Summer, Cicadas, and Cupcakes

It is official! Summer is here! With the Memorial Day holiday upon us and my sighting of the first lightning bug of the season while grilling burgers on the deck, it IS Summer in Tennessee.

This spring and summer have had a bit of a (noisy) twist to it with the arrival of the 13 year Cicadas. For those of you not in a region where they are burrowing out of the ground in droves and filling your mornings and afternoons with their deafening hum, let me tell you a bit about what we are experiencing here in Nashville.

Cicada

Checking each other out

Cicada


Cicada Foreplay

These 1.5 inch long bugs make such noise that it comes in waves and sometimes resembles the sound of a loud electrical hum in the background of the high volume chirping. I have witnessed neighbors yelling "Shut Up", blindly into the trees. (it doesn't work, by the way) A friend tells me that the sound made when snapping one's fingers resembles the mating "click" that they make to attract each other. He tells me he tried it out and it worked. One actually turned around at the sound. Since these insects are far from shy and love to land all over your body when you are making no noise at all, I am not brave enough to try this experiment for myself. Even though they are harmless and will not bite or sting, I really do not want to have them swarming all over me more than they do already. Horrors! (just look at the creepy eyes on these things!)

One little known fact about cicadas is that they are a favorite treat for dogs, so Allie has been in bug heaven since they emerged this Spring. When we go out to walk during the day, she hunts feverishly for the perfect cicada, looking up into the trees and into the grass. She finds the perfect snack sized insect and moves on to the next one. Supposedly, they are full of protein, but a binge can cause trouble so we have to limit her snack time to no more than 3 per walk if at all possible. They quiet down at night, but in areas, they swarm the ground, similar to singles at a bar on a Saturday night. When we come across one of these cicada "speed dating" locations, Allie will practically pull my arm off trying to eat as many as possible in one gulp.They say protein is a Good thing??

In a couple of weeks, they should disappear into the ground and do whatever they do for the next 13 years before they come back again. I admit I will not miss the skeletal remains that litter the sidewalks and driveways, but the pups around here are sure going to miss their snacks!

A bounty of bugs on a night time walk.

Speaking of snacks... for Humans...A welcoming thing that summer brings is a taste for fresh, light desserts and treats. With all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that make summer so delicious, I see many cobblers, pies, and tarts in my future. But today, I am putting together cookies and cupcakes. The ease of packing up these goodies for a picnic or a road trip make them fit right into the "living easy" we all love this time of year. I have made some lemon custard to fill some citrus cupcakes, some monster cookies, and chocolate drop cookies to fill some orders and send to Jason's Memorial Day party on Monday. I also tried mixing up a whole wheat chocolate chunk cookie, and with some dibs and dabs of this and that, I have a crunchy, whole wheat cookie filled with chunks of chocolate and the faint hint of molasses. Pretty darned good, folks! But you can never go wrong with a Monster Cookie filled with peanut butter, oats, candy, and chocolate. Yummy!