{"id":12980,"date":"2016-05-22T20:23:31","date_gmt":"2016-05-22T20:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/?p=12980"},"modified":"2016-05-22T20:23:31","modified_gmt":"2016-05-22T20:23:31","slug":"fireflies-of-the-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/fireflies-of-the-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireflies of the Night"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Life and Island Times &#8211; 22 May 2016<br \/>\nFireflies of the Night<\/p>\n<p>Most appropriately after yesterday\u2019s relationship advice piece, Marlow and W encountered fireflies under the light of the full moon. It occurred after they had finished a wonderful meal at a friend\u2019s house and decided to take a dip in his backyard pool.<\/p>\n<p>As they sipped cidre doux, fireflies appeared over their heads as they lounged in the pool. All four diners were instantly thrust back five decades or more into their youths. They were captivated by the sweet memories of walking through twinkly green flashing backyards, capturing these critters in clear glass jars, poking holes in the jar lids for air, and placing grass for these magic flashers to eat.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12981\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/052216-1marlow.jpg\" alt=\"052216-1marlow\" width=\"551\" height=\"226\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/052216-1marlow.jpg 551w, https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/052216-1marlow-300x123.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/052216-1marlow-500x205.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 551px) 100vw, 551px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Some of these intrepid glowing aviators swooped too low and landed in the water. With the diners gently lifting them, they were placed in the adjacent grass where the females possibly awaited.<\/p>\n<p>These beetles were different \u2013 they had twin tail lamps like a Chevy Nova. None of them had ever seen this species, commonly called click-beetles. That wasn\u2019t surprising given that there are over 2000 species of lightning bugs worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>The Big Dipper firefly is the most common species of firefly in North America and was the one they had seen and played with as children. Marlow recalled being told as a 12-year-old that the male Big Dippers are prey for the females of a different firefly genus. These predator females mimic the effects of the Big Dipper females. What these femmes fatales want is the chemical they need to defend themselves from jumping spiders.<\/p>\n<p>Humans use similar deceptive language of light and color to attract partners, lovers and sometimes meals. Marlow\u2019s thoughts drifted to the multiple island species that prowl Duval St like 801 Bourbon Street pub and it\u2019s cross dressers. It was then that he penned this:<\/p>\n<p>Full moon on the horizon<br \/>\nSeen though green colored glasses<br \/>\n\u2018Twas time for them to hunt<br \/>\nEarthbound stars by their flashes<\/p>\n<p>Constellations like Big Dipper<br \/>\nSimple yet complex<br \/>\nShining toward earth<br \/>\nThese lil green stars were searching for sex<\/p>\n<p>Cryptic signals sent<br \/>\nFrom the ground to heaven and back<br \/>\nTiming is everything<br \/>\nFor the codes their mates must crack<\/p>\n<p>He flashes for answers to<br \/>\nWho, what, where<br \/>\nSome give patterns of deceit<br \/>\nTo twinkle his eye<\/p>\n<p>Closer (flicker).<br \/>\nCloser (flash), closer still<br \/>\nStreet lamps beckon him<br \/>\nAgainst his will<\/p>\n<p>Throwing caution to the night wind<br \/>\nHe approaches too fast<br \/>\nThe conflict is over<br \/>\nHe\u2019s now her repast<\/p>\n<p>So, dear readers, beware of deceptive flashing.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 2016 From My Isle Seat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life and Island Times &#8211; 22 May 2016 Fireflies of the Night Most appropriately after yesterday\u2019s relationship advice piece, Marlow and W encountered fireflies under the light of the full moon. It occurred after they had finished a wonderful meal at a friend\u2019s house and decided to take a dip in his backyard pool. As [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12980"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12980\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12982,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12980\/revisions\/12982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}