Cul de Sac by Richard Thompson for June 25, 2013

Petey, lightning bugs aren’t electric. Some eels on the other hand…

They’re UL approved.

I love fireflies… they’re delightful..… and so is the show. Wish it had had a longer run. I do.

Petey, now you’re beginning to worry me. Every kid I ever knew when I was that age loved lightning bugs—even the ones who didn’t like any other insects or bugs! As Alice says, you catch them, and then you keep them in a mason jar [remember those?] with plenty of holes poked through the lid….

Petey’s taking all the fun out of it.

I don’t think there’s any electricity involved – just chemicals.

Leave Captain Tightpants out of this. We’re talkin’ insects, not business.<brI’ve always wondered if the “Captain Tightpants” line was an adlib. The glee on Jewel’s face when she said it… she just looked like she was having too much fu that day…

Very fond memories of childhood in Connecticut.

Or you could call them flying glowworms.

It’s funny how we call them lightning bugs, fireflies or even glow worms… but they are actually beetles. Whatever we call them, they are delightful.

We don’t have them here in Ca.but when I was a kid we would go to the midwest where they were plentiful. I remember catching them in a jar and having them on the nightstand. I still love seeing them.

and some of them fake the love signals of other lightning bugs — lure them in and make a meal of ’em!

Don’t forget Electric Light Bugs, Petey. (No electricity, they’re just attracted to street lights.)

I grew up in central Illinois, where we had ‘em. I had a young cousin up in Michigan who’d never seen them and didn’t believe they were real. Then he came down to visit one summer and was enchanted to learn they actually existed as advertised, but when he went back home he couldn’t convince his FRIENDS they were real…

Dougie was about 7 when this occurred…

Apparently they don’t exist in France. We had an exchange sent one summer who would just stand in the yard and turn in slow circles, totally entranced.