I don't know how old I was--maybe four or five--but I was excited. It was past my bedtime, but I was still up. We were going to catch some lightning bugs (fireflies).
It was a hot summer night. We were outside in the semi-darkness of dusk, tracking little blinking lights in the yard.
Mom had a mason jar with holes in the lid. She explained that the holes would allow the lightning bugs to have air but the holes weren't big enough for them to escape. We began catching them, which was easy, even for a little one like me, and putting them in the jar.
"Be careful," Mom said. "Don't squish them."
Inside the jar, the lightning bugs would crawl around, lighting up every now and then. Each bug had its own rhythm, so random blinking in the jar created a special twinkle that lit up the hot summer evening.
Lightning bugs are one of my favorite things about summer. (If you'd like to see a video showing synchronous fireflies in Tennessee, click here. Skip ahead to around 2:50.)
A few weeks ago, on Facebook, I asked you to tell me your favorite things about summer. I loved reading through all the responses, so I thought I'd share a few of them as well as some of my own. Here they are:
Watermelon and other summer fruits
Fresh tomato BLTs and strawberry shortcake
Grilling out
Honeysuckle
Flowers
Sandals/flip flops
The water, whether it's the ocean, the lake, the pool
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Time with family
People outside riding bikes, walking, enjoying the outdoors
Sunsets
Summer nights with birds, frogs, crickets
And, of course, lightning bugs.
If you think of anything that didn't make the list, tell me in the comments below or drop me a line at glimsenblog@gmail.com. I'd love to hear from you!
Watermelon photo: Courtesy of JEShoots on StockSnap.io
Grill photo: Courtesy of Declan Rex on Unsplash
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