They have all finally arrived. Right on cue the cicadas have amassed their counterparts for their summer symphony. The same time every year they all gather round for their summer performance. Tonight is the first night I’ve heard so many. One thing that is different this year is that they have a backdrop of crickets. My Mom always said that the crickets are a sign of fall. To have them both on stage at the same time is a bit puzzling. I don’t remember them in the previous two years of our living here. But yet, there is no mistaking them. The crickets sound like a soft violin backdrop for the chit-chit-chitting back and forth of the cicadas. Talk about a soothing sound to lull one to sleep ... yawn... I can feel my eyelids drooping sitting here typing with the windows open for maximum volume.

Sorry, Colorado, right now you seem pretty boring in comparison to my life here. Fireflies in June/July; then cicadas in August. Bear, turkeys, deer, and coyotes (we heard a pack with pups twice over the weekend very close) and who knows what else.

This evening Rick was in Philly on business and I took the dogs for a walk. Myrtle and the Fab 5 were down at the end of the street. All five cubs were up a large tree in a neighbor’s yard. The dogs were well behaved and we just watched as each cub made their way down the tree and off to Mom Myrtle. Wonderful. How many people can say they saw a mother bear with her five cubs on a routine walk down the street where they live?

It’s a gift to be able to enjoy the treasures of where we are.  Loving your garden photos. Hope the house remodel is going smoothly.