Finding Delight in a Jar of Fireflies and Losing It

Barreling through cornfields with a mason jar, in pursuit fireflies and sheer delight, seems the kind of abandon only mildly acceptable during a boom time. People are wary about any kind of barreling during a recession. And a stranger in a cornfield? Sounds like a terrorist to me. Certainly the act of writing glowing messages with their butts (the fireflies', not the terrorists') would be out of the question. Does this mean we are relegated to toiling away at lesser projects that yield nary a glowing end? No. The clouds may be rolling-in, in more ways than one, but we can still have a late summer night delight!

'Lartigue' by Alex Lubomirski for Vogue Germany 2009 [Link]

To make your very own faux fabulous fireflies in a jar, you will need:

• Beverage jar, spout removed
• String of lights
• Lovely outfit

Notice a beverage jar (as opposed to a mason jar) provides a (1.) spout hole to thread the lights/fireflies through so you don't need to do any drilling. This hole is big enough for the lights to get in but probably not the plug part. I am ok with this. The hole will be in the back when you are finished anyway so no one will see what is or is not coming out of it. A mason jar could be used if little fingers and toes are not peeing their pants to help with the drilling that would be required.

On the subject of drilling, if you are bringing the drill out anyway, holes in the lid would be an especially authentic touch and fire smart, too.

(2.) Affix part of the light string on the inside of the jar to the inside of the lid as to invoke the fireflies flight. Prudence says to use electrical tape for affixing anything electrical. I used a bit of Quake Hold, hello, it is the WD-40 of the sticky world.

(3.) Plug it in to a timer if you would like it to manage itself.

Vintage Lemonade Jar [Link]

This is the beverage jar I used. It was such a down-to-earth, fun-loving lemonade jar, other lemons were jockeying for position to get in even at the time of this picture. Unfortunately there are no more pictures. Between delighting in my new creation and taking a picture, it broke. I broke it. Involuntarily.

When pulled-in for questioning, Quake Hold, which quaked more than held under pressure, used it's packaging as evidence, reiterating that it's purpose is to prevent things from falling when used, not to fix things once they have fallen. Superglue declined to comment. Little fingers and toes peed their pants once more to help solve the case but authorities interceded. Case closed. Well, almost.

Note this twist of lemon: In an effort to find a picture to post for this post, I googled "fireflies in a beverage jar" and without having to mouse until carpal tunnel, my exact jar popped-up. I clicked feverishly at the links on the shopping website that led me to believe the jar could be purchased at Chasing-Fireflies.com. How uncanny! For $53. How expensive! I paid only $5. Still full of anticipation, I chased the Chasing-Fireflies link only to find a message, in place of where purchase information for the jar should be, saying it was no longer available and that they would love to help me find something just as special. I am sure they would.

Strangely, losing my jar of fireflies has coincided with a complete loss of my marbles. Guess you could say my fireflies are now out of the jar.