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You all know that I have a difficult time tolerating some of the screed that passes as "green" and eco-sensitive. That in no way means that I don't have a deep appreciation for what nature really does.
Tonight, we are being regaled by an orgy of fireflies. About a full half acre in back of our house is twinkling. Beneath one hickory tree a clot of light illuminates the shadows of the oncoming night. I am reminded of Shakespeare's "Midsummers Night Dream" and expect Bottom and the players to emerge from the bushes. "Oh, Pyramus. Oh, Thisbee."
This morning a fox made his sanguine appearance in the same area, and tonight I hear the evensong of the birds, a distant call of hounds, the burble of the creek, and I rejoice in the real world that has no need of position papers, or even people. For those who understand what life is about, this is a night of celebration.
As I type, I'm sitting out on our back patio saying goodbye to the day and hello to the night. It's not dark just yet, and there's a thin fog settling in. I'm watching our two small dogs play in our backyard - a yard that is nearly an acre and has a wonderful garden started. In addition, my wife has flowers everywhere. Birds are singing. No fireflies yet, as they seem to visit our neck of the woods a little later in the summer.
Cold winter nights make these kind of evenings even more enjoyable.
We went to friends and sat out back playing Sequence during the evening (fun game). At one point I looked up and saw a swarm of fireflies under a big Oak tree. Probably more than I've ever seen in a single place.
They have a beautiful big, sloping yard down to a creek. We see fox, deer, rabbit, and birds of all kinds. This afternoon he and I walked down to the creek edge (wives were Cross Stitching) and marveled at the diversity of plant life there.
Elderberry, Mulberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, grape vines, Ivy, Phlox, Ragweed, and a lot of plants I didn't recognize. I wish my mother could have been there, she would have told us what every tree, shrub, flower and weed was. She was an amazing horticulturist.
The little girl that lives next door to them is really into insects. She has a "bug bag" which is a loose nylon netting that has a hard top and bottom to hold what she finds. Today she found a large moth just twenty feet from where we were sitting. I hadn't seen a Lina moth since I was probably ten years old, and here was one sitting in their yard. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was probably dying, because if it was healthy she never would have seen it out in the middle of the afternoon.
After I told her I thought it was a Luna she went in to Google it and came back wanting Walnut leaves. Apparently she found that's what they eat when she Googled. No clue about that.
You all know that I have a difficult time tolerating some of the screed that passes as "green" and eco-sensitive. That in no way means that I don't have a deep appreciation for what nature really does.
Tonight, we are being regaled by an orgy of fireflies. About a full half acre in back of our house is twinkling. Beneath one hickory tree a clot of light illuminates the shadows of the oncoming night. I am reminded of Shakespeare's "Midsummers Night Dream" and expect Bottom and the players to emerge from the bushes. "Oh, Pyramus. Oh, Thisbee."
This morning a fox made his sanguine appearance in the same area, and tonight I hear the evensong of the birds, a distant call of hounds, the burble of the creek, and I rejoice in the real world that has no need of position papers, or even people. For those who understand what life is about, this is a night of celebration.
I love those nights sitting on the porch with just a whisper of a breeze in the trees, the lonely yap of a coyote and the mournful hoot of an owl out hunting and the moon peaking up over the horizon.
Nice post Harry... "Can't we all just get along"... The fireflies are not out here yet and they don't come out in full force where I live but I'm in town. If you get out in the rural areas you can see a spectacular show.
I live half a block from the Susquehanna, I can see it from my front porch. It's a pretty major river but not navigable by large boats at least where I live. It's been a major part of my life, fishing, boating, swimming or just sitting in it with a lawn chair and case of beer with a few friends.
I'll list some of the better moments. We used to take a 8 day canoe trip on it from the upper reaches starting just over the New York line. As with most rivers it's pretty heavily populated along it's banks. Most of it is rural in this area but you still have civilization and the inevitable drone of a nearby highway that may get low but never fully goes away...except.... in one section that is about 4 or 5 miles long. The first time we went through this section my one friend goes "Do you hear that?"... Everyone is like "What?"... "Exactly" he says.
Another interesting moment was a year we went when there was a lot of rain previous to the trip and the river was very high. This opened up a lot of the side routes around islands that would be other wise impossible to navigate even with a canoe. One particular place was incredible as it was very narrow and the trees were able to reach from one side to the other providing a canopy. We were going through basically a tunnel created by water and trees. It had a surreal "Land of the lost" feel if you're old enough to remember the opening credits from the TV show.
Many things I can list such as the bald eagle taking off from a tree 50 feet or watching one soaring off the updrafts on the nearby cliffs and never once beating its wings.
Susquehanna near Meshoppen, PA. Note to the left is an island. The major flow is on the other side of it.
I'll add one last river story, we were doing some night fishing off the river bank just down from where this picture is. We had the lantern setup as usual and it attracts bugs. Some frog shows up and sets up a position near the lantern and sat there all night gobbling them up... it was hilarious. It didn't move for hours.
As the sun begins to dip low in the western sky, here at the Brokentap home, we too relax. We have a small fire pit on the patio crackling with flickering light, the walls around it built of hand placed rock taken from rock walls build by my ancestors. The gravel beneath our feet and being pushed into a pile by my 2½ year's old little toy tractor came from the farm too, luckily located out of view at the bottom of the hill, but atlas this was created by shear glacial till eons ago.
Plates now sit empty, but the smudges of home-brewed whiskey marinade are still evident from the steak in once held. This too came from the farm, with next years tasty sirloin cuts gently mooing in the back ground as the holstein steer gently eats a few more bites of clover, timothy and rye before he setles in for a night of rest. Bits of green pepper, romaine lettuce and cilantro, mint and ranch dressing also are splashed about the plates, and while they did not grow from the soil here, the chocolate milk mostly drinken from the cups surely has.
The wife quietly reads her parenting magazine and takes a cautious look at her playing daughter even as she reads, her eyes darting from the page, assuring all is safe and then returns to the page as if here eyes never left the written word. It is a skill aquired only by a mother, but not nessasaily from child birth, just a mother who truly cares.
As for me, I take stock in all of this; the sheep and cows mooing and nickering in the upper pasture, my daughter playing with her toys, and my wife having some much needed relaxing time just to sit and read for awhile. Ahead of us sits the home I have built, ever nail hammered in by my own two hands, and every board which began as a felled tree upon the woodlot here. But that is not what I enjoy at the moment. What I truly appreciate is the 16 year old foster child that sits across from me that has endured a hellish existance up until now. Tonight she drinks her choclate milk and quitely says, "its nice out tonight".
"Yes it is," I say, because she is safe and she is here with us to share in this solitude.
This weekend must have been special because we basically spent it on our deck watching the birds from chicadees to 737's. The biggist descision was the ratio of rum to coka cola. Well spent time.
This weekend must have been special because we basically spent it on our deck watching the birds from chicadees to 737's. The biggist descision was the ratio of rum to coka cola. Well spent time.
hearing small size birds while watching wide bodies fly?
while watching my own thoughts, the former small size ones increase the volume as if to say, we're still here to confirm your memories ...
The little guys and the big guys don't overlap that much.
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The fireflies are not out here yet and they don't come out in full force where I live but I'm in town. If you get out in the rural areas you can see a spectacular show. 
