Wednesday, August 31, 2011

A happy little chorus

a chorus of crickets

Crickets are my #1 favorite sound of summer!  (thunder might be tied with them, but I just can't decide, I love them both so much!) I LOVE crickets.   I've always associated summer nights in Wisconsin with crickets.  Just like cicadas, I always thought that crickets made their music all through the summer, but they don't  They start in late July just like the cicadas.  In the country they start a little sooner I think, but I didn't start to hear them in town until late July.  

The evenings first started with a few singing and as the days went by, it has become a full on non-stop chorus at night.  There must be thousands of these little guys out in our yard!  When I walk through the grass and our garden, they are hopping all over the place.  They are even starting to sing during the daytime too.  I've looked forward to hearing these little guys since last fall after our first frost.  

The anticipation of those warm summer nights and the chirp of crickets=love.  I love falling asleep to their sounds.  I find it  very comforting and beautiful.  It is something that I'm holding on tight to right now because I know it isn't going to last.  

I do wonder though, are their people out their who don't like their sounds?  Do they find it irritating and annoying or maybe they don't even notice it?  It is amazing how truly loud it is.  I remember my first summer back in Wisconsin after living out in Idaho where the nights were very silent.   I was lying in bed listening to the crickets and it was non-stop chirping and I couldn't find a break in the noise or differentiate one cricket from another and it almost felt maddening, but luckily this feeling only lasted for a few seconds.
 
This little painting was created while I listened to those little guys make their music for me on these last summer evenings.  Oh what a happy sound! 

3 comments:

the dirty brush said...

I love them too! as a matter of fact, the country where i am from, we consider crickets good luck so whenever they come inside the house, I get so happy!

Unknown said...

Oh, I like that! So maybe when they are singing to me at night they are really singing me a little good luck song! That makes me even happier!

Unknown said...

I love falling to sleep to the sound of crickets! It's right up there with being able to hear the waves of the ocean crash at night...
Did you know you can tell the temperature by the number of chirps per minute? I don't recall the exact formula, but I remember sitting outside late one summer night trying to count cricket chirps with my daughter when she was younger!
xo
lynn

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