August Already

August already, and we are probably asking ourselves, "Where has the Summer gone?"

Though I'm working, the work isn't hard.  I seem not to need as much sleep as I do during the Fall & Winter--anyway, most nights it is too hot to fall asleep until after midnight.

We are just beginning to hear the first cicadas and crickets.  The fireflies, which have been in abundance this summer, seem to float up from the grass, blinking, floating higher, then dropping.  Must be some sort of firefly love dance, straight up straight down, maybe a little to the side to investigate a hand held out.  Trusting little creatures that they are, it's not difficult to get a firefly to land on your finger or hand.   They don't stay long.

On a visit to the Butterfly House at Hershey, I had 2 butterflies chill for awhile on my shoulders.   A  friend told me they were harbingers of Butterfly Medicine, according to Cherokee lore.  And later, I noticed the teen employee at the Butterfly House door to the outside world, sitting impassively, a little peeved that yet another butterfly had perched on her sandals.  Living decoration.  I could  see how a Butterfly House employee might need to be very mindful not to crush something inadvertently while uncrossing legs, brushing hair, or scratching without looking.

There are 2 new Koi in a big porcelain Chinese bowl that we've set out on the deck.  They don't seem to do very much, they haven't even eaten their food pellets yet.  The cat, unaware that the bowl is anything more than a giant, convenient water dish, places her front paws on the rim and stands, lapping contentedly.  Fish and cat have not met yet.  The dog sees his reflection, and nothing more, and is not interested in sampling the water.

August is slow.  When it rains, steam rises off parking lots, sidewalks and the street, making everything very mysterious looking.  Sometimes it even rains so hard, the droplets bounce back up, mingling with the rain coming down.  I wonder, do any falling droplets ever hit those bouncing up, and if so, what happens?

At a garden in Maryland that we visited in June, I sat on a Victorian wrought iron garden chair and took in the views.  I don't know what made me turn to look at the chair beside me, but as I did, a tiny spider dropped from a thread, dangled for a few seconds in space, then shot back up as if on a rubber band, out of sight!

It made me laugh, then it made me sigh, then simply silent...because truly, that one gesture is the universe, everything exists in that small creature and her movement, and not only was I a witness, I am also her child.