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Yesterday I started my park regimen of laps and climbing up and down the toboggan hill. I went home beside some vacant lots and had to walk in the road because the luxuriant growth of wildflowers has almost overgrown the sidewalk. Wild grapevines climb over the fences and bees are enjoying this wild oasis.

My grandchildren made this for my counterpart “ the other granny”. Even though they are grown up teenagers now, they still pick the floral themes. Lovely, isn’t it?

As I walked home from her birthday party through the really dark park, my unease was lightened by something I hadn’t seen for a long time – fireflies.

Oh course you can’t take a picture of fireflies but I ask you to imagine the park quite dark as there are only a few lights on paths I don’t use. Tall trees rise up and there is the faint sound of running water. I had seen a few pin-prick lights in the little city gardens on my way to the park short cut. I dismissed the idea of fireflies in this time of forest smoke and city humidity. In the park there was no mistaking their friendly flashes. “ It’s all right,” they seemed to say. “ we’re out here in the night and you’ll be fine.” Before long I was at the little bridge and the path that leads back to the boring, well-lit street.

How wonderful that in spite of our blundering the natural world is all around us.