Fern Michonski / Fern’s Music
Pre-School Music Education Expert: The Children’s Advocate for Love and Kindness, Inspiring Creativity and Joy.
June 20, 2012—Fireflies!
Summer is here along with extreme heat, playing in the sun and calm, pleasant evenings. One of my favorite things about summer is sitting out on my porch at night to listen to the tree frogs, the whippoorwills, the owls hooting, and to watch the fireflies darting around in the dark. Their bright little bodies just amaze me and they offer quite the nighttime show if you take the time to sit quietly and watch.
When my children were small, one of their most enjoyable summer activities was running outside trying to catch the fireflies. It was tricky business to catch one, but every once and a while, they would be successful. We would put grass in a jar with holes poked in the top and bring the little firefly inside as a visitor for the night. It was quite the science lesson to learn why they actually light up, how they do it, and to watch them lighting up from a very close vantage point. We always let them go the next morning. We learned that fireflies are winged beetles that chemically produce light from their lower abdomen to attract mates or prey.
The other night while I was sitting out on my porch, watching the fireflies dancing in the dark, it brought back all those wonderful memories of my children running barefoot through the dewy nighttime grass with my husband and I laughing and giggling as we darted around trying to catch them.
My friend and colleague, Cheryl Elizabeth Waddell, wrote a poem about stars and fireflies. I was so impressed with it that I decided to put the poem to music. I wrote the song, sang the lyrics and included it on my “Fern, the Stars and the Planets” CD. The song is called The Stars at Putter’s Rock. Take a listen. It will either bring back your childhood memories or else it will spark your imaginations—tempting you to venture out some summer’s evening to enjoy a spectacular view!
