At lunchtime on Tuesday, July 30, spouse and I were out for a neighborhood walk on my work lunch break (I work remotely about 99% of the time) when I heard it.
No, it was them. Them being - crickets.
Summer unofficially has ended.
The first crickets of 2024 have sung. Fall has arrived.
Then I heard them again while walking after work. Unlike some years, there was no doubt. Definitely crickets As I sit outside, I am hearing them now.
Tuesday joins this list of first hearing dates of crickets I've accumulated during my years of blogging. As you can see from this list, since 2009, there have been few first hearings this late, which surprises me a little, given the early spring we had. Each date has a link to that year's post.
July 22, 2010
July 30, 2011
then, there were two dates in 2012, perhaps due to an early spring
May 21, 2012
July 25, 2012
August 3, 2014
July 28, 2015
July 24, 2016
July 31, 2018
My blog, with the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day meme I participate in each 15th of the month, has become a kind of garden journal. I'm no good at diaries or journals, but blogging is something I do keep up with. For now, anyway.
So, what does this pattern of dates mean? Not much, perhaps. But it is a way to track the weather - and nature.
As I blogged in 2022:
We all are called by Nature in some way. The trees know when to drop their leaves and sprout new leaves in spring. The migrating birds of our area know (although climate change is messing up these signals, sadly, especially in spring) when to leave for their true homes. I never realized varous of our birds just summer here to breed.
Now, I hear the call of the crickets. It may make me sad to know summer is fleeting, but it's all the more reason to live each day in the moment.
And, speaking of summer - I hope my readers are staying cool.
Maybe I'll even be able to take a cricket picture one day.
...I must be cheated, I don't hear them.
ReplyDeleteMy cat caught a cricket in our kitchen. Kind of sad. They’re supposed to b3 outside, singing.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting. Is this when the crickets arrive, or emerge, or mate? I don't know anything about crickets.
ReplyDeleteListening to crickets marks such a nostalgic transition from summer to fall! It's interesting to see how the dates have varied over the years. Your blog has become a lovely record of these natural rhythms. Thanks for sharing this seasonal moment with us. I just posted a new blog post you can read it on www.melodyjacob.com.
ReplyDeleteYou must have a different kind of cricket. Mine are very active all summer long. They "chirp" faster/more often the hotter the temperatures.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how hot this summer has been, I'm not surprised it's taken longer for the crickets to emerge. Does that mean it's going to be a mild winter or a terrible one?
ReplyDeleteOh oh. The crickets have come out. Not where we are though.
ReplyDeleteWe have some cricket species that are active in spring, but it's "late" summer when the katydids sound off, which they did in the first week of July. Some years they wait till the last week...
ReplyDeletePris cilla King
We aren't outdoors often enough to catch the crickets singing. I remember how I loved the sound as a kid as well as after marriage and kids how we'd set outside around a campfire on visits back at my in-laws. The crickets singing late afternoon into the evening has a peaceful rhythmic tune that makes you happy, glad to be alive, and that everything is alright. I yearn to experience that feeling again. Summer is fading and it'll be no time before the seasons change again. The days march on without interruption. We certainly do need to live in the moment instead of wishing days away because that's happening fast enough.
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