After the ball is over... cicada farewell

Af -ter the ball is o -ver,
Af -ter the break of morn
Af -ter the dan -cer's leav -ing;
Af -ter the stars are gone;
Ma -ny a heart is ach -ing,
If you could read them all;
Ma -ny the hopes that have van -ished
Af -ter the ball.

(Who says I'm not into the music of the '90's? ...The 1890's, that is.)

This song seemed appropriate as the current brood of 17-year cicadas vanishes once again.

The sad scene above is from our driveway, about four weeks ago. As soon as the party began... it began to end.

There were still a couple of hardy cicada dowagers flapping around nearby Park Ridge, where we saw them at a baseball game Monday evening. (The males tend to die out first, so I'm guessing the stragglers were female. Otherwise they were very frustrated males.)




In the brief span between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July an entire generation of these creatures lived and died.

These pictures were taken by Long Suffering Spouse on June 8.

This one flew in to pose for her. And, yes, it appears to be missing a foreleg.








Long Suffering Spouse humored me by taking these photos. She was initially concerned that I'd want pictures of bugs.



















But when she printed these pictures out, I think she finally agreed with me that these are fascinating creatures....

So alien-looking... but in our own backyards.

But not for another 17 years. Good night, cicadas.