Summer Storm, etc.

This morning Dog was fooled by the "old broken wing trick" displayed by a killdeer. We were walking in Roundtop's north parking lot, which is stone-covered and so prime territory for killdeer. When I first saw the bird it was upside down, belly in the air, flapping weakly as though it was on its very last leg. Dog has always had a thing for killdeer, since back when he was a puppy, so it is no surprise he thought he was (finally!) about to get one. After a few seconds I saw a tiny killdeer very near to where we were walking, and had to pull Dog away so the tiny baby, which Dog never saw, could escape.

Last night was a severe and slow-moving thunderstorm, with lots of rain and sustained lightning. I started hearing the storm just before dark, and because it was so slow-moving, the lightning storm seemed to go on forever. I couldn't see bolts of lightning in the sky--the thick leaf cover hides that from me. But the woods would suddenly burst into brightness with multiple bursts keeping the woods light for a second or two at a time. Then it would darken again. Some of the bolts weren't as strong and then the lightning only brightened a few trees or sometimes looked like someone turning on a flashlight for a few seconds deeper in the woods. Then it would be dark again.

And then I saw a lightning bug flash, itself a little mini-burst of lightning. Then real lightning would flash again and in the interim before the next flash, more lightning bugs, some very close, some deeper in the woods. I don't ever remember seeing lightning and lightning bugs in such a tandem operation before. It was a little symphony of light, the smaller one echoing the sky's drama with grace notes of its own.