I’ve had this a long time. I cut it out of the paper when it was first published about a hundred years ago, and have been carrying it around with me ever since.
When I laugh at this, I am laughing with affection at myself and my tendency to… well, to get millennial. But it doesn’t always have to be about the hurtling 537-million-year-old starlight, you know? Fireflies are good too.
Have a lovely Sunday.
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That’s a really good one. Yep, fireflies are good too.
I like this. Thanks for sharing. Fireflies are good. And bats, too.
When I first read this strip, I got to the last line about the bat and just fell over sideways laughing. That’s how it goes sometimes, no? The bat eats the firefly and we find out that we’re not the center of the universe after all.
When I worked on fire lookouts, I often FELT like the center of the universe. There I was, on a peak with weather, dirt roads, fire traffic on the radio seeming to swirl around ME ME ME. And there was that vastness like those stars in this cartoon strip. The star that turns out to be a firefly that gets swallowed made me laugh aloud, too. And now my Sundays feel part of a universe both small and vast at the same time. (see my column this week in the newspaper at http://www.flaglive.com under COLUMNS. Scroll down to Letter from Home)
OMG, JEAN! You play the cello?! Wow. Extra sexy points. I read your column and smiled and wished I will run into someone playing live music on my next big hike. But a cello high up on a mountain sounds so unreal… magic.
As for not seeing a lot of musicians, particularly cellist, carrying their instruments on trains and buses… I suspect many are embracing electronic string instruments—at least as practice buddies. Not nearly as romantic and resonant, but easy to haul around.
Actually, Karina, if I walk about the neighborhood at gradeschool-letting-out time, I usually see a kid or two with books under one arm and a violin case at the end of the other arm, small curved shape bumping as short legs steer home. And Flagstaff does seem full of boys with guitars headed here and there on the weekend.
🙂 I’m glad you see them, too. I do get to witness people carrying their preciouses on the bus to UBC. And I have a class that is right by the faculty of music, so I see them there, too. It’s reassuring to know musicians are as alive as ever. The planet needs more music. From the valleys to the mountains. I’d say rivers and oceans, too, but that may be pushing it.
Jean, I loved your column. Thank you so much for sharing it. It’s just what I needed. I am pretty sure today that I am not the center of the universe (grin), but kinda sorta we all are, aren’t we, in those small, precious moments? The unexpected daily wonders that other people give to us just by being themselves with the cello and the flute… thanks for that.