Home as Laboratory

Approximately 10 tadpoles have been lovingly deposited here, in my favorite fountain. They seem to be thriving. Initially I thought – GREAT! – science project! We pulled out our book From Tadpole to Frog and started reading. Then, somewhere near the end, the boom was lowered. “Tadpoles sometimes take as long as 2 years to complete their transformation into a frog.” GOOD GRIEF – It’s not that I mind the wait, but they need mud to burrow into come fall, and a constant supply of lettuce for food. I have to give up my fountain for 2 years?? I don’t imagine the bowl will sustain the growing creatures that long. But that presents another issue – where to put them! I smell a project for daddy that starts with “in-ground” and ends with “pond.” 🙂

This has to be one of the greatest blessings of living learning -mold growing (intentionally) on the kitchen counter, tadpoles in the fountain, bird nests in the honeysuckle, ladybug tended in the bug catcher, a cache of spider eggs eagerly watched for signs of life, more pet-spiders than I can remember (there is a long, and sadly deceased, line of Charlotte Jr’s,) books scattered across every horizontal surface. These are good things – they are not a threat to the order of the home! Tadpoles and mold scream out “we’re learning here!”