The ToadPond

It was supposed to be a fishpond, a water garden, but it's really a toadpond for the first couple of months of spring. No matter--we love toads around here, and we have more every year thanks to the breeding place we've made for them.

I can always tell it's spring when Phoebe goes around wearing toad jewelry--rings and bracelets of horny male American toads, amplexing her for all they're worth. Or would that be horny American male toads, or male horny American toads? I do not know.                                                 

I love redheads. You got a pretty mouth on you. Mmmf!  You look very very pretty tonight. Erp!

Urgg. This guy is such a TOAD.
Phoebe spends many hours playing with the toads, trilling to start them singing, staring into the depths of the pond, tickling the shubunkins and listening to the trickling fountain. I spent hours like that as a kid, too, but I never had a water garden, or living amphibian jewelry. We always want more for our kids than we had ourselves.

I am grateful to have a daughter, red-headed, limber elf, who finds the same things funny and beautiful as do I. It is hard to resist telling her absolutely everything, because she feels like my best friend.