August is…

August is:
golden and burnt
royal and vibrant
strong and arrogant
As a summer girl, I love the month of August. It’s summer’s last blast, those few winding down weeks before another school year, before the approach of a cooler fall breeze. It is also my birthday month which I don’t get quite as excited about anymore, insert smile, but I like being a member of the sun-sign, I adore the green of the peridot stone, and I find that most attributes attributed to Leo to be pretty much correct.
“Peridot is said to host magical powers and healing properties to protect against nightmares and to bring the wearer power, influence, and a wonderful year.  As peridot is a gemstone that forms deep inside the earth and is brought to the surface by volcanoes, in Hawaii, peridot symbolizes the tears of Pele, the goddess of fire and volcanoes.” How appropriate that the hottest month be attributed to the goddess of fire and volcanoes.
Leo:
Element: Fire Ruler: The Sun Season: Summer
5^th Sign of the Zodiac Metal: Gold Color: Orange, Gold
Anatomy: The heart
Keywords: magnanimous, generous, hospitable, caring, warm, authoritative, active, open
–CafeAstrology.com
From the lips of the poet, a beautiful summation:

		White heat.
		A green river.
		A bridge,
		scorched yellow palms
		from the summer-sleeping house
		drowsing through August.
		Days I have held,
		days I have lost,
		days that outgrow, like daughters,
		my harbouring arms.

• Derek Walcott

A few days ago at my desk in City Hall, we received an alert that a large pet boa constrictor had escaped. It had been lounging peacefully inside its cage and apparently saw an opportunity to move the lid and it just slithered out the window. Normally, I might add this story to one of my more comic posts, but I started thinking about all the proud hunters posing on the Internet with these magnificent dead animals, and I realized that mankind has been intruding for years into the jungles and wilderness to disturb the habitat of wildlife by capturing, killing, and infringing upon their territory. At some point, someone went wherever this snake is from and captured its ancestors and sent it here, a place where it should not be.
Leo the Lion symbolizes strength, courage, royalty, all the beauty inherent within the nature of lions. Recently the eyes and conscience of the world have turned more visibly to the horrific practice of big game hunting. Cecil the Lion garnered the spotlight and his senseless death will perhaps change attitudes and practices of certain countries that allow People With Too Much Money to go in and kill animals that are becoming endangered. We can certainly hope that this deplorable practice will come to an end, we can hope that there are still more good people in the world than bad, people who will stand up and do the right thing, people that will overcome politics and greed and will hopefully step up to make the world a better place. A world that can still have big cats, rhinos, elephants, water buffalo, etc. A world that deserves the beauty of a blazing sun, the verdant greenery of a peridot stone, and the beautiful, vibrant mystique of the regal lion.