Freddy - Life and Times

Freddy - Life and Times

Our neighbour has visited again. He tells us that after we clean out the pool in November, we should fill it with sea water. This, apparently does not have a build up of algae and overall needs far less looking after than fresh water. He tells us he can arrange for someone to bring up sea water for us when we need it. I’m not convinced. For one thing it will get very diluted over the winter with the winter rains and for the other, what will it do for Freddy? And I am sure that the green lizards, the birds and all the wildlife that drinks from the pool will not want sea water.

We don’t know how Freddy came to us. Just one day he was there, a tiny little green frog, no bigger than my thumb. He was sitting on the top of the connector that leads down to the pump for the swimming pool. At first he would plop into the pool whenever he saw us. But gradually, after a long process of stealth and patience he would stay visible. We would creep up on him, or at least I would, speaking to him is soothing tones. Now it may well be that we need to get our more and mix with human beings, but I swear that Freddy got to know my voice. He would turn his big yellow rimmed eyes towards me whenever he heard my voice. Eventually he came to accept Waldo, although he was always more cautious unless I was there.

As the summer continued so the heat increased. Gradually the pool started to evaporate and the water level dropped to such a point that Freddy could no longer clamber up onto the top of the pipe, nor could he reach a niche in the wall where the pipes led to the pump house. We decided to make life easier for this little chap. Waldo found a small piece of wood and dropped it into the pool. Sure enough, about three mornings later I caught Freddy desperately scrambling up onto this piece of wood in a most ungainly fashion. I’m sure I saw guilt in his eyes for such lack of athleticism.

Kythera can get quite windy on times, even in the summer. Aeolus, the god and ruler of the winds does not always keep the individual gods of winds in order for some Anemoi are very playful and Kythera their playground. The Aurai, the nymph daughters of the Anemoi are welcome visitors to the island as their gentle breezes bring soft relief from the sun’s hot rays. Notus, the god of the south wind and Zephyrus, god of the west wind just kick up gentle warm breezes that are mostly welcoming in the summer heat. Eurus, the god of the unlucky east or southeast wind, plays around a lot with   Apheliotes, god of the east wind and Euronotus, god of the southeast wind; they are the whirling dervishes of the gods and whip up the dust in no time. Caicias, god of the northeast wind is with us today, a sure sign that Borus god of the north wind and of winter is on his way.

Because of Caicias and visits from Apheliotes and Euronotus Freddy’s raft drifted and floated around the pool. Freddy did not like this and would not venture far from his corner of the pool. Waldo soon came up with a solution. He took the wood out of the pool, drilled a hole in it and threaded it with string. When he returned the plank to the pool he tied it to the fencing on the top end of the pool. Freddy soon took up sitting on the plank again; sitting like the frog prince on a water ski with limited movement. He soon discovered that if he sat on the edge he could just stay still until some fly or water boatman came too close and his tongue would act like lightening, stunning his prey and then as the unfortunate insect stuck to Freddy’s sticky proboscis it would be carried back and into his mouth. It seemed just one gulp and the thing was swallowed.

We often pondered on Freddy’s origins. The nearest pond with frogs in it is some two miles away and we could think of no reason why such a tiny young thing would want to stray so far away from its home territory. Perhaps one of the birds of prey that circle our house had caught him and dropped him in disgust at his slippery body or taste. He did not seem to be injured at all.

As the summer droned on Freddy became a curiosity for all our friends and visitors to see. Most people gave him a cursory look but when he neither moved nor croaked, they soon lost interest. But they humoured us and we started to be given a number of froggy gifts; a lovely green china frog sitting on a china stone, a glass frog in a beautiful dark green colour, a brass frog studded with green sparkling rhinestones and a pair of painted terracotta frogs with smiley faces. Cute as they all are, they could not replace Freddy in our affections.

