Cicadas

It’s brood X! Cicadas are everywhere!

It’s hot and humid and teaming with insects here. Yet another reason why I have no interest in plein air painting. But I have to say, there is some actual appeal to the sound they make when I can get to a place where their numbers are small enough and the acoustics are good enough. It’s a phenomenon of nature that happens every 17 years here.

The building where my studio is located has a courtyard with a small garden. I take pretty regular breaks to rest my eyes and reset my brain, and I often to out to the courtyard for a breath. Since the cicadas have arrived, their song has been echoing throughout the courtyard in just the right way. Their numbers at the studio are still low enough to make it out. As their numbers increase, the sound just turns into a hum.

When I lived in Tokyo, the cicadas there (called “semi”) were annual and a little larger, and the sound they make there is a little different from what I’m hearing here, but still recognizable. In the courtyard, the sound was as close to “semi” as I’ve heard yet.

So, until the next “wave” of cicadas somes later this month, my studio’s courtyard has the sounds of Tokyo right here in Princeton! Once their numbers get too high though it will probably just sound like a retro sci-fi sound effect.