Not just a Common Toad

Greetings Card based on an original graphite drawing of my own.

“When I was little, we used to holiday every summer, at Camusvrachan in Glen Lyon. My dad grew up there, at Innerwick. His father, my Grandad Martin (who I never met) was the head gamekeeper, and my Granny Martin was the head housekeeper. There is a Loch in the Glen named after him, Loch Archie (you can spot it on Ordnance Survey maps) and a plaque dedicated to them both on the wall in the grounds of Innerwick church.

Anyway… every summer a little toad would appear and sit in the water bowl that we always left out for our dogs. Every summer I would wait and hope that I’d get to see him again… to me, it was always the SAME wee toad… .

Tom Cox has written of a ‘toad in shoe’ note his dad left on top of one of his shoes in their lobby. (@21stcenturyyokel this is one of my all time favourite tales of yours.)

In folklore, toads are there to teach us to look beneath the surface. To see beauty in every situation or place, however unattractive it may seem on the surface. So, aye… maybe there’s a wee lesson in my thoughts. .

I love a toad. (Just be careful they don’t wee on you if you lift one up to say hi at closer quarters!)”

15cm x 15cm. Left blank for your own message. Comes with brown Kraft envelope.