Back from sesshin. Temps in the 60's. Was out hiking in the back looking for Round-leaf Yellow Violets to check off of my wildflower list (no luck). Came across the place where the Chambers' had gotten their tractor stuck in the muck when brush hogging last year. There were two deep grooves in the mud. The grooves were filled with water, and the water had some gelatinous clusters of eggs, either salamander or frogs eggs. I read in the Rutland Herald that, pound for pound, there are more animals in the woods that have emerged from vernal pools than everything else combined. Later in the day I saw a salamander, and a frog dart away in another pond.
Nice salamander picture! There is a great poem about frogspawn by Seamus Heaney, called "Death of a Naturalist." I bet that there is still a collection of poems by Heaney in my old room at home, if you want to look it up. The page is dog-eared I'm sure.
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