DAY 48: Wonders

What's not to love about a little boy and his frog?

This is my cousin's youngest son. What a sweet, beautiful child! He absolutely captured my heart ---- AND this tiny frog.

He and the other kids at a family reunion - type meeting at the Sportsmans Club in St. Francis, KY were surprised --- and overjoyed ---- at all the frogs they found there! And their excitement was contagious!

I never believed the old tale that frogs cause warts. That saying was probably started by someone trying to scare people off from handling their special frogs.

I have seen many of these tiny frogs in my lifetime - but most when I was a little girl. So it was fun for me to see they are still around in some places.

The most rare frog sighting I ever had was of a "tree frog" - and wow! - how exciting that was for me! His little feet were like suction cups. I found him in the red bud tree in our front yard in Loretto after a rain. Happy day! Of course, I was so excited about it that word of my find quickly got around and it was promptly removed from my admiring possession - by the older kids.

My second best frog memory is going frog gigging when I was about 15 or so. I'd never been invited to frog gig before, so I was pumped. The technique involved stealthy maneuvers in the dark of night in unfamiliar terrain while carrying a dangerous weapon (the "gig" - a long stick with sharp prongs on the end). The goal was for someone to shine a flash light into the eyes of the frog and temporarily blind it, causing it to "freeze"/become immobile --  and then we gig-carriers could spear the discombobulated amphibian. I spoiled the whole frog hunt because I kept walking in front of the light because I was having a hard time walking in the dark. It's hard to say how many frog lives were spared that night. I never was invited to go frog gigging again after that.

With this background, I could relate to how excited all the children were when so many little frogs were hopping about everywhere that day we gathered at St. Francis. I was excited too!

 

 Above: Container of Frogs

Below: Little Joe shows his frog to my Mom