Rescue

Prompted by impulse
I enter the back garden

A frog drifts
Splayed
On water
Dyed chemical blue

I grab the scoop
Angle the basket beneath
The pale belly, the outstretched limbs

Forklifted to safety
On loose loam
Among the ferns
He crouches
A cobblestone
Tarnished bronze, black and green
Slick

Solicitous
Thrice I return
To find him motionless
Thrice I apologise
For the crass treachery
Which mars his kingdom
A fourth time -
He is gone

I marvel at the nudge
Which sent me
Mid-task, mid-afternoon
To rescue

Pumpkin harvest

It has been a good pumpkin season this year at Thatchwick Cottage. The only purchased seeds were heirloom seeds for this Long Island Cheese. Whole vegetables chopped in quarters and planted in my lasagna bed have produced a sprawling crop of butternut under the poinsettia tree.  

My first pick