“There never was any more inception than there is now,
Nor any more youth or age than there is now,
And will never be any more perfection than there is now,
Nor any more heaven or hell than there is now.” Walt Whitman Song of Myself
Many of the frogs and salamanders in the pond have died. Their glowing white bodies float in the dark water, belly up.
I think it’s because the water was so shallow when the pond froze. I read sometimes the decaying plants in a pond give off a toxic gas and when a pond is frozen the gasses can’t escape and it kills the hibernating animals who live there.
So last week, when I took those pictures of the frog and salamanders on the edge of the water, they were most likely there because they were trying to get some air from the small space between the water and land that wasn’t frozen.
It makes me sad to think I might have been able to help them. That if I broke the ice they might have survived. Or some of them anyway.
I remind myself that this is a natural process. The way of nature.
But I’m also glad that I was paying attention. Next time I’ll understand what is happening and I’ll know what to do.
Gosh Maria, it would kill me too but you can’t know everything.The extent of your compassion for the Natural World is the far bigger picture. As a child, I accidentally squashed a toad that was under a slate in a walkway. It still makes me sick, over a half century later, and I wonder why it had to happen. I’ve never figured it out; all we can do is to the best of our knowledge; and like ripples in a pond, good effects spread beyond our ken. Keep doing what you’re doing, keep loving what you’re loving, and when I find a good source for crystal balls that specialize in things like this, I’ll send you their address.
I do know that I can’t know everything, Diane, but like you, I still feel bad about it. Some things just stick. But I have learned something and can do something next time if it happens again. That’s the good part. :)