Summer

Thursday June 10, 2010
One of my favorite things about summer is lightning bugs. I remember, when I was little, laying in the front yard, looking up at the sky and being awed by the tiny flashes of light darting all around me; twinkling stars I could reach out and catch in my hand. I could lay out there for hours, watching the sunset and the fireflies come out before the moon rose and the stars poked through the night sky. On nights like those, I thought the world could stand still and time seemed to drag by. Now, I feel like it all goes by about as quickly as the blink of a lightning bug's butt.

And although I'm a tad older now, summer still isn't officially summer until I see the first little blink of light flying across my front yard.

So, tonight, I decided that to try and capture it on film (or pixels or whatever is in a digital camera). So, out I went, Cybershot in hand, to catch some fireflies. I am pretty sure that I looked like a total creeper standing barefoot in my driveway, camera pointed at my neighbor's house in the middle of the night (or 9:30, but anytime after dark is pretty much "the middle of the night" in my neighborhood). But, the neighbors have more trees and trees seem to be where lightning bugs hang out, so there I was. Unfortunately, trying to actually take a picture of a lightning bug is much more difficult than capturing them in a mason jar. So, instead, I ended up with a lot of pictures of black blobs

or the blur of the neighbor's tree,

or Austin practicing his golf swing.


Finally, after abandoning my original goal of a beautiful, artistic shot of a herd of fireflies (I'm pretty sure they travel in herds) in a pine tree with a moonbeam shimmering through at just the right angle, I asked Austin to catch one for me so I could photograph it.


Austin, being the amazing man that he is, obliged. I was really excited at one point as we were creeping through my front yard on the prowl for bugs, because I saw one on the ground, in the grass. I oohed at how pretty the scene was, the yellow glow coming through the blades of green grass and Austin's reply was "they're just mating". I thought he meant that they were actually doing it in the grass as I was trying to take a picture. Now, I definitely felt like a creeper. But, he clarified, no, their lights are a mating signal. Who knew?

Personally, I'm pretty impressed, it's incredibly simple and yet beautiful. It makes me think of my upcoming lingerie shower and all the funny "mating rituals" we have as humans. We do so much to try and attract the opposite sex. Maybe, for the honeymoon, instead of spending a lot of $ on some new nighties or lacy lingerie, I'll just strap a flashlight to my behind and blink it on and off a few times....hopefully, Austin appreciates simple and yet beautiful as much as I do. ;)

Then again, Austin just reminded me that when he was little he used to smoosh lightning bugs and smear their glow over the palm of his hand, so maybe I'll stick with fancy lingerie...