Ribbit...Rrrribbit..rrrr....

Call me a nerd, but I get really excited over stuff a lot of people might just shrug their shoulders at. I've been known to do a happy dance when I see a Bluejay at my bird feeder. Or clap my hands when I see a beautiful butterfly. I still gasp at rainbows and have been known to get eye level with a giant slug to try to get a picture of its face. I just think nature is amazing and I hope I never outgrow the wonder it took me a lifetime to grow into.

So yesterday when I went out to turn on the sprinkler, I had to blink twice and then move closer... and then even closer to make sure my eyes weren't playing tricks on me. And then I had to make sure what I was seeing wasn't actually a frog that had somehow got into some paint or...something. I stood in awe when I realized that what I saw was actually what it really was: a white frog (or toad--I don't know the difference).  Of course, my first instinct was to run inside as fast as possible and get my camera. Which I did and used to capture, for immortality, the amphibian in its natural habitat (said with an Australian accent).  Pictures which I then sent to people whom I hoped would appreciate this anomaly as much as I did, or who would at least hopefully show the pictures to some little boys who might get excited. 

My second instinct was to capture the creature and put it in a jar. After much conversation with myself, I decided not to do it. Somewhere in the conversation I reminded myself about the pale, bald headed, sensitive young man in the movie Powder. Then I thought about The Elephant Man. Yes, this frog, this

 little creature, hanging out on a damp Ginger leaf had somehow become the protagonist in a drama unfolding on a natural stage. And I just couldn't do that to him. I couldn't lock him up. I had to let him "run free." I had to let him live.

I know, know. Maybe I'm a hippie. Maybe I'm a nerd or a romantic with a flair for the dramatic. I can live with that. And there is at least one little frog out there showing his true colors in a world full of plain old brown and green frogs. Hop on little guy. Be yourself. Life's too short to be anything else.