In the winter in Georgia someone always says, “Our weather isn’t cold enough to kill the insect eggs and larva.”
I recall this now because we had an unusually frigid winter here, and I’ve seen more bugs this summer than I’ve seen in years. One particularly fascinating insect appeared on our deck while we had a house guest. I first heard it fling itself into the sliding glass door in our living room. It sounded as though a baseball struck the glass. Our guest sat in front of it. I jumped and looked at her. She shrugged her shoulders, but said nothing.
A few nights later we turned out the lights to get ready for bed, and I heard a loud, staccato clicking outside. Our guest said, “It’s that bug.”
“What bug?” I asked.
“The same one that banged into the door the other night. When you go to bed, and I'm here on the sofa I hear it. It makes that sound. Pull back the curtain and look. It spins around.
I peered outside. A lime green insect about the size of a butterfly spun around in circles with its wings folded vertically and made the weird noise. “I’ve never seen anything like that.” I gazed at my husband, Rick. “Where did it come from? Any ideas?”
He stared at the bug and shook his head. “I don’t know. It must be doing some sort of mating dance and call.”
I peered at our guest. “The bug’s in love you.”
We all laughed and went to bed. But when the guest left, the bug left.
I can’t think about the bug without also thinking of the refrain to a song I sang in Sunday School as a child, “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” The lyrics were written by a woman, Cecil Alexander in 1848, and the tune, a 17th Century English melody, arranged by Martin F. Shaw in 1915. The refrain is:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Psalm: 104: 24, “How many are your works,
O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.”
I recall this now because we had an unusually frigid winter here, and I’ve seen more bugs this summer than I’ve seen in years. One particularly fascinating insect appeared on our deck while we had a house guest. I first heard it fling itself into the sliding glass door in our living room. It sounded as though a baseball struck the glass. Our guest sat in front of it. I jumped and looked at her. She shrugged her shoulders, but said nothing.
A few nights later we turned out the lights to get ready for bed, and I heard a loud, staccato clicking outside. Our guest said, “It’s that bug.”
“What bug?” I asked.
“The same one that banged into the door the other night. When you go to bed, and I'm here on the sofa I hear it. It makes that sound. Pull back the curtain and look. It spins around.
I peered outside. A lime green insect about the size of a butterfly spun around in circles with its wings folded vertically and made the weird noise. “I’ve never seen anything like that.” I gazed at my husband, Rick. “Where did it come from? Any ideas?”
He stared at the bug and shook his head. “I don’t know. It must be doing some sort of mating dance and call.”
I peered at our guest. “The bug’s in love you.”
We all laughed and went to bed. But when the guest left, the bug left.
I can’t think about the bug without also thinking of the refrain to a song I sang in Sunday School as a child, “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” The lyrics were written by a woman, Cecil Alexander in 1848, and the tune, a 17th Century English melody, arranged by Martin F. Shaw in 1915. The refrain is:
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.
Psalm: 104: 24, “How many are your works,
O Lord!
In wisdom you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.”
Comments
I suppose it's possible it was a cicada. Do they make a really weird noise?