Focused

Every day begins with a walk to the pool.
What started several weeks ago as a mild interest in understanding more of the ecology of this small seasonal basin, has become much more.
There is life here now.

And although it is very clear that animals that reproduce in these numbers, do so for a reason--I'd like to think these will survive, beyond the 10 percent of most.

There are no fish here. Nothing larger, in fact, than the wood frogs that left the bluish gray masses, before returning to the wet, leafy floor beneath the surrounding trees. But every morning I see footprints.
I know that I am not the only one watching.




The Jefferson salamanders drawn here with the first warm rain, have also gone. Beneath the snow-covered pool, they waited. Their eggs, on the long submerged grasses, now all I can see.



Tomorrow morning will be rainy again.
At the edge of the pool, I will be watching.