and tornado occurrence, drought, and increases in temperatures, have decades of data to document trends. Watching the wrath of Mother Nature is often humbling, though for the many impacted around the world by change it is devastating, and I think it is important to be informed about something that has the potential to alter life on earth.

As for the bee tweets, bees are amazing creatures. There are tens of thousands of species of bees that play an important role in pollinating plants, but like most, I’m particularly interested in the European honey bee. Though not native to the United States, it plays a vital role in pollination; however, it is most coveted for what it produces. I have never met anyone who doesn’t love honey, and beeswax can make or add to incredible products like candles, soaps, salves, and so on. But my latest infatuation in bees is for the role they play in my latest adventure series. I hope to share more soon on that project.    

In the meantime, if any of these subjects interest you, please follow me on twitter. You’ll also see a few quotes, and tweets on national park news, books, travel, adventure, and other random subjects. Hope to see you there.