Salamander

I like to spend time working in our yard, or garden, as you say. For Americans, a garden is usually a single use or themed area with plantings; we have botanical gardens, flower or vegetable gardens, water gardens, rock gardens, but the unpaved area outside of our houses we call "the yard. " I like to spend time in my yard, and last weekend, I did a lot of pulling weeds and tying up of the jonquil stalks. The time I spent on my knees pulling weeds was rewarded by the appearance of a lovely black spotted red salamander. Bram and I desperately wanted to keep him/her as a pet, but in the end, for its own welfare, I made the case for returning him to his home, which we did. Really, I can't even keep a goldfish alive. What a crime it would be to sentence this lovely creature to an early end.