Chemise de cigale*

This gave me quite a fright as I was just about to put my hand on the top of this post at the end of a row of aubergine plants in the garden. Cicada nymphs spend 2 or more years underground developing to this stage, when they climb out and up a tree or plant and then out of these cases in their winged phase. The males then spend the summer making a chattering, buzzing noise, familiar to anyone who has spent time in the Mediterranean region in summer, whenever the temperature rises above 26 C. It's one of the signs of summer which I love, although I'm naturally rather phobic about insects.

There's a film of cicadas here which I can't bear to watch!

* In French, this discarded casing is called une chemise de cigale, a cicada's shirt.

A busy day - working this morning, and working in the garden this afternoon and evening - hence the late blip.