Krapo (Frog)

Krapo
I am not sure why frogs get such a bad rap, after all, they eat mosquitoes which are scientifically known to cause illnesses.  When I was a child, my Irish grandmother told me, that if I touched frogs I would get warts.  I never believed her, and being the nature lover that I was (and still am) this never stopped my twin sister and me from going to a little pond in a neighborhood vacant lot and catching frogs.  Several years later I did get warts on my fingers from time to time, but I never did blame the frogs.

One day last week, I passed a group of school children who were supposedly doing homework but were obviously quite distracted by the presence of something on the ground.  I asked what was going on and they said there was a frog.  I suggested they leave it alone and do their homework.  Then I heard a child tell me that the frog could pee in someone's eyes and make their eyes pop.  There have been a few occasions when I have accurately understood Haitian Creole but thought to myself I must not be understanding; this is one such example. When I asked, "what?" trying to imagine how a frog would come to urinate in a child's eye, never mind the image of the possibility of an eye "popping."  Other children started telling me the same thing, convincing me that they really believed this.  I asked, "where is the frog?"  They pointed to the ground.  There was green tree frog just barely bigger than my thumbnail.  I scooped it up into my hand; it did not move.  If it was still alive it was in terrible shape having been damaged by fearful children.  The children said, "Sister Kathleen, you're not afraid of frogs?!"  I told them I was not afraid of frogs; I decided not to tell them that my twin sister and I liked to look for and occasionally catch frogs for fun when we were their age.  I explained that I did not really believe that the frog would pee in my eyes and make my eyes pop.  I gently threw it into the grass away from the picnic table where the children were doing homework, hoping that it would survive and maybe even eat a few mosquitoes.  Thankfully, it did not urinate on me.  If I do develop warts on my hand in the next few days, then I will know that the Irish superstition is the true one.      

I don't have any good frog pictures, so I'll share this newly taken flower and bee picture instead.

Other Updates:
This morning we received news that one of the elderly Haitian Sisters of Holy Cross died.  Her death was not expected. She did not wake up this morning.  Please keep the sister who died, all of the Sisters of Holy Cross and the family of the sister in your prayers.  Thank you.

Haiti's new president officially took office today.  Let us pray for him and for Haiti.

I hope that all is well with you.  Have a good week.  Many blessings!