Categories
Just Shelley

Burningbugs

Today was hot and humid, which meant the fireflies were out, in force, at dusk. One particularly frisky little bug hovered in front of the living room window, seemingly infatuated with the magnificant glow of the small light by the window. Zzz. It said. Zzz. Zzz. Callous light just glowed steadily, ignoring the little critter.

How sad, this lost moment
and the love that was not meant to be;
The little burningbug
who lusted after electricity.

I didn’t see my first firefly until I moved to a house on Grande Isle in Vermont several years ago. The place was surrounded by fields, high up on a hill overlooking the lake, the closest neighbor hid by a bank of trees.

During the summer, thunderstorms would roll through, magnificent expositions of lightening and rain. And at dusk, in the cooling moisture, bright lights would begin to appear. A shy glimmer here, a quite moment of luminosity there, until the field was aglow with the delicate white lights, dancing in and among the plants.

Was this was my most perfect moment in Vermont? Or would it be held by that winter day, when the sun fell coldly on pure white snow, brilliant blue sky overhead reflected in the ice on the lake. And across the unmarked white field in front of the house hopped a red fox.

Later that night, we threw the switch that lit the lights on a tall evergreen far out in the field. The tree lights reflected on the snow, like fireflies flying about in the cooling mist of a summer night.

Categories
Weblogging

Thou art mortal

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Gary asked an interesting question earlier in the week:

I wonder how many people started blogging after receiving this dictat from Chris Locke.

Seems that Chris, otherwise known as Rageboy is blogging papa to several people, including Gary, DeniseJeneane and others.

I didn’t start weblogging because of Chris. I blush to admit that I started weblogging in April of 2001 primarily because I wanted to try out the technology. And I wasn’t all that impressed with weblogging at first – particularly since I had a Manila site and didn’t and still don’t like Manila as a weblogging tool.

Though I didn’t begin weblogging because of Chris, I soon became a fan of his; he was the first entry on my blogroll, and also paid me the kindness by adding me to his. In addition, I discovered one of my closest weblogging friends, Stavros the WC through Chris – leading to some really Strange and Wonderous Moments in Weblogging (SWMW), and a life that never promised to be dull. Scary at times, but never dull.

Through Chris didn’t start me blogging, you have him to thank for me still weblogging today. When I wanted to quit (and actually did quit for a time) last November, Chris (and Sharon another of my closest weblogging friends) convinced me to give the weblog a little longer.

Considering that I have a love/hate relationship at times with weblogging (we all do, don’t we?), I don’t know whether to thank Chris for his intervention, or tell him to go get f**cked. However, knowing Chris as much as anyone can remotely, I think he’d be equally happy with either expression.

Categories
Technology Weather

Tracking the tracker

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

Heat index in St. Louis today was 105. That’s 1-0-5. Rather than out finding new paths, I’m keeping my San Franciscan acclimated butt inside, playing around with the new version of MT.

Stavros – someone is watching you. Hee Hee.

(Now, you’re all supposed to go over to Empty Bottle and see trackback in operation. Who else wants to play?)