Fireflies/ Vagalumes, Pirilampos

This evening as it got dark and we were all in the kitchen while my husband kneaded his third batch of bread in the past month (I'm so proud of him and grateful for his decision to start baking. I'm a good cook, but I've long given up on bread baking -- particularly whole wheat bread). I was looking out to our backyard and I noticed that there were countless fireflies "blinking" out there. I love fireflies and I had to go out with my youngest boy and enjoy them.

We call them vagalumes in Portuguese. Vaga - for "vagar" (to wander) and lume, light. Wandering lights. We also have another word, more musical, if a bit weird: pirilampo. I guess "lampo" could be related to "lamp," but I don't really know what "piri" would be (I do own two wonderful Portuguese dictionaries, but I really don't want to look these words up now).*

So my little one kept saying excitedly (in Portuguese) "I want to get close to the vagalumes! Look! That one is getting close!" And I looked and wondered why it is that there are fireflies only during a few short weeks or a month and then they're gone. It's the same with the cicadas (thankfully, since some of them are just too noisy :).

I kept thinking that it would be wonderful to capture those beautiful green/yellow lights in a photograph or a video, but I reflected that, like most everything in nature, the magic of that
moment, of those blinking lights on the grass, couldn't possibly be captured in its fullness on tape or film. So I didn't even try.

I've been thinking about so many things lately (as usual, but more than usual, actually)... One of my friend Cloudscome's latest comments made me think that I probably do have ADD, maybe a mild case which never caused me any serious problems in school (and in Brazil there is much less "labeling," particularly in mental health and children, but maybe this is changing now) , but which would definintely explain the way my scattered mind works. It would help me understand why I have such a hard time focusing on certain hard tasks and not just label myself "lazy" and disorganized as I usually do.**

Looking at the fireflies randomly shining their lights and flying around made me think about the way my mind works sometimes... the thoughts go here and there, everywhere, moving a bit aimlessly... but hopefully the overall effect is (will be) good like the lovely mini-fireworks "show" put by the fireflies.

* I love dragonflies too, their name in Portuguese is so poetic: libélulas...

** I was also thinking that those "dream attacks" that I wrote briefly about here (item 6) were probably panic attacks. Oh well...

P.S. actually posted at 1:56 a.m. of the 27th, but I kept the old date so I wouldn't have to edit the first words.

P.S. 2 - Keiko, yes, I have all those journals, from 1985 to today. I'm going to take photos of them and post to the blog, OK?

P.S. 3 - Potty training is going OK, if you're wondering. Only one puddle on the floor today and 3 successful uses of the toilet. I can hardly believe it!