Every once in a while during our decade-plus sojourn in the Upper Midwest, I’d wonder where all the fireflies were. Because it always seemed that I rarely saw them. I don’t know if that’s peculiar to the Twin Cities area, or Minnesota, or the Upper Midwest more generally, but it just seemed like there were very few fireflies (or, as we called them as kids, lightning bugs). I’d assume that I was imagining that phenomenon (or lack of one, I suppose), except that on moving back to Pennsylvania I was struck once again by how we can watch the fireflies dance every summer evening. They’re everywhere and always something of a mystery and...

Make that “Pictures of the Week”! Whatever claims Memorial Day may have to marking the beginning of summer, to me it doesn’t really seem to get going until the first week of July. So much of what is quintessentially summer – from picnics and fireworks to sporting competitions – seems to take place this week. So here are five pics that hardly tell the full tale of this first full week of summer — I mean, no European Cup, Olympic Trials, or Wimbledon! — but nevertheless certainly hint at all that’s been going on. I hope you are having a grand summer! July 3, 2012. Fireworks light up the sky...