Walking from work to my car this evening, black spots floated in front of my eyes. I’d been ill the last couple of days and was still kind of wobbly, so I figured I’d better get to my car and sit down for a while. Then I realized that these were actual physical black spots, and they were flying, not floating.

It has been so long since it was last warm enough for life of that kind to exist out of doors that it took me well over a minute to recognize the gentle swarm upon swarm of lake bugs meandering through the spring air. They looked as confused as I felt.