Freddy grew and grew. In fact he started to look quite fierce and a friend identified him as a leopard frog. It was hard to think of the little green thing that first arrived as having any leopard like qualities, but a he grew and his markings became more pronounced and he looked more like the aggressor than the victim. It is hardly surprising that he was putting on so much weight for he hardly moved and seemed to have a ready supply of food. Our pool is not the clear blue watered swimming variety, but is more like a brownish pond in a blue painted swimming pool surround. We have tried everything to keep it clean, all to no avail. We have cemented part of the driveway so that the rain water does not pour pine needles, and all the rubbish that collects on the drive, into the pool. We have covered it with old olive netting to stop fallen leaves and swirling dust on windy days, drop into it. We have cleaned out the filter that water collected for the pool runs into. But we have now decided that it is not meant to be a swimming pool. Anyway, now, as long as Freddy is in residence it will not be filtered, chlorinated and disinfected. We had a romantic notion of turning it into a lily pond, complete with frog sitting on a lily pad, but a yet have failed to find a supply of pond plants to be delivered to ‘our’ island. The increase in Freddy’s weight started to have an impact on his raft. One end of the piece of wood was thinner than the other and if he sat at that end it would start to sink. So, Waldo found an even sturdier piece of plank and added it to the corner of the pool. Freddy soon found this far more comfortable and sat there looking like a prince frog once again.

As much as I talked to Freddy he never made a sound. We came to the conclusion that as a lonely frog, he didn’t have any frog sounds to copy. We tried our best, to no avail. Waldo is particularly good, his ill fitting false teeth enable him to make small staccato sounds that enable him to talk to the geckos around the patio, but Freddy showed no interest.

We judge the movement of summer by the extent to which the water evaporates from the pool. By the time it had reduced to expose three steps we had lengthened the string holding Freddy’s raft number two many times. The heat was going out of the sun and the wind started to have a coolness to it that made us think about taking our woollens from their moth balled drawers. One evening I was out by the pool. Dark clouds were coming our way and it seemed as if the first rain since April would soon be upon us. We could usually set our calendars by the rain which came on the 25^th September most years. Freddy was clearly edgy. The air was heavy and I knew that we would have one of spectacular thunder storms which would come over from the west and then seem to circle from our valley, out over the sea and then be bounced back from the mountains of Cape Maleas opposite us. Sure enough the first drops of rain came the size of large marbles and splattered on the ground. The ground was so dry and hard that it would take quite a battering by these large water cannons until they softened it up enough for the water to soak in. I started getting a meal ready for the evening. Thunder rumbled in the distance. I was just putting some vegetable peelings outside in our box which, when full, is emptied in ‘The Muir Glen’: a clearing beyond the palm trees and surrounded by various pine trees. Our friendly Pine Martens live there and a cat. We make sure that they have enough food to survive on, but not enough to deter them from keeping vermin away from the house area. On the way back I noticed Freddy sitting on his raft, blinking nervously. He looked a very sad and fearful little frog. Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed so close I could feel the electricity lift the tiny hairs on my arms. Freddy made one elegant dive and disappeared into the murky depths of the pool. We didn’t see him for days.

This was the pattern for the next month. Freddy would reappear after 5- 10 days. We read that frogs can do this sort of semi-hibernation under water and so we were not concerned. But after one particularly heavy thunder storm where the lightning and thunder had persisted for some 7 hours there was no sign of Freddy for weeks. Indeed the time came for us to pack up our summer residence and return home, Freddy was nowhere to be seen.

Like the swallows returning in the Spring, we returned to our sunshine villa. The winter rains had filled the pool and Freddy’s rafts were moving in the wind to the extent of their strings; but there was no sign of Freddy. Waldo shortened the rafts in case he was nervous of too much drift, but to no avail. We hoped that in the wet period he had hopped off somewhere to make the long journey to join other frogs and that nothing untoward had happened to him on the way.

We missed Freddy that summer and once more found amusement talking to the geckos; watching ants march across the patio to dissect a cake crumb and take it back to their nests; peeping through the curtains as the pine martens took their evening walk around the pool, up over the kitchen patio and on around to the back of the house; marvelling at the shades of green on the family of green lizards that lived in our oleander hedge; watching ‘thunder thighs’ our very large grey lizard who sunned himself of the path down to my office known as the Acropoliz; and laughing as the wild grey marbled cat always found the warmest spot to stretch out on but knew never to come nearer than 10 metres from the house, it was as though he had drawn a line around the house that he did not cross.

