It's been a rough couple of days... but tonight I went for a short walk in the dark, and it was a beautiful night. There was practically no wind, almost perfectly calm. You could smell the rain in the air, and feel the potential of a storm right around the corner.
Sitting back at home now, with windows open and a slight breeze from the fan, I can hear the crickets, and they sound awesome. We don't live directly in the woods, but there's plenty of trees and nature around. I've not noticed crickets here before, at least not that I can remember, but tonight they've been singing for hours. They sound like the shakers and rattles you'd hear accompanying native American drums - a constant "shake shake shake shake shake" sound. Even neater is that though they're mostly in sync, every now and then you can hear the patterns overlap as one rhythm overtakes another, creating temporary off beats that almost sound planned.
Definitely a beautiful night...