No doubt my photos were commonplace to an entomologist, but I had never seen such a performance. I came upon hundreds of cicadas on the lilac branches while I was pruning, then noticed them on the peonies and the hydrangea. But when I spotted one hatching on the boxwood, I was transfixed, put down the garden tools and began taking photographs.

After seventeen years, the cicadas are back in Westmoreland Country.