Fireflies don’t put on those spectacular summer displays just to entertain us. You’re eavesdropping on the firefly singles bar. Male fireflies cruising for mates flash a species-specific pattern to announce their availability to receptive females. An interested female will reply, helping the male locate her where she’s perched, often on low vegetation.

Fireflies, once really interested, will put together a mixed tape for their prospective flame. There are a few spieces in Northern New Jersey that will impress a prospective mate by it’s bravery. Usually they volunteer for a young kids hole filled peanut butter jar.

Flash three times on the ceiling. If you really want me. That never ends well.

A few desperadoes will hold out for good old Valentine’s Day.

Where all lightning bugs are now dead. Unless they migrate somewhere. Which I doubt.

The life of a lightning bug is more complicated then the average person would think. Mostly because the term average comes into play here. Most people don’t think about the life and love of a lightning bug. A firefly of sorts, a twinkle in the night.

In the late 1960s there was Woodstock, there was a lunar landing and there was the Summer of Soul.

As a kid I was so excited about the space program and people landing on the moon. I read every book, watched every television special and of course our family watched people land on the moon. But I had no idea what was going on in the world.

The summer of Soul was an amazing series of concerts that took place in Harlem, Pretty much the same time Woodstock was happening and we were landing on the moon.

An overwhelming response to people at the festival about the lunar landing was, who really cares about men landing on the moon , yes white man landing on the moon when you weren’t even putting food on the table and we’re being denied basic human rights. I see that perspective

I understand and emphasize. Now take a spaceship to 50 years later and here we go again.

Branson in space: Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson successfully returned to earth aboard Virgin’s rocket-powered plane, making him the first billionaire to travel to space

Seriously tax these sons of bitches and you will see resources going to where they belong as opposed to a billionaire’s ego. There was a time and place where I thought if I was really rich I would love to go into space. But I’ve grown up since.

The other day, without thinking, I put a bulb of garlic on the fence meaning to bring it in later. An opportune crow swooped down and took it. Must have needed it for a recipe.

Crows are smart that way, as I supposed another crow found nuts and they put together a decent pesto. Or maybe it didn’t go exactly like that.

The crows in our neighborhood sit in the towering pine trees and enjoy the fruits of their mischievous thievery. They are a loud bunch, and when there is food they gather in mass. They eat, they sing and have a rambunctious good time. They are sloppy and drop food into the yard.

Luna, our Jack Russel, lingered in the yard a little longer this morning. This usually is a harbinger of a murder of crows fallout.

She just jumped on my lap and her breath had a subtle hint of garlic.



Let me put this right up front, I am not a relationship specialist or I have any claim be any good at it. However this little simple cartoon says a lot. If we go through life without changing life changes around us and we continue our backwards migration to being a useless dinosaur.

There is nothing inherently wrong what pining for the good all days. Yearning for the good old days is saying I am not capable of changing and I want things to be the way they used to be. We see this in people who refuse to visit other countries, adopt other cultures or even think that another way of life or some flavor Of it is even possible.

I have a hard time listening to the same music over and over again. My brain synapses seek change and I really want to hear something new. Music from your past, and I’m not discounting that it’s really really good, uses other synapses tied to memories different, yet related that music. Then again I guess at the beauty and music and the memories that it holds.

I digress, and I’m OK with that I think about classical music. There is very little new classical music being written every single day. And again we listen to it with a brand new set of ears every single day. That’s not always change in the end but our ability to see things in new and different ways.