The Smiling Bullfrog

It's one of the coldest, wettest Memorial Day weekends I can remember. I'm so glad we seized the day on Thursday and had our fun in the sun, while it was still warm. Suddenly, it's jacket weather now, not swimsuit weather.

I had big plans for the morning, which was to say that I planned to spend another few hours plucking out the invasive garlic mustard that's taken over the edges of our yard. There are hundreds - no, thousands - of them. It's a daunting task, as many such things are.

But in the end, I put that task off until later in the day, in favor of my husband's alternative plan: to visit a little local park where he could jog and I could walk and take pictures, and then grab a lunch salad from Jim's in Bellefonte.

We did all of that, and we stopped at Fisherman's Paradise to eat our salad. Of all the take-out food we've eaten in the car, salads might be the most challenging. But it was delicious, and then we spent a few minutes walking around a little pond that's right by the parking lot.

It is a magical, musical pond, to be sure, for it is simply loaded with bullfrogs! You can hear them singing their little bullfrog songs. One would call out from our end of the pond, and another one would call back. They sounded like strumming on an old banjo.

I took pictures of several very large bullfrogs I found there, but in the end, this one is my favorite. So say hello to Mr. Basso Profundo, the smiling bullfrog, singer of songs.

The soundtrack tune is Johnny Cash, with June Carter and the Statler Brothers (yes, they sang back-up for Johnny Cash!), with Daddy Sang Bass.

P.S. (A sidebar to the song.) Last night, I had a dream in which my big sister Barb was alive again and our whole family - yes, every single one present and healthy - was getting together again for a meal in my mom and dad's kitchen, a thing we did so often, with so much joy. Somehow Barb was just . . . there, like it was totally normal, and she was on full Barb power, shining bright like a light, like she was back before she got so sick. We hugged and hugged, and she gave me that great big smile. Love you, big sister. Thank you for the sweet dream; one day, the circle will be unbroken once again.