Called to early morning prayer by a warming sun, the Wooden Frog abides respectfully, facing east. Mr. Frog sits in the early morning sun dreaming froggy dreams, where once a lovely Japanese princess stood. Behind him, the silent gold koi, slowed to immobility by the previous night’s freeze, make the still-dark surface of the pond sparkle with flecks of gold. Seems like frogs are a recurring theme in my back yard. Is it because of the metaphor of being rescued by a prince is the defining theme of my life? Nah, I’m already a princess. It’s because frogs occupy a rather unscientifically categorized rung between lizards and fish. Beasts of the earth and beasts of the water: frogs are both. They transform themselves completely from cold-blooded reptiles (again, unscientifically, ok?) to something that looks enough like a mammal to become a prince. That’s more than some people grow up to become.
