Cicada

Fiona hasn't been sleeping so well lately; read, neither have Ian nor I. This afternoon, during Nora's nap and Fiona's sanctioned Saturday episode of The Backyardigans, I took a little sofa catnap, which became an actual nap that went a tad longer than I intended. Let's just say Nora felt plenty refreshed when she awakened, and Fiona had begun working in earnest on one of the velvet posters that Granny and the Priory Aunties sent with some markers for her birthday.

Therefore when Ian got home from helping run the library's teen chess tournament, we still all had enough steam for a nice walk around the neighborhood together after dinner. Fiona walked curbs, reached for leaves, hopped, skipped, and heard stories about Ian's bat-catching cat, Maybelle Carter, and my old crab-shell stealing beagle, Buffy. Nora left the house without her shoes, so she issued commands periodically from the stroller and named (and misnamed) objects. She especially enjoys the huge, imposing, gargoyle-like lions (aka doggies) that flank a stately home on Forest Park Avenue.

On the way home, Fiona and I fell into our habit of collecting cicada shells. Our eyes were trained downward, scouting for good spots to find multiples, when I found a live cicada. We watched it for awhile in the mad hope it might emerge then and there like our friend Helena's did for her (see photo above); but when it didn't we brought it home. We enjoyed it for awhile*, then left it on our tree to sing with its buddies. You can enjoy their song in the video below, as well as our little friend, Cadie.

*No cicada was harmed in the making of this film

8/12 Update: We didn't see another exoskeleton on the tree this morning, so we figure that cicada may well sing to us again tonight.