MY WORK AND MY WORKSHOP 7 



lives the White-banded Sphex : when I go indoors I must be 

 careful not to tread upon her as she carries on her work of mining. 

 Just within a closed window a kind of Mason-wasp has made 

 her earth-built nest upon the freestone wall. To enter her 

 home she uses a little hole left by accident in the shutters. On 

 the mouldings of the Venetian blinds a few stray Mason-bees 

 build their cells. The Common Wasp and the Solitary Wasp 

 visit me at dinner. The object of their visit, apparently, is 

 to see if my grapes are ripe. 



Such are my companions. My dear beasts, my friends of 

 former days and other more recent acquaintances, are all 

 here, hunting, and building, and feeding their families. And 

 if I wish for change the mountain is close to me, with its 

 tangle of arbutus, and rock-roses, and heather, where Wasps 

 and Bees delight to gather. And that is why I deserted the 

 town for the village, and came to Serignan to weed my turnips 

 and water my lettuces. 



