BY SU SAN TAWIL
PHOTOGRAPH Y BY KRISTA HUSA
T
hings are really hopping at Dale and
Marty Goodman's West Bloomfield
home. The place is filled
with frogs — but it's
hardly a Passover plague. Dale col-
lects them and, in fact, has amassed
so many that she's applied for a list-
ing in the Guinness Book of World
Records.
Her 1,800-plus croakers range
from jewelry and figurines to utilitari-
an pieces like dishes and quilts. Even
her license plate says "PHROG."
"It got started when Marty bought
me this ring," says Dale, of a favorite
gold frog ring. "That was 30 years
ago. It kind of took off from there."
Marty now often surprises Dale
with gifts of frogs, and daughter
Beth, 29, and son Ian, 23, also help
add to their mother's collection. Of
course, friends and relatives always know what to
buy Dale for birthdays and other occasions.
"It's a fun hobby," says Dale. "We're always
looking for frogs — and we always find them!
Whenever we travel, we shop for frogs. It makes
our trips fun. We went to Mackinac Island and
Petosky last summer and came back with our car
trunk full of frogs."
When the Goodmans remodeled their house,
they had several shelving units built to help display
figurines, banks and other parts of their frog collec-
tion. A bulletin board in the kitchen
holds nearly 100 frog jewelry pins; a
special hook rack holds froggy key
chains. Stripe and Spot, two live fire-
belly toads, share a bowl on the
kitchen counter.
The entire house is swamped with
the artsy amphibians. Frog paintings
adorn the walls ("Too much house-
work can make you croak," warns
one), and tables hold frog planters
and jars filled with frog pens, pencils
and bookmarks. Stuffed frog dolls
perch on sofas (green, of course),
while the bathroom holds a vast array
of toady towels, soap dishes, cosmetic
bottles and other knick-knacks. A
frog clock in the den actually croaks
on the hour.
Each collectible is special in its own way. Many
of the hoppers have incredibly expressive faces.
Some are whimsical, some are funky, others sur-
prisingly elegant. Attired in a frog print sweatshirt
and frog socks, with frog earrings, rings and neck-
laces, Dale sums up her passion in the simplest of
terms: "They make me smile."