A rainy Sunday morning in Geneva.  The remnants of tropical storm Imelda, which inundated Houston is passing through: rain, potentially lots of rain adding to already swollen Fox and Des Planes rivers.

Does a future scientist begin as a toad hunter?  Perhaps!  Summertime is opportunitie for a child to observe Nature in a mode of proliferation, visibly active, aggressive, seeking energy for growth and reproduction.  Vegetation angles itself toward the rays of the sun; mammals, amphibians, reptiles seek prey to sustain themselves.  Everything is in motion.  The season of the great dance, a verdant earth under the dome of a blue sky offers much to the imagination, so many lessons for the curious.

Lincoln knows how to fish, and is an avid toad hunter.  A captured toad is kept for a while, for observation by eye and by touch.  First you fall in love with the elements of the natural world.  Then you notice that things behave in a predictable pattern, and later, that those patterns can be expressed in mathematics.  That is how you become a scientist.

I attempted the power of persuasion to convince our hunter that the captured toad deserved to be released later in the day.  After all, the toad is living, requiring freedom of movement and the right to seek nourishment and its own place among the grass and tall plants in the yard.  The dilemma was resolved, to my relief when the toad discovered a way to jump from it’s floating rest to the side of the wading pool.  It disappeared of its own accord to where it came from.

I noticed some late summer blooms, brilliant in the afternoon sun.  Tomorrow will be the autumn equinox, when the sun will cross the celestial equator heading southward.

Harvest and preparation for rest comes, — Fall!

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