Sounds of Summer

In the afternoons lately I have been coming in from working outside in the garden and spending an hour or two quilting this quilt that I first started several years ago. Because this is rather monotonous work I have been entertained by watching past episodes of TV shows on the laptop.

Today, whilst wondering why I could hardly hear the verbal exchanges between Donald Draper and his band of merry mad men, I realised that the cicadas have arrived ...whole colonies in fact.

I have all the windows and doors open because yes, it is a beautiful summer's day here...but hey, I can't be outside all the time can I ?

I think February the 1st must be the official birthday of the cicadas here in the 'Top of the South'.

They have quite an orchestra up there in the gum tree. I would love to know the decible count.

I thought I would show you their hazardous route from under the ground. They crawl from a hole in the ground, climb their way to the nearest tree, shed their crunchy brown skin, and become very noisy green little creatures.

I remember when I was eleven and it was the first day back at school after the holidays, my friends and I would spend the whole lunch hour collecting as many cicada skins as we could find and attaching them to our school uniforms...their little leg skins have tiny barbs that would stick on to the fabric of our uniforms. Those were the days !