The big little feature I got today, from no less than my eleven-year old niece, is news of the emergence of the seventeen-year cicadas. From USA Today:

Emerging from the ground every 17 years, these red-eyed root suckers will be seen this year when the soil temperature reaches 64 degrees, probably in May or June.

There are 12 broods of 17-year cicadas, each identified by Roman numerals. There also are 13-year cicadas, and each brood has its own timetable and geographic range, mostly east of the Mississippi. They’re called periodic cicadas, to distinguish them from the kind that show up every summer.

What makes Brood X, or 10, so memorable is that it’s huge, by far the largest. The creatures, which are about 1½ inches long (but seem larger in memory), will fill tree branches from New York to north Georgia and as far west as Illinois, and commence a mating call that is the stuff of nightmares.

Reading through the article gives me a few shudders. I have yet to see this big a swarm of insects in my life; whether in the Philippines or here.

Something else gives me pause: maybe Jennifer Garner’s character in 13 going on 30 is a cicada too.