Summertime
A rare mid-day blog post. Yesterday was one of those days that just wouldn't end. It was stacked with class and meetings from beginning to end.
I did have one free moment, though, as I was walking from one meeting to the next. It was a beautiful day out and I sat for a moment on a bench outside my laboratory building. At that moment, I heard the sound of a locust in the tree - you know that sort of weird, Doppler-effect-y, morroccas-shaking sound they make? It was instantly picked up by other locusts in other trees, and it instantly transported me back to my childhood, when I would be outside playing in the summer. It would be August, and it would be hot, and the air would be calm and still and oppressive. I would be playing in the kiddie pool, or with the hose or sprinkler, trying to keep cool outside as my grandmother watched over my sister and I playing. We would avoid going in the house which my father kept at a draconianly low temperature during the summer (he loved his AC). And above it all, I remember the sounds of locusts on the air, disturbed by no other sound. That sound is so summer to me, and I so rarely hear it living in suburban Boston.
The other thing I miss is lightning bugs, or fireflies. We used to have thousands of them at home in the early to mid summer, lighting up the trees and the grass. We could catch twenty or thirty a night and keep them in old jelly jars with grass and air holes punched in the lid. They don't seem to like it this far north, because I have lived here almost eight years now, and have yet to see a lightning bug in suburban Boston.
In other news, class is going well, but trying to sandwich 14 weeks of a regular semester course into 6 weeks is a challenge. I feel like I never stop talking once I hit the classroom.
I did have one free moment, though, as I was walking from one meeting to the next. It was a beautiful day out and I sat for a moment on a bench outside my laboratory building. At that moment, I heard the sound of a locust in the tree - you know that sort of weird, Doppler-effect-y, morroccas-shaking sound they make? It was instantly picked up by other locusts in other trees, and it instantly transported me back to my childhood, when I would be outside playing in the summer. It would be August, and it would be hot, and the air would be calm and still and oppressive. I would be playing in the kiddie pool, or with the hose or sprinkler, trying to keep cool outside as my grandmother watched over my sister and I playing. We would avoid going in the house which my father kept at a draconianly low temperature during the summer (he loved his AC). And above it all, I remember the sounds of locusts on the air, disturbed by no other sound. That sound is so summer to me, and I so rarely hear it living in suburban Boston.
The other thing I miss is lightning bugs, or fireflies. We used to have thousands of them at home in the early to mid summer, lighting up the trees and the grass. We could catch twenty or thirty a night and keep them in old jelly jars with grass and air holes punched in the lid. They don't seem to like it this far north, because I have lived here almost eight years now, and have yet to see a lightning bug in suburban Boston.
In other news, class is going well, but trying to sandwich 14 weeks of a regular semester course into 6 weeks is a challenge. I feel like I never stop talking once I hit the classroom.
posted by Professor B at 2:01 PM
3 Comments:
Earlier this week I wondered where the fireflies are, too.
I admit, though, that I was wondering if your blog post would take a turn after the 2nd paragraph and become an absurdist very explicit story about.... well, something absurdist and explicit and racy.
Followed by the lead-in of your existing 3rd paragraph.
Man, I'm messed up. Thank goodness it didn't involve clowns or livestock.
g
WRT fireflies: I had a band concert out in Sudbury on Monday night. It's pretty rural out there (there were tons of other bugs around, including dragonflies) -- narrow winding roads and lots of trees, and driving back as it was getting dark, I'm pretty sure I saw a firefly or two. Not the hordes of them I remember from my youth, though, certainly.
There was a children's firefly festival here in NJ last weekend. Kids brought jars with holes, and a naturalist talked about fireflies ( I learned a lot) until it was dark enough to see some. There are definitely a good number here, though I agree there seemed to be more in my childhood.
Good luck with the course: I start my 13-week-course-smushed-into-6-weeks tomorrow.
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