Cigale, Cicada

If we were in the South of France, there'd be a parade. The noisy spokes insect of provençal culture (thanks to the poet Frédéric Mistral), is off schedule and emerging en masse in the DC area.

Mistral illustrated his bookplates with a cicada and the legend, "Lou souleu mi fa canta," provençal for "The sun makes me sing." Louis Sicard, a ceramicist circa 1895, began designing cicadas as paperweights, starting a trend so popular that to this day the motif makes its way to everything from fabrics to pottery displayed proudly outside of French homes.

Here, we complain about the noise and the mess.

Shall we blame climate change, politics? The good news. They're high in protein, low in fat. I hear they taste a lot like shrimp.