It was a particularly hot summer; we recorded 49’ as the outside temperature when travelling in the car. In a sheltered spot on our kitchen patio the heat broke our weather station with its last recording of 52’. We did little but find somewhere in the shade with any breeze we could find and just drink gallons of water. We realised that the green lizards had the same problem. Every now and again we would hear some mad splashing in the pool only to find a green lizard had climbed down the steps to the pool, drunk his fill and then could not climb back out again. It became a daily requirement to scoop out two or three green lizards floundering in the water. Waldo used the large net that he used for collecting leaves from the top of the pool. One morning we found the upturned body of a small green lizard which had clearly used up all his energy failing to get back up the step. We had to do something.

Waldo is a very practical man and soon rigged up a ‘lizard ladder’ on one side of the steps. He used both rafts that had been put out for Freddy. Using a series of stones on the steps, these planks made a slope down to the water. The lizard could make their way along the surrounding wall of the pool, from one edge or from the steps, step onto the wood and walk down the slope to the water, turn and retrace their steps without fear of drowning. The next day one lizard ignored the ladder and fell in the pool. Waldo gently chased him to the bottom of the ladder and he scrambled up the slope. The next day the lizards were using the ladder. They would take it in turns, sometimes hiding underneath the ladder to wait their turn. It was quite amazing how quickly these little creatures had found a way of surviving. Waldo was delighted that his efforts had not been in vain.

The dryness of summer increased and the ground became very hard. It certainly was much drier than usual. We noticed more and more birds coming to the pool. Amazingly they were using the lizard ladder to perch on and dip to sip the water. As more emigrating birds started to stop off on the island as a break in their journeys more and more gathered at our pool. Some mornings there was quite a lot of chatter and even aggression as the birds fought to use the ladder. The robins were particularly nasty. Waldo scratched his head and thought for a while. Soon he had carefully positioned various stones on the bottom steps where the water still lapped. Each stone was carefully chosen for its shape with one long sloping side; the birds could land on these and walk down the slope to dip and sip the water. There was less squabbling now as there were more drinking points. One adventurous citrine wagtail had even learned how to land on our small lily pad fountain and sip up water from that.

All too soon many of the birds moved on and the chill in the wind told us we would soon be packing up for another year. The winter in Kythera was very cold this time, colder than anyone could remember on the island. It had even snowed one day. Despite this, when we left at the beginning of December there were people swimming in the sea and on the day we returned in early April, there were people swimming in the sea. But this year the rain persisted well into the middle of April. It almost threatened to spoil the Easter celebrations when lambs are roasted on spits on the beach and everyone turns out for a mass picnic, traditional Greek music and dancing and generally a good time all round is had, celebrating Easter Sunday and the fact that “Christ has risen”.

 It was warm enough to sit outside when we arrived. A few times thought we heard a dog bark which is unusual as only once before has a dog wandered as far as our lonely abode. A few times we had heard a peacock. There had been a breeding pair and six chicks who took over the garden of our neighbour further up the mountain as their territory. Occasionally they used to visit us but we didn’t encourage them as they made such a mess on our roof and around the patios. As we use our roofs and patios to collect water which runs off to our reservoirs we keep them as clean as possible. Because they knew they were not welcome the birds stopped visiting. As usual over the winter, as we vacate our territory so a variety of animals take the opportunity to extend theirs. We assumed that the one, more adventurous peacock had done the same. One day, when sitting outside, the “dog” barked again and the sound of the peacock seemed to come from the driveway. It was a slightly strangled sound as though the bird was in trouble. Waldo took a broom handle, in case he had to poke around in the bushes, to scare the dog or the bird away and went up the steps beyond the pool towards the driveway. Everything went silent, except for the sound of Waldo beating around in the bushes surrounding our driveway. There was no sign of dog or peacock. This was strange because we had found no signs of peacock droppings and yet couldn’t think what else could be making the noise.

