We've been hearing them in varying degrees of intensity for about a week now. First over in neighbor Aileen's trees and then over across the street behind Kim's house. 

I got an email from Kim just the other day with the title "Aliens?" where she proceeded to say that she thought we were being invaded by aliens and that the mother ship was close by. She asked if we could hear that noise (like an air conditioner running all the time, she said) and what was it. She said she couldn't tell where it was coming from. Uhm, Kim, it's the 17-Year Cicada invasion. Haven't you heard? I guess she didn't know because she didn't believe me.

Aliens, indeed. They have black bodies with golden wings and beady little red eyes. And yes, it does sound a bit like the mother ship is hovering somewhere close by. They only sing in the mornings through early afternoon which is kind of odd. I don't mind them at all and find their loud cohesive humming rather soothing.

I finally got to see two of them yesterday. One was hanging on the outside of the dining room window screen, and the other was stuck in Bella's wading pool so it made a perfect subject for a photo. I think in the first photo its shadow does look rather like an alien space ship!

I thought it was dead so I tried lifting it out on my finger, but much to my surprise it was very much alive and held on with all its might with its sticky, strong little legs. Ack! I shook it off and it fell back into the water again. I felt sorry for it so I grabbed a piece of wood for it to climb on instead of my finger (which had felt like it was in a vise grip) and rescued the poor thing. I put it on the railing of the deck to dry off and soon it had disappeared—back to become assimilated by the Borg I assume.

And, speaking of being absorbed back into environments again, Rick's mom is now home once again. We are happy to announce she arrived without taking any cross-country detours and with her luggage! We thoroughly enjoyed her stay. More on that a bit later …

ADDENDUM: Steve found this great link to a video of the cicadas, complete with a musician to sing along with them. You can find it in the comment section or click here.

Linked to Rural Blog Hop!

If you "stumble in" what condition are you in when you leave?

I have driven by this establishment so many times and thought to myself

I should take a photo of that sign.

Finally, I did.

Seen in Bloomingdale, New Jersey

Need I say more? This was the scene around our house on Friday morning. Just this week the snow had finally melted from the flower beds next to the pool and I saw that my daffodils had broken ground. I was so excited to see them! Now they are  covered with snow once again. We got about five inches overnight and it continued on to snow another two inches or so during the day yesterday. But, our temperatures are supposed to be "spring-like" this weekend so we'll see. Still, it's disheartening.

It was pretty though. It was the kind of snow that left all the tree branches looking that they had been traced with a fat white marker.

If you like that kind of thing, that is. And I normally do except that I am tired of it. That's very unusual for me since I am the one always hoping and wishing for snow. But I've had enough this year. I'm done! Especially since daylight savings time goes into effect tonight, which to me always signals the start of warmer weather. It seems early this year and I'm not ready. What's the point of having it be nice and light in the evening if one can't enjoy it? Plus I was just getting in tune with the sun coming up earlier each day. Now it's going to be harder to get out of bed at a decent time because of the darkness.

Spring will come. I know it will. It's just the waiting that's hard.

Photo P. S. : I know my white balance is different in the first pic but I liked it because it looked cold.

Yesterday I awoke to a blue sky! Hurrah! I quickly planned to shower and head out with the camera back to Long Pond Ironworks so I could re-do some of the snaps I took the other day that I was  not happy with. When I got out of the shower, what I had thought to be blue sky earlier in the morning turned out to be nothing more than a big blueish cloud and now the whole sky was overcast. More overcast than the day before. To add insult to injury it also started spitting snow! The nerve! I disgruntledly cast aside my little photography jaunt and took the dogs for a short ride in the truck instead.

(photo: Old Church door through the railing: Long Pond Ironworks)

I am branching out here and have joined the Rurality Blog Hop with my photo: Abandoned

Taken today at Long Pond Ironworks, Hewitt, New Jersey.