Summer's Brightest Gift

The Stars All Fall to Earth. Oil on stretched canvas, 8x10. sold

Fireflies live by the hundreds, by the thousands, in our back field. In late June, when the days lengthen and grow warm, the fireflies come out.

They start to show at dusk, in the grass, near the ground. As night falls, they fly higher, and show themselves in the bushes and the trees and the dark sky overhead.

I've never seen anything like this. I've seen a firefly here, and a firefly there, or even three or four zipping at the same time through our back yard on Ocean Avenue. But here on Whalehead Road, it's like the stars have all come out in the grass in our back field.

There's no way to take a photograph of this. And so, I decided to paint it. It's hard to get the dark blue right on this computer, and it is a very dark painting. But in real life, it sparkles.