WHERE HAVE ALL THE BLUES GONE?

In my youthful days, I always thought that one of the benefits of a Spring rainstorm was the resulting creation of puddles. Some puddles were dramatic--like the large pond that arose in the nearby prairie, nourishing ancient cottonwoods and tiny tadpoles.

But wait, there's more! I was also fascinated with the small puddles inhabiting barren spots of clay where grass and weeds dared not to tread. These puddles became oases for countless butterflies, bees and wasps who stopped to sip the water and its nutrients from the soil. Surely, all creatures need water.

Typically, the most predominant visitor at a puddle was a very small butterfly about the size of an adult thumb nail and generally known as the common blue. Sometimes they were bright blue, other times grayish blue, depending on the season. The blues would line up like soldiers at the edge of a puddle, perhaps a dozen or more. They made a muddy broom puddle into a blue jewel and sparkled the air when they flew away.

Fast forward, it has been many decades since I have seen a common blue at a puddle or anywhere else. I have seen and continue to see puddles, but all are blueless. The blues no longer are common, they have disappeared.

Where have all the blues gone? Why? One folk saying states that no one misses the water until the well goes dry. Like many things in our culture and environment that have disappeared, we should miss the blues. The blues are gone today, what about the water tomorrow?


© 2019 Daniel J. Kucera