Frances Meets a Frog

Canadians have a reputation for never being satisfied with the weather. Well, let me tell you, in Toronto, there is good reason for it. For five or six months of the year, there's snow on the ground; spring lasts for a month, and then we are launched into summer with temperatures between 75 and 95 degrees fahrenheit (25-30C) with humidity and smog. And you know what? It stinks. It's either too cold or too hot; spring and fall seem to get shorter every year.

Bah.

So while last weekend was cold, windy and rainy, with temperatures five or six degrees below seasonal and strong north wind, this weekend has been HOT HOT HOT and humid. Today we are getting up to 29C with a humidex well over 30, and tomorrow will be 32C and gods only know how hot it will feel with the humidity. The air conditioning is on now, and I expect it will stay on until October.

I just had to get that out of the way first. Toronto Weather=CRAP.

But we have been taking advantage of the sunshine and going outside as much as we can, until smog-induced asthma, allergies and heat-induced headaches force us (me) back in. Frances loves it so it's hard to justify not going out, and man, that kid can motor in this heat like I cannot believe. She went to the park twice yesterday, once in the morning with me, and once in the afternoon with Erik, NB and NB's parents (it was already too hot for me so I stayed in the basement and recovered). Yesterday's morning walk to the park through the woodlot was great. The trilliums are now a deep fuschia or are turning brown and getting ready to go to seed; the trout lilies are long since gone, their leaves turning yellow and decaying into the inches-thick pile of moldering leaves. But the tansies, wild strawberries and Queen Anne's Lace are all raring to go, and so is a purple flower which I think is a Dame's Rocket. Which is a shame, since that means it's invasive.

And! We saw a snail, a little one not more than one inch from butt to antenae, sliming along a leaf. We stopped and said hello, of course. I think it was Frances's first live snail sighting.

Sunday morning we went again, early, before the heat could become too unbearable. We left before 11 and already were wearing shorts and t-shirts, but already, it was humid and sticky. Frances seemed not to mind and rode the swing, climbed the rock wall, went down the slides, and climbed the stairs joyfully. She would have stayed all day if we'd let her.

MAKE WITH THE FROG, ANDREA.

Right!

On the way to the park, I stopped to check out the tansies. They're not blooming yet but the flower buds are there, and turning yellow, so it won't be long. And as I leaned in, I heard a woosh. I looked down and there, blending almost perfectly into the brown maple and oak leaves, was a little brown mottled frog.

"Frances! There's a frog. Come see!"

She ran over, and I pointed to the frog, which made it jump under a flower. I moved the flower, and it jumped again, under a leaf. I moved the leaf, and it jumped onto a small log, where it stayed.

"Oooh! A frog!"

"Yeah, did you see it? A little brown frog. See, there it is still."

"Yeah."

Nothing nearly as exciting happened on the way home.

Before we went yesterday was good for wildlife too (I'm all jumbled up today. See, the heat is addling my brain already). We threw some peanuts into the back garden, and Frances ate her breakfast of bananas on her outside table, while we waited. And waited. When she was done, the squirrels started to come.

They were terrified with us sitting there on the deck stairs watching, skittering along the top of the fence and then down, climbing horizontally along its side, down into the dirt behind shrubs and leaves, to snatch a peanut and dash away. I can't understand why they were so scared. I mean, Frances only screamed at them.

"A SQUIRREL! A SQUIRREL!"

"Yes, Frances. Shhhh. You're scaring them."

"DO YOU SEE IT?"

"Yes. He's on the fence. He's coming for a peanut."

"A SQUIRREL! HE'S ON THE FENCE! HE'S COMING FOR A PEANUT! OOOOOH, A SQUIRREL!"

At one point, a blue jay (they like peanuts too) chased a small black squirrel up a very tall pine tree, trying to get the peanut out of its mouth. I thought that was unfair, considering there were still a dozen peanuts on the ground at that point, but it was entertaining to watch. We also saw goldfinches on the finchfeeder, grackles in the big birdhousefeeder, and chickadees on the squirrel-proof feeder, as well as a few robins, two Canada geese, and a beautiful black bird with red bands on its upper wings (I think it was a red-winged blackbird--what an original name!). And a cardinal.

Fortunately, they were not as intimidated by my wee girl as the squirrel was.

"FINCHES! OOOH. FINCHES! LOOK AT THEM. AWW, THEY'RE SO CUTE! DO YOU HEAR THEM SINGING? THEY'RE PRETTY! FINCHES. THEY'RE HAVING A SNACK. I LIKE THE FINCHES. THEY'RE PRETTY!"

"A CHICKADEE! A CHICKADEE! IT'S SO CUUUUUTE! DO YOU SEE IT? DO YOU SEE IT MUMMY? I SEE A CHICKADEE! IT'S SMALL. IT'S CUTE. OOOOOH!"

And my girl is so damned smart--excuse me, I do have to brag about this--that she already recognizes several birdcalls. On our way to the park, she cocked her head thoughtfully to one side, then said, "I hear seagulls," and you know what? Yep, there were seagulls, out of eyeshot, squawking away. She also recognizes blue jays and geese and doves by sound alone. This time next year she's going to be teaching me about birds, I just know it.

~~~~~

This morning (it's my compressed day) we went out to the garden to put more peanuts out for the squirrels, and underneath the hostas was another frog, mottled brown. It jumped. I decided, what the hell? So I'm 31, I'm sure I can still catch one of these suckers. It led me on a merry chase through the garden but I finally did catch it, and there it sat on my hand, quite tamely, for a minute or two while Frances went absolutely nuts. (I think it was still a baby, the tail looked vaguely tadpoleish.)

"IT'S A FROG! OOOOH MUMMY, IT'S ON YOUR HAND! WHAT A FUNNY FROG. LOOK AT THE FROG! LOOK AT THE FROG! IT'S ON YOUR HAND! IT'S A FROG! IT'S A FROG!" And seriously, that frog just sat there and took it, for about two minutes, and then it jumped away.

"CATCH IT MUMMY! CATCH THE FROG! WHAT A FUNNY FROG!"

"Maybe next time, sweetie. That was fun, though, wasn't it?"

"Yeah!"

In comparison to which the squirrel skittering around the edges of the hard, through and under the fence, waiting for us to get away from the peanuts, was almost boring.

Posted by Andrea at May 29, 2006 8:37 AM under The Green Toddler

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