Some words old people use: whats-his-name, who-zy-whatsit, wha-cha-ma-callit, whatsit, wha-cha-ma-jigger. The reason they sound so out of date and fusty is because you only ever heard your grandmother say them. They have their uses, these funny-sounding words.

On the upside, they serve as fillers in conversation when the apt word or phrase, while right on the tip of the speaker’s tongue, somehow eludes her.

Any of these words can stand in for any person, place or thing whatsoever, thus keeping the conversation flowing.

On the downside, they can turn a conversation between old friends or family into a guessing game.

“Oh, you know, whats-it!”

“Do you mean cousin Sparky?”

“No, not Sparky, whats-her-name.”

“She’s talking about Mrs. Eggnom, aren’t you, Granny?”

“Yes, old Mrs. Eggnom. The Eggnom family came here way back in aught-six, Mrs. Eggnom raised chickens, she’d take an egg in her hand to the tavern, trade it for a glass of whiskey.”

“What does aught-six mean?’ “Oh, you know, whats-it!”

Speaking of old-timey words, did anyone of my generation or of any other generation ever use the word groovy? I never heard anyone say something was groovy except on television. Far-out, yes, but not groovy, except facetiously.

Well, there was Austin Powers’ “Groovy, baby!” of course. And we can’t forget Simon and Garfunkel’s “Feelin’ groovy.” We might want to, but the soundtrack at the supermarket will refresh our memory and the song will once again embed itself in our brain. Even when we can’t remember anything else.

When senior moments turn into years …

A couple of weeks ago in this column I mentioned seeing Planet Venus in the predawn sky. “I wake up early in the morning, around 5 o’clock, and go to the window,” I wrote. “Because it’s summer the eastern sky is growing brighter. Only one star is still visible. It’s Venus, just shining away.”

This morning — noticing, by the way, that the 5 o’clock sky is less bright than it was at the beginning of August — I was surprised to see not one bright planet, but two in the eastern sky. It’s the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter!

Venus and Jupiter are closest mid-month, as the two planets rise in the Northeast around 3 a.m. They’re visible with the naked eye, and easily identifiable, as just before sun up they’ll be the only heavenly bodies visible in the east. They’ll track eastward, eventually disappearing as the sun rises.

If you didn’t see the close conjunction on Aug. 12, you can still see Venus and Jupiter together throughout the rest of the month.

The Perseid meteor showers are also best seen with the naked eye in the predawn sky mid-month. Adirondack stargazers are fortunate because it is easy here to avoid bright city lights; but while the peak Perseid shower viewing time was Aug. 13, the glare from a gibbous moon — full Aug. 9 — interfered with viewing. As the moon wanes, meteors will still be visible through the 23rd of the month.

I’ve said it before: Once August hits, the rest of the summer goes fast, like ketchup out of a bottle at a barbecue. Just when you are getting used to warm temperatures and birdsong and green leaves, just when snow and sleet fade in your memory like something out of the distant past — the last ice age, say — the days of August rush by, falling all over each other in their haste to get summer done with, and, before you know it, all anyone is talking about is back to school and winterizing the car. This is the time I want to put the brakes on hard and hold onto what is left of the season.

After Labor Day the children go back to school, swimming pools close and traffic dwindles. Your chances of walking across state Route 73 — Main Street — in Keene Valley are pretty good, at any time of day. When I complained to my friend Nancy that summer’s end makes me sad she looked surprised, and said “This is the best part of summer!”

September will be a time of looking ahead and preparing. How many stove cords do you have? Where will you be for Thanksgiving? Wouldn’t this be nice for Aunt Julie for Christmas? What are you going to be for Halloween? But I don’t want to think about any of that now.

Have a good week!

(Martha Allen, of Keene Valley, has been writing for the News since 1996.)