Unexpected Intersections

Happy Friday everyone! I've been nattering on about the frogs and tadpoles and salamanders quite a bit, but they are not the only younglings we've seen this spring. A couple of weeks ago, my husband was lucky enough to get a brief glimpse of a Mama Duck leading her ducklings across the grass, but they had disappeared into the hedge by the time he tried to point them out to me. Ever since then I've been eagerly looking for them, hoping to catch them on another field trip.  Earlier this week, we were walking in a light rain when we saw a lone duck on a log in the moat. "Something looks odd about how she's standing," I said to my husband. "Look at how her wings are positioned." That's when we realized - this was Mama Duck, sheltering her ducklings from the rain! We were excited to see them, even if we couldn't see them, since Mama was such a good umbrella. Yesterday, it was overcast but not raining, and Mama Duck had her ducklings out for a swi...

Thanks to everyone for the lovely comments on my Poetry Friday post last week! I’m glad you enjoyed hearing about springtime at the pond.  The tadpoles are visibly bigger than last week, and this week we learned that they’re not the only younglings in the pond. One day as we approached, we heard more croaking than we've ever heard before. As we neared the pond, we found out why. Two young salamanders and an adult were actively swimming in the deep center of the pond. One of the adult frogs was sitting in the reeds near the center of the pond croaking frequently, and more tadpoles than we had ever seen together were clustered in the shallow water near the edge of the pond.  It's fascinating getting these glimpses into the world of this pond. I'll continue to share updates from time to time, especially when we see our first pollywogs. Even though yesterday was a holiday here, it’s been a busy week for me. When I get busy, meditation and poetry help me feel anchored in the p...

Last month, in honor of National Poetry Month, my friend Bridget Magee over at Wee Words for Wee Ones wrote a poem a day using photos as her inspiration. Now Bridget has inspired me to use a photo as the inspiration for my poem today.  (that's a lot of inspiration :-) We've been waiting all spring for the frogs to emerge from hibernation at the pond, and a little over a week ago, I heard this fellow. It took me a while to find him though. Can you find him too? I believe this is a pond frog, a species that is common here in Switzerland. Inspired by the frog and a new poetic form I discovered in last week's poetry Friday, my poem this week is a  tricube , a mathematical poetic form introduced by Phillip Larrea. The rules are simple: Each line contains three syllables.   Each stanza contains three lines. Each poem contains three stanzas. The frogs haven't wasted any time since emerging from hibernation. Those tiny black dots with tails in the next photo are tadpoles! ...