It was hot and humid all day, and though what I really wanted to do was head to the lake and spend my time in the water, I instead hit the trail to Long and Ell ponds in search of more wild rhododendron flowers. There were very few blooms, however, and it looks like we're going to experience the same modest show we experienced with the Mountain Laurels in May. It was a fine hike, of course, although it would have been better had the ponds been open so I could go swimming. I would have even worn a suit. (Long Pond was a sublime skinny-dipping hole in the 60s and 70s.) As it happened, the best I was able to do in terms of water contact was a shower, and that night, as I enjoyed the cool and dry wrought by the air-conditioner, I heard a modest thud and looked at the bedroom window on which was affixed a daring Gray Tree Frog. The little guy—you can tell it's a male by his orange inner thighs—was 20 feet up and climbing higher and higher on the glass. I wasn't sure of his destination. Maybe he was meeting friends on the roof.