We’ve made it to the weekend! I wish I could sing those words. Typically Fridays start my weekend because I am off at my regular job but, usually fill my Fridays with cleaning, cakes, taking my momma wherever she needs to go and groceries that it usually seems like a work day. The weather is supposed to be perfect here all weekend and I hope it is for you wherever you are. Y’all know I love the fall but, theres just something about a summer evening that makes my heart thankful for the season. I dont know if it is the sound of the birds nesting in the trees for the night or the cecadas screaming. Somehow I wish I could have the crisp cool days of fall with the warm late summer evenings. I’m really asking for a lot I know lol. Maybe that’s what my heaven will be like when I get there. Do you ever think about that? What your heaven will be? I think of it as a place where we never long for anything. So for me it might be something sort of like fall in the day and summer at night lol.
Today I walked my street during my lunch. I try to get my steps in. Our street is off a main road but it just makes a big horseshoe . Its a large hill at each end so you sure get your workout in. Two times around and back is a mile. I know its terrible but, I usually put headphones on so that my neighbors dont run out and try to talk. I am a TERRIBLE person. Its not that I dont love them. I do. But we live on a street with 9 houses. Our lots are large and they back up to a big creek so its just us 9 families. All except for one couple are elderly and they are retired. If I dont listen to music and I get stopped I wont get back home in time to log on my computer after lunch. I dont care to stand around and talk any other time but my walking (30 minute lunch and 15 min breaks) are for my brain to clear out and my feet to move on the pavement. A lot of our neighbors have beautiful flowers in their yards and there are several gardens. One gentlmen has what I call “daddy garden”. Its perfect. Dads looked that way.
Today while I was walked I happened to look down as I passed under a tree. There on the ground laid the hull of a cicada. Of course I had to pick him up and take a photo to send to my sisters. And you know I have a memory about those cicadas. Our family had a huge farm in Rogersville which was about 40 min from our how. The farm was the home of daddy’s grandparents. It was over 200 acres of forrest, gardens, multiple barnes, and the old home place. Daddy took care of all of it as all of the family who originally lived there had already passed. He loved that place and did everything that he could to keep it up perfectly. We would stay there weeks at a time in the summer and tend to the gardens and land. Although we didnt think it was “grand” being young girls through our teenage years, I look back at it now and think about how wonderful it really was. The tale of this farm is story for another time. Belive me you’ll want to hear it.
Back to my bugged story. At night we would sit out side and talk and just listen. You could hear crockets and cicadas everywhere. It was peaceful. It was a time to “be still”. Those cicadas would flock to the side of the upper barn to slip out of their shells. Sometimes there would be 50 shells hanging on the side of that barn. They were so fascinating. They almost looked like little aliens. Big bugged eyes as claws. My younger sister and I would collect the shells from the side of th barn and see how many we could get every night. My older sister however, absolutely hated them. She said they made her feel like she had bugs crawling all over her. We would laugh because she would just run and squal when we brought to show her lol. Today, all these years later, she still cant stand them.
Have you ever seen a cicada shell? Well if you havent I have attached my photo. Of course I took a photo and sent it to my girls. My younger sister laughed and the only response we got from our older sister was : NOPE! And we knew exactly what she meant.
If you have a farm, or are around a nice wooded area, take a look at the trees. You may just find a cicada shell. Teach your children or grandchildren about those things. Its something that no one else will do for them.
Have the greatest weekend. Be safe. Go explore.
Always…….Brooke
Uplifting, Encouraging, and Fun blogging. 