Back home

I'm back at home and we have returned to a monsoon in full swing.During our absence, the jungle has been creeping back and seems barely kept at bay.

With the onset of the monsoon, missing are bird sounds. There is not even the sound of a crow. The birds chirp only if there is a sufficiently long gap between rains. Today, I can hear no bird calls. The only sounds are of the cicada/cricket chorus, rising in rhythmic bursts. As for the nights, they are filled with sounds of competing choirs. Frogs (toads too I'm sure) sing out loud, in various pitches from a full baritone to a high soprano chirp, interspersed with the droning of the cricket.  Not silent nights at all!  Well, we are half way across the world--longitudinally--and many miles south--latitudinally--from where we were just last week.  I am glad to be back home, but there is a feeling of nostalgia for the lovely holiday and the scenery left behind.