William Bradford, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony, wrote the first description of the periodical cicadas; he was not amused by these 'flies' that 'deafen the hearers.'
What a charming & fun piece! The combination of subjects is interesting & conversational, much as when one tells a story but a random thought changes the direction and eventually drifts back.
Those partying cicadas, William Bradford & the Pilgrims & your memories of beautiful Leiden intertwined to make a very pleasant read. I love your storytelling style & you should use your creative license as you wish to share your thoughts, experiences & memories. Please do!
Seems NY is one of the areas that will get all those cicadas. Not looking forward to that. Can remember my cat bringing them to me as presents. Seems the Northeast has many connections to the Netherlands from the Pilgrims to New Amsterdam. Enjoyed reading the connections between cicadas and Bradford. Thanks for another interesting piece.
400 words? 400 words? I can barely muster my internal AV voice on that! You might as well just cut it down to twitter. I like every story you tell and hope to hear and read lots of them. Thanks, Alex.
Really love the storytelling in this. I'd like to know more about Leiden and the Pilgrims, but please write about whatever you feel like. Leiden is already on my list of places to visit. Regarding the 400-word limit. It might be good to stick to that - sometimes ... but if a story flows it would be a pity to break it off mid-flow. Thanks for the enjoyable read on the train home.
You will love Leiden; it is full of history. Don't miss the renovated 'Lakenhal' museum, with some of the very first Rembrandts (I believe even 'the' very first is there now as well)
Great story and well told (as usual)! I wonder how the sound level compares to the spring peepers and other frogs in an Ontario marsh? At their peak, the air seems to throb with the sound, but their season of song is short. (Maybe I should search for a decibel app for my phone.)
How wonderful! I love the humorous and wistful mix of tone in this piece. I am the mom of a 17 year old boy... and he is descended from William Bradford (among others from Leiden) on his dad's side...
Wow, that's interesting. I remember reading he had a son of three (named John, I believe) That he left behind in the Netherlands with family, probably because of ill health (the things people did those times...). Then his first wife fell or jumped overboard once they arrived in America, but he soon remarried. I suppose your son probably traces back to this second marriage. Bradford had quite a life...
I am very much interested in the topic and I love the way you write. Also I would like to know more about these circadas and what we should expect from them.
Thank you, happy to hear that you like it. I wrote about cicadas a couple of weeks ago. It took me some time to get to them since I was distracted by all kinds of other little histories, but at the end of this piece, you find more about them: https://theplanet.substack.com/p/the-cicadas-last-song
What a charming & fun piece! The combination of subjects is interesting & conversational, much as when one tells a story but a random thought changes the direction and eventually drifts back.
Those partying cicadas, William Bradford & the Pilgrims & your memories of beautiful Leiden intertwined to make a very pleasant read. I love your storytelling style & you should use your creative license as you wish to share your thoughts, experiences & memories. Please do!
Thank you, these pieces are the most fun to write. It is always hard to stop.
🙏
Seems NY is one of the areas that will get all those cicadas. Not looking forward to that. Can remember my cat bringing them to me as presents. Seems the Northeast has many connections to the Netherlands from the Pilgrims to New Amsterdam. Enjoyed reading the connections between cicadas and Bradford. Thanks for another interesting piece.
400 words? 400 words? I can barely muster my internal AV voice on that! You might as well just cut it down to twitter. I like every story you tell and hope to hear and read lots of them. Thanks, Alex.
Really love the storytelling in this. I'd like to know more about Leiden and the Pilgrims, but please write about whatever you feel like. Leiden is already on my list of places to visit. Regarding the 400-word limit. It might be good to stick to that - sometimes ... but if a story flows it would be a pity to break it off mid-flow. Thanks for the enjoyable read on the train home.
You will love Leiden; it is full of history. Don't miss the renovated 'Lakenhal' museum, with some of the very first Rembrandts (I believe even 'the' very first is there now as well)
Thank you for the tip. Just put that on my list.
Great story and well told (as usual)! I wonder how the sound level compares to the spring peepers and other frogs in an Ontario marsh? At their peak, the air seems to throb with the sound, but their season of song is short. (Maybe I should search for a decibel app for my phone.)
I have no idea, but 100 Decibel deafening, literally if you stay too long
How wonderful! I love the humorous and wistful mix of tone in this piece. I am the mom of a 17 year old boy... and he is descended from William Bradford (among others from Leiden) on his dad's side...
Wow, that's interesting. I remember reading he had a son of three (named John, I believe) That he left behind in the Netherlands with family, probably because of ill health (the things people did those times...). Then his first wife fell or jumped overboard once they arrived in America, but he soon remarried. I suppose your son probably traces back to this second marriage. Bradford had quite a life...
I am very much interested in the topic and I love the way you write. Also I would like to know more about these circadas and what we should expect from them.
Thank you, happy to hear that you like it. I wrote about cicadas a couple of weeks ago. It took me some time to get to them since I was distracted by all kinds of other little histories, but at the end of this piece, you find more about them: https://theplanet.substack.com/p/the-cicadas-last-song