Firefly Summer

A new addition to my garden reminds me of my own kids when they were little as well as my grandchildren now. It evokes a wonderful memory and time-honored tradition of catching fireflies during the summer evenings. This statue has a solar panel built into the back of it and at night, the jar glows with little lights on the bottom of the jar to simulate fireflies. I fell in love with it.
I remember taking the kids camping one summer and at night in the forest, it was pitch black. When we looked up, we could see the fireflies up in the trees and because they were so high and the sky was so dark, their light looked magnified. It was bright enough to make us wonder what we were looking at. Were they forest fairies perhaps? The little bursts of light were the size of Ping-Pong balls and I could not imagine that it could be from such a small bug. In our own yard, they looked so different but there was much more light pollution in the suburbs and they were closer to the ground.
Today was steamy hot and the fireflies are out in full force tonight. Unfortunately sometimes our knowledge of what else is out there takes a little of the fun out of things. Years ago parents didn't worry so much about ticks and Lyme Disease or mosquitoes and West Nile Virus. My grandson asked me just the other day when I was questioning whether he had sunblock on, 'Grammie, why do you have worry about everything?' I thought it was a good question. Maybe we are more informed now, but sometimes ignorance really is bliss.