Where are the frogs going now?

Frogs and Toads - Images by Mother-Daughter Press

Our first cold snap is coming here in Maine.
Maybe all the ticks will die. Oh yippee! Stay tuned to our tick experiment going on in the jar. Yes, with photos -- we just had to .... ugh.
But, each autumn there is a flurry of online inquiry about the "cold blooded" animals and how they will fare.  Each species does it a little differently and the  details are very interesting.
The specialists say this about it all

"leave them alone. They will find their way, you do not need to herd them off or take them in".

Smart little beasts that they are they will dig down snuggling in the mud and leaves in a pool or river and "chill out". They need some oxygen and Bullfrogs will stay near the top of the mud. Meanwhile frogs on land stay  within the leaf cover.  In contrast, Toads can dig down under the surface. It is all a type of hibernation. And if you want to see it for yourself you should check out this video - with Robert Krulwich and real frozen frogs and miracles.

This video and a nice explanation of the frogs fate can be found at a website called "frogsaregreen.com: See you later frogs.

Women for Peace- Everyone uluate

Nobel Peace Prize winners

Leymah Gbowee, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf,  Tawakul Karman

Today is be a good day for ululation

A sound from ancient Greece and Egypt that continues to now

the sound of women celebrating 

feeling strongly

in India, throughout Africa and the Middle East
It is onomatopoeia known by many names
in many tongues

my favorite is Ulu-uli

Ulu-uli...yes....

a long, wavering, high-pitched sound accompanied by

moving the tongue, rapidly, from left to right

repetitively

A cry of praise in honor and today in celebration
Three women share the peace prize

It is a foreign sound to many of us in the west
but it is familiar to this years winners.
  

So, maybe we can practice it for them.

Join in with a woman at the 2010 ululating competition
in Nagaland a state in far nothern India

Each of these women is worth knowing better. In my research, starting in earnest today, I offer these words from Leymah Gbowee from an interview that is worth hearing with Michel Martin on NPR's program "Tell me more"

"MARTIN: Finally, do you have any wisdom to share? Perhaps to a younger you
who is just starting this sort of path of awakening that you've been on. 
Ms. GBOWEE: Well, one of the things that I always say is never despise a
humble beginning. That's my word of wisdom. No matter how small, if you have
a conviction that this is something that is going to change your community,
if you have a conviction that this is something that is going to change your
family, if you have a conviction that this is something that is going to do
some good, step out and do it. That's one.
                  
The second word of wisdom that I would like to leave with the American
people, in the face of evil, in the face of depravation, in the face of a
lot of horrible things when you turn on your radio, people sometimes lose
hope, that evil is winning. But I just want you to know that from a tiny
part of West Africa, a group of women there taught me to know that in this
life, good always overcome evil. Thank you."

Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli...Ulu-uli
Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli
Rises up from the Ministry of Crones and gorgeous women everywhere

Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli...Ulu-uli
Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli..Ulu-uli