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Marina Richie's avatar

I am so overdue on reading your blog until this evening. I was in total suspense about the salamander hat I gave you! And phew...rescued! I'm quite relieved. And yes--a fantastic read as always--this one more travelogue --yet in each anecdote always the merging of nature's beauty, science, and the human spirit too--with that oh-so-you voice I've come to love . Thank you!

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Claudia Harris's avatar

wonderful journalesque story that we might all come along on … thank you !

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Tom Titus's avatar

You’re welcome, Claudia! I’m thrilled to be home for a while. Happy summer flowering!

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linda yapp's avatar

Your writing took me on quite the journey this morning Tom. From where I sit, surrounded by towering peaks of the Canadian Rockies near one of the loveliest lakes I’ve ever seen, I find I have a lump in my throat. And remember reading long ago, "If your heart catches in your throat, ask a bird how he/she sings”. And that is where you’ve brought us today. To the place where one is needing to sing. Beautiful writing. Beautiful you. Thank you.

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Tom Titus's avatar

What a lovely chiming in, Linda! You make me want to sing, and I'm grateful to have you as a reader.

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Quinton Hallett's avatar

Wonderful post, Tom.

I, too am a fan of cicadas and experienced a hatch in D.C. one time. Your photo is superb!

We were at our grandson’s graduation from med school in Champaign, IL in early May, but alas, the ground hadn’t warmed enough for the double brood hatch. I kept listening for it anyway. Congratulations on your grad.

Here’s to the soothe and sunderings of nature this year.

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Tom Titus's avatar

Thank you, Quinton. I wish you could have been there for that double-brood hatch and could relate the experience to me. I was THAT CLOSE to renting a car for the day and driving south to where brood XIII and XIX were overlapping. It must have been an extraordinary auditory experience!

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Rebecca Hazen's avatar

Tom, I once met 17 year cicadas hatching in Wash D.C. area many, many years ago when I was visiting an uncle at his home. I appreciate the close-up picture and technical description because I did get to look at the critters hanging from the tree is his front yard but I didn't get a picture.

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Tom Titus's avatar

They are pretty magnificent, both sonically and visually. There was a periodical cicada hatch when we were in Kansas, but it’s been too long ago to remember clearly.

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