I don't know how old I was--maybe four or five--but I remember being excited. It was past my bedtime, but I was still up. We were going to catch some lightning bugs, or fireflies.
On that hot summer evening in the semi-darkness of dusk, we walked along tracking little blinking lights through the yard.
Mom carried a mason jar with holes in the lid. She explained that the holes would allow the lightning bugs to breathe 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 warned. "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 their random blinking in the jar created a special twinkle that lit up that summer evening.
Lightning bugs are one of my favorite things about summer.
For a gorgeous video with blinking fireflies, night sounds, and soothing music, click here.
A few years ago, I asked you on Facebook to tell me your favorite things about summer. I loved reading through all your responses, so I thought I'd share a few of them today as well as some of my own. Here they are:
Tasting and picking watermelon and other summer fruits
Eating home-grown tomatoes (which I wrote about last week) and other garden-fresh vegetables
Eating fresh tomato BLTs and strawberry shortcake
Grilling out
Smelling and tasting wild honeysuckle
Admiring summer flowers
Glimpsing butterflies fluttering by
Wearing sandals and flip flops
Watching summer rain
Santa Rosa Beach, FL
Being at or in the water, whether it's the ocean, a lake, a waterfall, or the pool
Spending time with family
Enjoying the outdoors: playing games in the park, picnics, riding bikes, walking, sitting on the deck or patio with friends
Taking advantage of more daylight hours
Stopping for sunsets
Listening to the summer sounds: birds, frogs, crickets
And, of course, catching or just watching 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!
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Grill photo: Courtesy of Paul Hermann on Unsplash