A Solitary Grebe Sets Sail Upon Green Waters

Several of our favorite state park swimming areas will be closing soon, so my husband and I are on a quest to swim at as many of them as we can before that happens. On this day, we decided to go for a late-day swim at Greenwood Furnace, and grab a pair of hoagies at Couch's on our way home.

We arrived at the swimming area to find we were the only ones there. Well, almost. . . .  A lone pied-billed grebe sailed upon the green reflections on the waters. And a huge frog (see the extras) practiced its ballet maneuvers. Doesn't everybody want to do some "lifts upon the lake," a la Dirty Dancing, in these last bittersweet days, as summer nears its end?

The water was quite chilly, which is to say that it is FINALLY exactly the way I like it! Greenwood Furnace is famous for its bone-chilling coldness, but I just didn't think it was as cold this year as it is some years. (Maybe it was the record-breaking heat and drought we had.)

But this time, it was PERFECT. It was so cold, I caught my breath. And as I swam, it refreshed me, and took away all my cares. Sometimes you get JUST what you needed. And this was one of those times.

My husband, a bird lover, asked about the lone grebe. (Also, we said grebe to each other a bunch of times, because it's such a great word!) Was it somehow left behind? Why was it all by itself? Should we be worried?

But when I got home, I looked it up online, and I laughed to see this sentence: "The species range from conspicuous and gregarious to solitary and skulking." I don't know about skulking, but it sure had "solitary" down pat!  :-)

So here is a soundtrack tune for a single, solitary grebe: Eric Carmen, with All By Myself.