Water

One of the things that I have been enjoying a great deal this year is watching the amazing procession of new life that has appeared in my pond since I had it re-dug last year.  It has always been a home to several kinds of frogs, salamanders and the odd snapping turtle, but that was about all I ever saw.  This year has been very, very different and I wish I had thought to keep track of each new appearance.  In a way I have though, with my pictures.

It started early with those loud, but tiny, harbringers of Spring, the peepers.  So loud at times I had to close my bedroom window against their shrill piping.  After them though, came a steady cacophonous procession of different voices, most of which I have never heard in my pond before.  The interesting thing is that they never overlapped.  It was always 2-3 weeks of one sound, a few days of quiet, followed by a new voice.  Each species using the entire pond, but never getting in each others way.  One after another...

In mid July, the dragon-flies made a sudden appearance.  The varieties overlapped a bit more, but still came and left one after the other.  A dizzying array of zipping and diving....

along with an abundance of green grasshoppers bouncing around the outer edges of the pond - and everywhere else.

Through it all was the daily appearance of more than a dozen painted turtles sunning themselves on the straw bale.

And just last week, the sudden, unexpected, brilliant appearance of some kind of Sunflowers lining the shore....

With the exception of the elusive catfish a couple of months ago, I have not added to or planted anything around my pond and I am glad of it.  I can't help but think that anything that I might have done would have been an interference rather than a help.  I will try to remember this the next time I start berating myself for my lack of gardening and landscaping skills.  I will tell myself instead that I am not being negligent or lazy, rather, I am waiting to see what the world offers up on its own.