Friday, July 24, 2009

Froggy Synchronicity


My friend, Jan, wanted to have a good-bye drink with me but it took us weeks to find a day that I was home and not too busy with my work or my family. Last night she came to pick me up at about 9:00 pm to take me out for a drink. We had decided to go to a bar in a little village about 15 minutes from the farm. Halfway down our quarter mile driveway, I saw a frog leap in front of the car. Jan said, "Did you see that frog?"

"Did you hit it?" I replied.

"No, I saw it hop away," she said.

We continued on way, but the closer we got to the little town the more repulsive the air became. It was an overpowering stench. There is a chicken processing plant in the town, and when they render the chicken fat of a thousand chickens and open the vents on a humid summer night, the smell is something like urine and rot. We decided to head further down the road to the next little village.

There were two bars in this second village. The first had no cars, so we didn't stop there. At the second bar, we walked to the door and peeked in. A rush of cigarette smoke curled out of the door and settled thickly about our hair. A cardboard sign written in crayon and taped to the door warned, "This is a smoking bar." A dozen grizzly men shifted nothing but their eyes in our direction... "Nah," we said together, and returned to the car.

Back in the car, I had been telling my friend about this blog, 'Synchronicity,' and about the Edgar Allen Poe synchronicity, which I thought was a wonderful gruesome story. My friend, who is a psychic, was fascinated. She has dreams of murders and has helped police to find the criminals. She also has a blog, but isn't quite ready to devote much time to it. She says that she will soon. "I had another murder dream recently," she told me, "I called the police but they didn't pay much attention to me."

About that time we arrived at another little bar. This one had 3 tables of men and women happily playing poker and no smoke, so we went in. I know that Jan told me where we were, some hollow, but I wasn't paying attention. We drank and told stories for about an hour. Jan kept writing post-it notes for me and stuck them in my pockets so that I would remember to write down the stories on my blog.

Up on the kitchen door behind the bar there was a snack menu with 'Froggy Balls' as a featured item. I couldn't take my eyes off of it. I knew that Jan didn't want them so I resisted. About 5 minutes before the kitchen closed, I had to try some froggy balls. They were wonderful, deep fried cheese, chicken and jalapeno, no frogs. I ate them all. As I was munching away, I overheard someone talking about Frog's Hollow. That's it, that's where we were. Of course, they would have 'Froggy Balls' in Frog's Hollow.

I had a blast with Jan. That was the first time I've been out to a bar in more than two years. Jan returned me home safely and not too late.

Today, I took a walk down the driveway with my husband. He pointed out a dried smashed frog carcass and then the synchronicity struck me. I had forgotten all about the frog crossing our path when we went in search of a place to say goodbye.

*Note: Tibetans consider frogs repositories of sacred wisdom.

21 comments:

  1. Great story about frogs, Butternut. They're my favorite creatures, my totem animal. The Tibetan stuff we can use!

    - Thanks,
    Trish

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  2. That is a really weird coincidence! If you had 'listened' to the frog, it would have saved you the stop at the other spot. Was you destiny predetermined?

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  3. hello butternut, what a great story. i love frogs and toads. my garden has lots of toads, not so many frogs, but the frogs we do have are leopard frogs. i also appreciate synchronicity and signs that point to synchronicities. neat that the two should come together for you. have a peaceful day. steven

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  4. Amazing thing this synchronisity isn't it I had times in my life that one after the other coincidence happened I told a friend and she said oh that's called synchronisity
    Thanks for the links

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  5. Thanks for the compliment of writing about our time together. Now I feel famous!

    And thanks for making me smarter.

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  6. Enjoyed the story. Coincidences never are.

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  7. Dear Butternut
    Such a wonderful story and so very sorry I haven't written to you much lately.
    Not since I read your amazing story about the mother who turned into furniture.
    This is a froggy tale indeed......
    I'm going to e-mail you with a little tale........

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  8. Oh Butternut,
    What a fun night of frogging adventure. I also put this frog sign forward -that they are not only depositories of wisdom but signs of release...like crying and emotional healing. But everyone has their most accurate way of interpreting. Love the story of life in sync! <3

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  9. It was a dark and froggy night....

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  10. It was indeed a dark and froggy night. Very funny! Seriously, we have been having a series of dark foggy nights lately.

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  11. Sometimes when we are aware of something we see it everywhere. You buy a certain kind of car and then it seems half the people in town have one like it.

    I have a little glass frog in my handbag that I have been told is a Japanese charm, Kaeru, which is a symbol for good fortune as well as to return. Best wishes

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  12. Well, I'm confounded. I made a comment earlier and it's not here.

    Let's see if I can remember. I love frogs and toads. We have toads mostly except for the little peepers at night which I never see. The toads love the little ponds after a rain and Big Mama (my red ear slider) loves when the toads lay eggs in her pond. The other night after a rain, I heard a sound that was not toadlike so assume it was a frog but never could find the little bugger.

    I also have a silver 'frog' that is a replica of a petroglyph. someone made it for me but, long story short, it is tainted and I can't bring myself to wear it due to the association. Is there some way to cleanse this?

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  13. Ah! That was some coincidence.. I've often wondered about synchronicity in life.. sometimes it is best to just be fascinated without trying to explain much.

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  14. I love noticing things like that... serendipity!

    Do you remember the frog song "kaeru no uta ga kikoete kuruyo, kwa, kwa, kwa, kwa, gero, gero ,gero, gero, kwa, kwa, kwa" ?

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  15. Hello Leenie,
    Kaeru means not only 'frog,' but also 'to return,' or maybe also 'to change,' in Japanese. You would have to ask Tulsa, but my guess is that the good luck is to bring you home safely. It seems an appropriate symbol for saying goodbye. (Tulsa is a Japanese/English translator.)

    Hi Ellen,
    I don't know much about 'cleansing,' but I have created my own rituals to shake out the bad vibes on me and on objects. Objects need to be surround by positive associations, like laughter, friends, good food. Why don't you have a Hoppy Birthday Party for your frog and invite some friends over. Or you could ask my friend, Jan, who knows more about those kinds of things than I do.

    I like coincidences, they make me giggle. Calling them 'synchronicities,' sounds so much more mysterious. But that Edgar Allen Poe synchronicity is just is shockingly weird, check it out if you haven't already.

    Hi Tulsa, I don't remember the kaeru song, but I remember the Zoosan (Elephant) song. *If you were wondering what Tulsa wrote it says roughly: "I hear the frog's song kwa, kwa ..."

    Peace everybody, thanks for participating.

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  16. A day without synchronisity is rare indeed..I love finding all those connections..
    When it can't possibly be a coincidence ... synchronisity will do, and having a psychic friend along..my!!

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  17. Oh dear ... that frog bit the dust. But the rest of the story is great - sounds like a blast, even and including the froggy balls.

    Wait. The chicken smell does NOT sound great. But the rest of it, yes!

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  18. i first thought that the smell was the squished frog on the front of the car. we have alligator balls here, or wait, is it porcupine? still yummy!

    i'm glad you and your friend were able to have a drink after all and not in the smoky bar.

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  19. oops, I should've translated the song! sorry and thank you! you obviously remember a lot of your Japanese! The elephant song is a cute one too!

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  20. Synchronicity is more common than you think. I have found that in two years on blogger my synchronicity field has grown tenfold. It has to do with the types of sites I visit and the people who pop by my space. We all seem to share common interests. Your tale was fun and somewhat spooky at the same time. Many thanks, I hope that frog carcass did not freak you out too much :-).

    Greetings from London/

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  21. don't know how i missed this wonderfully "froggy" story but so glad i found it just now!!!

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