The weather has been awfully clement of late, so we’ve been flinging the doors and windows wide this week and inviting the bugs and other assorted fauna in. A particularly large junebug was flitting around our living room last night and developed an apparent affection for my hammered dulcimer. (I was a bit chagrined to note that by dint of crashing randomly into the strings, it played the instrument slightly better than I usually manage to.)

While standing in the back door after dark listening to the nocturnal symphony from the backyard, [Emily->] asked me “What’s that sound?” “I think it’s frogs,” I said, listening to the unusual creaking cries coming in on the breeze. “Can I go look?” she asked, and bolted out the door.

Since I was in the middle of several other things at the time, I gave it no more thought. A little while later, I noticed Emily at the kitchen sink, apparently washing dishes. “Good for her!” I thought absently. As [Kathy->] passed a few minutes later, however, she said in a surprised voice “What are you doing?”

I joined them at the sink to discover that Emily had filled a bucket with toads, all of which she scooped out of our pool which, due to its winter neglect, made a very nice habitat for the creatures. She had then dumped her dozen-strong catch into the kitchen sink, where four of the toads were trying to escape while another four busily tried to make more toads with the last four. It was quite a scene!

We let Emily and her amphibian circus play in the kitchen for a while longer until Kathy finally chased them all off to their various (flower)beds.