 Waldo came back and we continued our conversation whilst enjoying the sun on the kitchen patio. In the distance a dog barked, quite our usual sound backdrop. To our surprise the “dog” in our garden replied with two growling barks. Then silence. Waldo carried on talking and all of a sudden there came a sound that was clearly an animal, but it seemed to be mimicking Waldo’s voice. It certainly was not a dog, nor the peacock. I told Waldo to keep talking whilst I followed the sound. It was from the pool area somewhere. I went down the steps from the kitchen patio to the pool patio. Just as I looked across the pool towards where the food was waiting to be taken down the Muir Glen, I saw something move in the pool. A quick jump and plop, Freddy was back!

 I only caught a glimpse but it was quite thrilling to think that after a year’s absence ‘our’ dear little frog was back. It took quite a few days before he was calm enough to let me see him. I kept talking to him with a soothing voice and gradually, by creeping up on him very quietly and slowly he would stay put and let me look at him. The pool was full again and his planks had been used for the lizard ladders. The only spaces where Freddy could sit were either on one corner of the top of the filter pipe which was very small for him; on the ridged plastic just below it, which must have been very uncomfortable; or in the niche where the pipe went to the pump house, but this was slightly above the water level and meant quite a scramble to get up the inch or so of wall. The next day Waldo found another suitable piece of plank in the garage, drilled a hole in it and once more Freddy had a wooden raft to sit on.

 As the days passed and we were able to look at Freddy for longer and longer periods Waldo became convinced that it was not the Freddy of old. Certainly this frog seemed smaller than that in our memory, his mouth seemed more rounded and we didn’t remember the yellow rings around his eyes. But the main difference was the change in vocal behaviour. The first Freddy never uttered a sound, whereas this one rarely stops. His range of vocals was incredible and every sound unlike any frog we had heard. The bark was rarely uttered unless in response to the distant dog. When the wind took the raft for a ride or ruffled the water, ‘Freddy-too’ emitted an irritated series of chattering sounds, not unlike the geckoes, or Waldo clicking his false teeth together, but with deeper rumbling overtones. The deep rumblings were voiced with a gravelly timbre whenever Waldo started a chain saw, or scraped a shovel over gravel or wire wool over a metal cooking pan; it was as though ‘Freddy-too’ was trying to reply. He clearly did not know he was a frog for he never once croaked like one. But he did experiment with his vocal chords and maybe it was shear desperation for a mate that made him try to respond to the noises he heard. The funniest mimic, and sometimes the most frustrating, was when he tried to converse with Waldo. Whenever we sit out on the kitchen patio, as soon as Waldo starts talking, Freddy-too joins in. He does not react to my voice at all, except for the occasional roll of an eye, but that is more to check how close I am, he never responds vocally to me. Some days he is so desperate to join in that it is quite impossible to have a conversation and we have to move inside to be able to speak to each other. These responses to Waldo have convinced him that Freddy-too is actually Freda, but I reckon Freddy just perceives Waldo as competition and shows that his voice is louder; whatever we just don’t know where s/he came from.

 This morning we discovered that a passing farmer had left some fresh eggs for us and another had left a bag of lemons. Thus I decided to make my favourite spread, lemon curd. Now doing this needs full attention to mix the egg, butter, sugar and lemon mixture as it is warmed up. Leave it alone for a second and it will surely curdle. I decided that this was a good time to listen to my new Gypsy Kings compilation and put the disc to play. The result was quite astounding. Not only could I hear the music which I knew so well, but every time the gravelly voice of the lead singer was heard Freddy joined in, he even hit some high notes. During the soft tones Freddy was silent. He accompanied the guitar solos with a series of chattering sounds. But the castanets drove him wild and he sang as if his heart would burst. Waldo came down from the garage where he was working, just to see what all the noise and laughter was about. What a sight we must have been, the two of us laughing like fools being serenaded to by a frog to the sound of the Gipsy Kings. I’m going to try out that famous growl of Roy Orbison next!

How privileged we are to have such company and to have the time to enjoy them. People wonder how we survive in this isolated spot, but we are never alone. Our extended, multi-species family gives us so much pleasure.