Pleasant and Delightful / Here There Be Dragons

It was a pleasant and delightful June morning, the day of the solstice. My husband and I decided to go swimming at Whipple Dam in the morning, pick up takeout along the way, and then head home.

We parked the car on the other side of the lake, then walked to the swimming area. We had a wonderful swim. The water wasn't quite as cool or as clean as last time, but it was very comfortable indeed.

It was surprisingly nice out, with reasonable temperatures and lovely breezes. There were quite a few children there - playing in the water, covering each other up with sand. (Note that the two swimming girls wear blue; the three sand-covering girls wear pink!) Overhead was a blue-blue sky. Families were having picnics. It was the way that you always dreamed summer should be.

We sat near the concession building that's been closed up for years, and we saw a five-lined skink or two. A mother and three girls came by, and one of them seemed alarmed and hollered "GECKO!" You'd have thought it was a dragon! Then a bee attacked them, and they turned around and left, screaming, just as quickly as they'd arrived!

So here's your warning. At Pennsylvania state parks, and no doubt in a whole bunch of other outdoor places, you may encounter WILD critters, some of them perhaps unknown to you. So let me introduce you to Terry Suave, the juvenile five-lined skink in the extras. See? Now you know him! Strangers no more!

I have two pictures for one of the most pleasant and delightful summer days I can remember. My first song is the Irish Rovers, with Pleasant and Delightful. The second one, for my five-lined skink, is Peter, Paul, and Mary, with Puff the Magic Dragon.