#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Spunky the Painted Turtle

I found him crawling through the grass when I spread out the yoga mat in the yard for the

Special One to sit and eat lunch after a big morning of playing in the yard on the day off from school.

We named him the little one spunky––he did not want to be held and climbed very quickly up the pant leg and sweatshirt of the Special One. At first, I assumed it was another snapper as we’ve found so many this

September. But he rolled himself over and I saw the orange of his belly and then looked again at his markings and realized, oh! A painted turtle hatchling. Good! We decided to help him find his way to the river across the yard and field. This involved putting him in the back of the Special One’s tractor trailer and bouncing quite a bit, rolling quite a bit, and being tossed a bit as we made our way. By the time I set him gently onto the muddy river’s edge the little one wasn’t moving. Asleep? In shock? Dead? I certainly hoped not. We watched for a few minutes on the sunny fall day near the rippling water, hoping he’d come back to life soon and make his way into the water. And, finally, he did! Goodbye Spunky! we said, and he was gone to his new life. Earlier, I ran four miles. And in the afternoon, I managed enough time at my desk to rough out a draft of a poem that is quite rough; then out in the yard again for hours with the Special One, a light breeze and the grass green again and in the garden I weeded and weeded and weeded and thought about the quick write of the poem for workshop tonight, wondering if it makes any sense at all. Weeding––for my pay, a slightly tattered monarch in the butterfly weed.