DOG DAYS, LIGHTNING BUGS & WATERMELON

By OLIVENE GODFREY

We are having the hot, sultry days of Dog Days here
in northwest Georgia. Dog Days occur in July and
early August and are so called because during the period,
Sirius, the Dog Star, rises and sets with the sun.

My sister, Jeanette, who lives in nearby Dalton, told
me about her great-grandchild capturing lightning bugs
or fireflies, depending on where you live, and placing
them in a glass jar. And that evoked a childhood memory
for me of the times long ago when I caught lightning
bugs like kids do today, and son Barry did, when he was
a little boy.

One recent night, Barry asked me to look outside and see
the lighting bugs, flashing their lights which is a form
of flirting which leads to mating. The lightning bugs
are any of various night-flying beetles, emitting a
phosphorescent light from an abdominal organ, especially
the north America genres Photinus and Photurrris. whose
female phosphorescent larvae are called glowworms.

I read recently that the ancient Chinese captured fireflies
in transparent containers and used them as short term
lanterns.

Summertime means watermelon time for me. It all started
when I was a small child and all the kin folks knew
of my fondness for watermelon. I spent a couple of weeks
in the summer with my paternal grandparents on their large
farm in Middle Tennessee. And I will never forget the
trip we took when I was about seven or eight to the nearest
town so my grandparents and two aunts that lived on the
farm, too, could do some shopping. When we returned to the farm, we discovered, to my delight,that my grandpa and one of my
aunts had each bought a watermelon for me

Years later, when my late husband, Ralph, and I were courting
and later when we married, we would cut a watermelon into
half, a half for me and one for Ralph. So, how on earth
did we have a kid who doesn't like watermelon? Barry isn't a finicky eater but he can't stand the taste of watermelon

When we bought groceries last week, our supermarket, Ingles,
gave us a free watermelon. It was small,round dark green
on the outside and when it was cut, after a couple of days
of chilling in the fridge, it was a bright red and sweet
and delectable inside and I ate the heart out of one
half and plan to eat the other half later today.

Watermelon is not only good to eat, but is a healthful food.

See you next time.