Wednesday, June 19, 2013

CICADA SUMMER


The woods are humming.
Literally.
You turn down our street and wonder what the noise is.
Everyone who has visited us in the past few weeks has commented.
 
17 year (otherwise known as Periodical Cicadas) Cicadas have emerged!

 

If you look closely, you can see the bottom and tips of the leaves covered in the shells.
This was not even a FULL branch!
 


 
It is pretty remarkable the way God designed these creatures.
They know exactly when to burrow out of the ground.
They have a 5 week adult life span.
 
 

 
The males are the ones that make the noise.
They are looking for mates.

 


Here you can see a small smattering of empty shells on the ground.
Parts of our yard are (or were, I should say--all the rain did have an effect!) covered!
 

 
 
Another tree.
There are a few different kinds of cicadas.
Some which come every year.
These are special though.
We were figuring out how old the kids would be when the next brood arrives..
potentially out of the house!
 
 
 Some of the books we have been reading to learn more.
I would definitely recommend the top one.
Great pictures and lots of information.
 
 
 
Finally, after reading about and hearing them and all that good stuff..we saw online that a friend of ours had made Cicada Cookies!
Yes, they are eaten around the world.
Did you know that cicadas are especially "revered" in France?
Anyway, I thought we'd go for it.
Our friends saved one cicada cookie for us to sample.
No one was forced.
 
 
 
Michael and Carina refused to even try it.
Rian licked it and Travis actually had it in his mouth and then spit it out!
I did take videos, but I was laughing so they are rather wobbly.
I think it would have went over better if the cicada had actually been incorporated INTO the cookie.
Hey, it was a once in a lifetime type thing, right?
 
So, yeah.
Our adventures with the cicadas.
:)


1 comment:

mom Rose said...

so... did mommy try one?!