Saturday, June 3, 2023

Foggy Bottom Fireflies Flashing for a Mate

 Fireflies, a shining, luminescent mystery of nature. 

I love a mystery. 

I love watching the fireflies flashing their mysterious abdomens in the dusk shrouded woods along Spring Creek, a short distance from our Texas home. 

Sue and I sometimes finish our dinner before the long Texas summer sun sinks into the west. "Leave the dished for later, you wanna go watch fireflies with me?" I ask my girl. She always says "Yep; just let me put some shoes on. Let's go!"

We like to sit on a bench along side the trail, just off the Cretaceous limestone meadow and a few steps into the darkening woods at dusk. It's a grand place to hold hands and watch the frequent warm yellow-green glow of sparking fireflies.

We had a nice thunderstorm pass through in the afternoon, driving away the Texas heat in a humid pleasantness. We skipped along in the growing darkness on a meadow path through wildflowers on the last day of May. Just as the sun goes down, the flirting frenzy of flashing fireflies lights up the undergrowth. 

 


Perhaps we were a wee bit late to the mating dance this night. The flashing males were either a bit spent or many had already gotten lucky, landing alongside a female winking in response to his signaling search. The light show was not as intense and twinkling as we'd seen in these woods on evenings past.

It's still a wonder to behold the cool, bioluminescence of these beetles, one of my favorite things in Texas. With the show winding to a halt as the night shade thickened about us, we left the meadow and the hanging tatters of ground fog. It was a worthwhile event to witness. Ah, the season for splendor in the grass.

For a spontaneous surprise, I took my lady to Feng Cha, a specialty Chinese tea and drink place, on our the way home.  Maybe I can't make my abdomen light up in a lurid, sexy flashing glow this early summer evening; but I have my own ways of getting my girls attention.


Let's go home and make me glow.



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