brooklyn gal for a while

Fairytale frogs

As you probably know by now, I work a mere block from the Chinatown open air fish market. Despite the fact that walking up Mott is usually the direction I am headed on my daily jaunts, I will walk a few extra blocks just to go around it, as I inevitably will step on something squishy and be slowed to a snail's pace by the throngs of people looking at all the goods on display.
But the other day I was in a hurry to get back to the office and I had to go through the market. I put my head down and started weaving through people, when I noticed a large blue barrel to my right. In the corner of my eye, something green moved in the barrel. I stepped closer.
The 3 foot diameter barrel was half full of large, bright green frogs*, all hopping over one another and spashing back into the water surrounding them. I have NEVER seen frogs this big, nor this vivid green. No one seemed to be buying them** I am going to try to get a picture of these bad boys today, honestly, they were something out of Hans Christian Anderson's tales.

Oddly, just last night I saw a different sort of frog, from a different sort of fairytale, playing a banjo and ridding a bicycle. . . he didnt seem slimy or as plump as his cousins in Chinatown.

* The use of the term "frog" in common names usually refers to species that are aquatic or semi-aquatic with smooth or moist skins, and the term "toad" generally refers to species that tend to be terrestrial with dry, warty skin.-wikipedia
**I have seen turtles for sale once, and they didnt last long . . . i guess they do indeed make a mean soup.

posted by gordian knot @ Sunday, March 19, 2006