This past Saturday night my darling Man, Alan, and I, drove to Bernheim Forest for a night hike that focused on fireflies. Blue Ghost fireflies, or lightning bugs, as we sometimes call them here in Kentucky. I remember as a little girl running barefoot across the damp grass with my brothers. The sun would be setting in the west and the magic would begin. Tiny lights flashing in the bushes and the trees, and we carried a glass jar with a top that we had poked holes in, the perfect container to catch lIghtning bugs and and then hold them hostage as we watched the bugs flash their lights on and off. (Now that I often think like a nurse, maybe glass containers were not the best choice!) Dear Reader, are the memories flooding back into your consciousness? Perhaps you did the same thing? And then when it was time to go inside to sleep, the jar lids were opened and all the fireflies set free.

I had no idea there are different species of fireflies. Twenty-four hundred around the globe to be exact. Up until this past weekend I had not thought much about fireflies. A lightning bug is a lightning bug, right? Wrong. And the Blue Ghosts show up only in certain parts of Kentucky for just a few weeks every year. They did not disappoint us Saturday evening. The light of a Blue Ghost does have a touch of blue with a bright white that illuminates through the darkness.

Our hiking group walked around Lake Nevin, watching for lightning bugs and listening to the night life. We certainly heard the frogs; bullfrogs, green frogs, cricket frogs, and Fowler’s toad. Then the moon began to peak out from behind the clouds, not quite full, but almost, large and bright, illuminating the water on the lake and throwing forest shadows on the ground from the Tall Beings. Fog crept in on top of the water, slow and gently rolling, looking like thin clouds had somehow fallen from the sky and landed on the lake. The lake water was dark, and the white mist from the fog provided quite the contrast. It was lovely, and would lift high among the trees, too, looking smokey in the surrounding darkness.

The sun had set and we had reached about the halfway point of our walk when the Blue Ghosts appeared. Understand, these little fireflies do not just blink, blink their light high up in the trees. They hold their light for several seconds, and repeat this glow over and over, while flying low to the ground. They are male fireflies and their bright, steady light is their way of attracting the female Blue Ghost to accept them as a mate. These are tiny bugs, about the size of a piece of rice, as our guide, Jenny, had shared with us prior to our walk. A couple of the naturalists on our hike were able to catch a firefly and we were able to observe it for a short time under a magnified bug catcher. Then each bug was set free back into the forest area where they had been caught.

Jenny had also mentioned that in old folk tales the Blue Ghost fireflies were thought to be tiny fairies carrying teeny, tiny lanterns. Well, of course that grabbed my imagination. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to imagine tiny fairies out in the night with their own personal missions? Perhaps scattering melatonin stardust over the heads of those having trouble sleeping. Or guiding the Tooth Fairy through the night to the children that have lost a tooth. Or maybe they’re on their own hike and are wise enough to bring a lantern. What if they have campgrounds with tiny tents, stoves, and camp fires? What if…

I’ll let you fill in the blank Dear Reader. I’m not the only one with a great imagination! :O)

c   Love, Joan