toads

Zoo in a Box

| Flower Roberts

Inside this little box is an entire zoology course.

Zoo in a box

The cards are arranged by the common names of animal phyla in order of complexity: fish, mollusks, insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

Sixty postcards of rare book illustrations

The pictures are copies of paintings from the collection of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. There is information in the front of the box about the history of the museum and the processes used to make the original prints. I would call this ‘Museum in a Box’ but that title will come in a later post about another box.

Fascinating information about museum, books and printing methods

Each postcard has information on the back about the subject, artist, and location of the animal’s habitat. I love reading the descriptions because many of the animals are strange to me.

I will be at my desk on cold days perusing the zoo.

FLOW

Toad in a Trance

| Flower Roberts

I suspect these high temperatures tricked my toad out of his torpor.

I am sure my snooping around weeding and cleaning also disrupted his winter rest.

He spent all day yesterday perched on this rock at the top of the wall.

I checked on him many times yesterday. He was unresponsive.

I did not touch him for fear he might plunge to his death, if disturbed.

He was still precariously perched last night when I went to bed.

This morning, I was pleased to find him in a less exposed location.

He has moved to a space between stones, not far from the hole he emerged from.

He still won’t look at me, maybe he blames me for early emergence. Typical toad attitude.

FLOW