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By Beulah Rampage Fishbite
Palavering with Beulah

Remember skipping stones?  That was, and will always be, one of the magic things of being a kid.

So many rocks and stones are at the bottom of ponds and lakes having been shot once in practice, for they cannot be reloaded.

How many stones have been thrown in practice out across those green, sweet ponds?

You finally think the flatter and rounder the rock the better.  Then you figure out that does not matter, it is in the throwing.  Or is it?

Remember as a kid walking along always with an eye out for a good skipping stone?  I guess most are now at the bottom of the pond.

How many skips could you get?  That was a challenge.

I was forever trying to get more than two or three.  It was hard to count them, seems the final couple of skips happen so fast.

I finally got seven and felt pretty good about it, but, I was alone so I guess it did not even count since I had no witness.

Oh, and the dreaded moment a perfect rock does not even skip because you threw it wrong.

Every adult that ever skipped rocks as a kid should teach today’s kids the art of it, the magic.  And after an hour of rock hunting, tossing and counting bounces, sit in the sunshine on the bank of the water.

Sit there and teach that kid to make a sound blast with a piece of wide grass between your thumbs. Not much of a tune but what a big blast of sound it made.  How many blades of grass went to those kinds of whistles?

And after you have blasted away for some time and your fingers are green, search for those wonderful hidden four-leaf clovers.  Maybe if enough are found the rock skipping will get better. They bring luck you know.

When you have exhausted the search, just lay back on the grass that is left and gaze at the sky.  Help that kid find an elephant, a witch, an umbrella or a truck all in the clouds.  I saw a giant rabbit once when I was over at Gopher Gulch.  Looked like it was ready to run, but it just floated away.