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heart in my throat

R had come across this toad near the strawberry bed last week. i'd asked him to put her back when he was ready, and he did. she had so many places in there to hide and live and thrive...until yesterday while i was tidying up the garden, knocking down the knee high clovers, the nose high grasses, and the thistles preparing to go to seed.

 

my heart was in my throat the whole time i was out there mowing and weedwhacking, vigilant to any movement ahead of my tracks, worried i was going to chop her to pieces, hoping she'd found her way out.

 

when all was said and done with no bloody massacre, i donned my gloves to tackle the line of thistles growing between the fence and strawberry bed and then...there she was, hopping out through the fencing to the protected shade of a log beside the compost piles.

 

phew! such relief.

 

i brought her back in and placed her under the leafy shade of the miniature sunflowers, in the same corner where we'd been seeing her... and then went straight to the picnic table to sit down and eat waffles for dinner that the boys had made from scratch while i was out working in the garden.

 

here's to hoping she feels welcome to stay, that there are still enough little nooks to hide out in.

 

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Uploaded on July 14, 2011
Taken on January 2, 2007