In Which I Love Up and Even Fondle a Newt

The Monday Labor Day holiday arrived, sunny and beautiful, with blue skies and much warmer temperatures. So my husband and I decided to go swimming at Whipple Dam. It was not a unique or novel idea, as we found out. There was some kind of student event going on there, and the park was really hopping with visitors.

So we had our swim, and then we sought out a lesser populated part of the park. We ended up on the hill overlooking the lake. There we set up our chairs and got out our cold drinks and our books, and settled in to relax for the remainder of the afternoon.

It was also, surprisingly, a hotbed of critter activity! On our way past the lake, my husband and I had encountered a huge, green, fast-moving caterpillar that I later identified - when I looked it up at home, after photographing it - to be a luna moth caterpillar! Later on, a large green bug sat on my husband's foot - it turned out it was a variety of katydid.

Anyhow, I was sitting in my chair on this green hill that you see in the background of this shot, when my husband pointed excitedly to something on the ground: NEWT! And there it was, in all its orange glory, a perfectly formed and beautiful little newt. Orange, with orange spots and a very perky disposition.

It is generally my policy not to handle the critters, but in this case, I just couldn't resist picking it up so that I could show you, and get a decent photo or two. The newt was very wiggly and full of beans. It marched right across my hand and I had to grab it to keep it from falling off. It had absolutely NO fear. (Added later: my husband noted that the newt was "frisky on the ground, but calm in the palm.")

I had worn one of my frog t-shirts to the park in hopes of attracting amphibians on this day. (Apparently, it worked.) For the lake is a hotbed of amphibian and dragonfly and damselfly activity. I've even spotted the occasional reptile. Oh, and butterflies galore, too, on sunny days!

So I cherished this newt and I admired it, and I photographed it carefully (camera in the right hand, newt in the left). Then I quickly but gently put it down, behind a tree well off the trail, so that the newt would not, could not be harmed by myself or any other. For one who loves takes care of and protects the beloved. And I am a lover of newts.

The song: John Lennon, Love.

Also, there is this favorite piece about love:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1 Corinthians 13: 4-7.