I walked on through the gardens where the azaleas are in full bloom. Explosions of pink, lavender and white lined the walkways. Amid them, tulips, camellias and dozens of other blooms I can’t name were beautiful, as well.
As I passed a couple looking intently into a fountain, the man with his camera poised to shoot, I heard a croak. It was a big croak. I looked over the edge and saw nothing but water. So I went to the other side where they stood and I saw my second model of the day. A tiny little frog (with a big croak) sitting in the cool water near the edge of the fountain. He never moved while I took several shots. While the first frog just ignored me, this one seemed to be looking right back at me. He was not impressed.
After walking a bit more through the gardens, I sat in a courtyard, waiting for some friends and people-watching. In a few minutes, I heard a 10-ish child to my right cry, “Grandma, look. It’s a toad. It’s a toad by a statue of a toad.” She laughed. I did, too. First of all, “toad” just sounded funny to me. They are all frogs to me. Toads are in stories about witches and spells. But more than that, I thought surely this is not a third frog sitting right in front of me, posing. It was. Grandma walked up with her camera way out in front of her, trying to get a picture of the frog before he leapt. She got her shot and they walked away laughing. I couldn’t resist. I stood, took three or four steps and looked around the planter in front of me, and there he was, on the edge of a fountain, sitting with his back to a larger than life version of himself. Obviously posing. So I couldn’t resist getting frog portrait number three.
Granted, Bellingrath does a very good job of promoting their beautiful property. But that visit made me wonder if along with azaleas and mums and Christmas lights, there may be a market for frog season at Bellingrath! Or should that be toad season?
