Evening on the Porch

Lightning bugs are just starting to appear; they wink above the pasture in a hypnotic display to the backdrop of frogs calling to each other across the creek. I hear a pig snuffle in the woods, and once in awhile a breeze carries the faint but unmistakable smell of pig my way, but it is not unpleasant.

The temperature is perfect: Warm enough for lightning bugs, but cool enough to keep the mosquitoes away…so far. The frogs keep time with my husband’s snores behind me in the bedroom. He suffers from springtime allergies, and his favorite sleeping position is on his back. One of the black barn cats rubs against my leg and I reach down to scratch her neck. The geese are also sleeping. hunkered down in the grass with their heads tucked under a wing. Quiet for now, a rare and wonderful thing.