B.G. Contemplates the Green Shimmer of August

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, or so says the Bard, and he would be right. I don't know how things are going where you are, but it's been hot and sticky in central PA for a while, and I've about had my fill. I woke up and saw the yellow sun through my window on Monday morning, and just the very sight of it felt too hot for me.

For the past week, we have had temperatures in the high 80s F into the 90s, with humidity up to almost 100 percent on some mornings. I don't know what you do or think about to cool off when it's like that. But what *I* do when it's like that is I head for cold water!

So it was that my husband and I ended up at Greenwood Furnace for our first swim there in a while. The water was cool but not bone-chillingly cold, as it sometimes is. It was pretty clean and the place was not overly crowded.

I don't know if you know this, but here is something I have learned. The state parks that have swimming areas are magnets for young moms and their little ones. And so we got to watch several groups of little ones playing in the water.

This little gal - let's just call her B.G., for Baby Girl - had a green bucket she was playing with, and then she walked over and tipped over a fold-up chair into the surf, quite by accident. Her mom and sister and brother were all hanging out nearby.

I watched as Baby Girl walked into the water and seemed to contemplate the green shimmer on the water. You know, the green shimmer that is August. Did you do what you wanted in summer time? If not, do it now, says the shimmer. For shimmers are soon gone!

Last week, one day when we went swimming, my husband and I were adopted by a marvelous butterfly. It was an American lady, and it stayed with us the entire time we hung out by that wild swimming hole.

Well, I'm happy to report that we were issued one guardian butterfly on this day, as well, and you may see it in the extras. It is a red-spotted purple, Limenitis arthemis, and it has gorgeous blue and red tones. I thought its wings looked like black velvet. In the photo, it seems like it's getting ready to fly!

Now, we were met with some very sad news in the late afternoon when we returned home. I got on the Internet (honestly, some days you might need to avoid it if you want to stay happy) and discovered the sad news that Olivia Newton-John had passed, after a long battle with breast cancer.

I have watched the tributes ring in from around the world, saying what a wonderful and kind and gracious and lovely lady she was. And I am not at all surprised, for I have been following her since the early 70s, and she seems like the real deal: a genuine nice girl.

She really made it big in Grease by being the good girl who transforms into a sexy vamp and wins the bad boy. It was a theme that gave hope to all of us good girls with a penchant for bad boys; and of course, having John Travolta in it didn't hurt at all, is all I'm sayin'! (I know it's silly but I always sort of wished they'd have ended up together! If you want to cry big fat tears, go read the tribute he wrote for her.)

It is my custom to include one or more soundtrack songs for my blips, and so one of them at least shall be Olivia. For my black velvet butterfly, let's let our song be Alannah Myles, with Black Velvet, which is a personal favorite. My Olivia song is a duet with Andy Gibb, Rest Your Love on Me. Oh, wait, let's have ONE MORE Olivia, another duet, this one with John Denver, Fly Away. Go easy, sweet lady; rest in power; thank you for the music.