Picture of the day - June 6, 2007

The sounds of a summer evening

Photo courtesy of Mary Blevins. This is the time of year when the southwestern Virginia countryside comes alive every evening with the sights and sounds of lightnin' bugs and crickets, but if you happen to live near a river, creek or pond you'll hear another familiar sound: the croaking of bullfrogs. When we were growing up at our childhood home "up in the holler" in Widener Valley, Virginia, we kids loved to run around outside at dusk catching lightnin' bugs, playing tag, or whatever we were in the mood to do at the time, all the while enjoying the chorus of crickets and bullfrogs emanating from the growing darkness. Even if we were worn out from a long day spent working in the tobacco patch or "pickin' beans", the feel of the cool dew on our bare feet and the sweet sounds of those summer evenings always seemed to lift our spirits and give us a "second wind". We would stay out in the yard playing for hours on end until mom finally came out onto the front porch and yelled for us to "come in and get washed up". Those times are long gone, but the sweet memories of growing up in that holler under the protective "wings" of mom and the good Lord will always remain tucked safely away in the back of my mind, ever ready to spring into action whenever I run across a field full of lightnin' bugs dancing to a chorus of crickets and croaking bullfrogs. Life wasn't always easy "up in the holler", but it was always good. I wouldn't trade those precious childhood memories for all the gold in the world. About the photo: Today's picture was taken by fellow southwest Virginian Mary Blevins. Here is her story behind the image: "I love to hear the bullfrogs with their baritone songs. Last evening, I decided to sneak down to the pond and get a photo. I was lucky to get this photo from across the pond. I wasn't sure that a frog was in the photo until I downloaded it. I used a Kodak digital camera with 12x zoom." Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"