Water Mirrors and Singing Frogs

The water level of the pond has now crept higher than it's fullest last spring.  It's still only December, so I'm cautiously hopeful that more rains are yet to come.  Last year at this time, the hills were still brown, with only a hint of green.  Such a delight to have all this green with mushroom rings popping up all over.

Even with this humble amount of water in it, the pond is now back to reflecting the sky and trees.  Our views from the house are instantly doubled with return of our natural mirror.

The same goes for the lower pond, down at the bottom end of our property.  The culvert that diverts runoff to Little John Creek is flowing once again.

Murphy had a blast charging across the seasonal creek several times.  At one point, he came running back down the path towards us with an entire deer leg in his mouth.  He was one proud, grinning ear-to-ear puppy as he dropped the smelly thing at our feet.

The vernal pond also has water and its own reflections.

And, miraculously, the various ponds and creeks not only have reflections, but they also have frogs.  How could they have possibly survived the heat and dryness?  There aren't many of them yet, but their croakings are everywhere.

It's a happy Solstice.