The Promise of Amphibians

It had been a while since I had visited my own favorite pond in the Barrens - in fact, no other pond has matched it for amphibian activity - and anticipation was high. The last time or two that I'd been there, it was plumb CRAZY with frogs. But when I got there on this day, there was almost nothing. No song, no frogs dotting the surface, no love in the afternoon.

But I walked around the pond anyway, and now there are clusters of eggs all through the pond. As I took a few photos, they almost seemed to glow beneath the surface. No frogs for us today, apparently, but I celebrate these eggs, which bring the promise of new amphibians!

My soundtrack song is from the Petty album Hard Promises, one of my all-time favorites (and yes, I'm on my second copy of the CD, thank you very much, after playing it to absolute death). I feel like I am one of these in the local Barrens: here are Tom Petty and the absolutely incomparable Stevie Nicks, in one of the all-time best rock pairings, with Insider. Enjoy!

I'm an insider, I've been burned by the fire
And I've had to live with some hard promises
I've crawled through the briars
I'm an insider