One night this week, I heard a neighbor setting off fireworks, and so I walked out into the darkness and down the road to peer into the valley to catch a free show. I watched until the mosquitoes wore me down, and then headed home, not using my flashlight, because I hoped to catch a glimpse of the glowworm which Irene and I had discovered a couple of summers back. We’d been amazed to finally see one in reality after knowing them only from a lifetime of hearing that song, and I hoped to duplicate the sight, but even though we’d caught glimpses of it multiple occasions that summer, we didn’t see it again last summer, and haven’t seen it so far this summer.

As I stepped off the road and onto our driveway, flashlight still off, I caught a glimpse something circular to one side, something which I at first interpreted as having to be a metallic object reflecting the lights from my house. But as I studied it, I realized that this was no reflection. Something was actually glowing!

I could make out a bright, ragged circle a foot in diameter, with other further random bits and pieces of glowing material heading off a dozen feet or so into the woods. The night was so dark that I couldn’t make out exactly what was glowing, so I turned on my flashlight. I was surprised to see that all that was present was wood. (more…)