Compost, Soil, Earth...

In honor of the theme "Earth", I went out to check on our compost pile...

...We have composted our organic waste for years according to the three-bin / two-turn method I drew from Thalassa Cruso's book "Making Vegetables Grow" published in 1975...

...She was quite a character and I remember seeing her appear on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson...

.......Mr. O. built the three bins out of fencing and it still exists although covered in vines......The new organic waste goes in the first bin...which is later turned into the second bin... then the third...then it is finished compost...

...The finished compost is ready for spreading in the garden...it is rich and brown...

...and full of earthworms...

Chionodoxa...

I had never heard of them when I was taken by surprise one early spring day more than 30 years ago by a yard which was carpeted in blue...The first three pictures are of that yard...

...when I see them for the first time each spring they take my breath away...

...Photos don't do the deep blue or the sheer number of them justice...

...They blossom just about the same time as crocus yet they don't seem as popular or well known as crocus and I don't know why...Eventually I planted some in my own yard ... the following pictures are of those I planted ...

...The plant is named for the Greek word for snow,chion...and glory,doxa...it is commonly known as Glory-in-the-Snow...

...Not only do they spread easily but they are so hardy they keep coming up through stones on the walkway and by the gravel driveway...

...The only plants I seem to be able to grow are like this...hardy, tenacious, unstoppable!

Road Trip...

Mr. O and I took a short road trip on a chilly Easter Sunday to Wesleyan University's art galleries...It was the first time I have been to that campus and it is very beautiful...spring is trying to show itself here too...




...At the Davison Art Center we saw a small but evocative photography show of Judith Joy Ross photographs...click on her name for a link to the show's description...this was one of my many favorites at the show...

Her most recent photographs included are part of a series of portraits taken of protesters against the Iraq war...

...We then went to the Zilkha Galleries where some Senior Thesis Exhibitions were taking place and were very impressive...I wish I wrote down the names of the student artists of my favorite pieces shown here...but they were included within this group..

Jason Bailey, Travis Fitzgerald, Omar Hunter Craighill, Claire Staples and
Joshua Koenig.

...this wonderful, flowing wooden sculpture...

...and a fun, light-hearted series of very large paintings of chairs of all types...

...all of these paintings were too large to fit in my house but I would have been happy to hang any one of them if I could...

Early Egg Hunt...

Saturday was a rainy cold day....and the grandchildren were here for an egg hunt...

...So the egg hunt was indoors...

...and as you can tell taken very seriously...

Happy Easter...

Before the Rain...

Things are looking a little dreary in Arcadia...

...but I managed to hang some sheets outside for the first time this spring...

...and brought them in just before it started raining...

Eggs...

Some old, some new, some still waiting to be decorated...

.

...Just in time for Theme Thursday!

Horseshoe Crab...

It seems that when I was young I could find horseshoe crab shells easily but now it seems rare to spot one ...this is why I was happy to find this rather large, barnacle encrusted, shell on the beach...

More Windy Beach Weather...

Another trip was made to Galilee...this time with the kids...

...the weather was just as windy as it was the last time I was here...

...but the kids don't seem to notice weather at all...

...the surf was rough...

... the wind was rougher...

...and the clouds were gorgeous.

Playing Dress-up...

...Actually just playing with boxes and textures while sorting out some old jewelry...

10X10...

This week Theme Thursday was "Ten"...My brain seems too foggy to come up with a good, original post dealing with a ten of some sort...but ten squared is the number of posts I have made to date!

My Afternoon...

Relaxing in the Caribbean...

April Fool's!...It is really still rainy and chilly here and I'm still painting trim...