Saw the First Fireflies of the Year

I stepped outside last night after watching the hockey game and saw two fireflies blinking out in the front yard.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen lightning bugs here this early in the year.

It reminded me of catching fireflies with my brother when I was young, during summer vacations on my grandpa’s farm in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

First we would get canning jars from my mom and punch air holes in the lids with a hammer and nail.  Then we would run all around the yard and farmhouse, in the dark, trying to catch fireflies by hand.  It was difficult to catch them without running into obstacles like stumps and rocks, but that is what made it all so much fun to do.

After catching one or two dozen fireflies in each jar, we added some lilac branches so the lightning bugs could crawl around inside the jars.  Each jar went on the nightstand right next to each of our beds, and my brother and I got to watch our own personal lightshow as we drifted off to sleep.  The next morning we turned the fireflies loose in the bushes outside, none the worse for wear, to be caught again on some other night . . .

Picture from Jamelah/Flickr Creative Commons.

Labels: Home and Garden, Thoughts