I wrote several weeks ago about how two toads were mating in the small pond I set up on my property near the trail as a wildlife watering hole.

Well, the long wait is over. Towards the beginning of the week, I could easily see strands of toad eggs.

And, by late Sunday, there were hundreds of tiny tadpoles squirming their way into existence.

So, new life begins. I quickly read up on what tadpoles eat, and was reminded that … they eat algae. — Perfect! No need to buy exotic tadpole food at my local Petco.

I sat transfixed, watching the little critters make their first preliminary wiggles, just as I was so many years ago when my sisters and I would go to the local creek at Blackwelder’s Farm to catch frog eggs and watch them develop in a fish bowl in our bedroom, returning them to the creek when they started growing legs. I was magically transported back in time and was happy to feel this connection again with my 10-year-old self.