Stanley has been spending quite a bit of the afternoon with us today, and apparently he did not come simply to stand around looking handsome. We have had the chance to watch him fish, successfully, more than once. One catch appeared fairly small, while another was large enough that we could clearly see him working to manage it before finally getting it situated just right.
After several days of rain, the puddle has changed again. The water is higher, the edges are different, and apparently the fishing has improved enough for Stanley to take notice. Maybe the puddle needed those rainy inside days just as much as the ground did, because suddenly it seems ready to catch up with all of the visitors who have made 2026 such an interesting year out here.
There is something especially wonderful about watching an animal simply go about its day. Stanley isn’t putting on a performance for us. He is hungry, there are fish, and he has work to do if he intends to eat. Yet from the patio, something completely ordinary in his life becomes something remarkable in ours.
I think that may be one of the lessons the puddle keeps offering over and over again. Remarkable does not always mean rare, dramatic, or extraordinary. Sometimes remarkable is simply getting close enough to someone else’s ordinary life that you have the privilege of noticing it.
Today Stanley went fishing. And we got to watch.
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