Mornings are still cool, but temperatures will reach the high eighties next week. An early breakfast of malt-o-meal and I was on my way to the barn. Weeding at the circle garden is an ongoing task as I settled in the new plants. I have to investigate the water line, having connected a 25 foot hose and sprinkler so that I do not have to haul a watering can up the hill.
I spent the rest of the morning mulching the far western end of the front slope garden, the section that seems to receive the least water and is most in need of conservation. The prior application of Roundup did its work. I turned over and scratched out whatever remained, soaked the ground, applied mulch and soaked the mulch. Ten bags (20 cubic feet) covered the slope from the rockroses down to the lantana. Sorry to see that the barberry is still not blooming.
My Easter Vigil was a day of meditation in the garden. I am reminded of Saint Thomas, who did not ask to see the face of Jesus, but to see his wounds, to prove that his rabbi was risen from the dead. Truly a promise of a bodily resurrection, with all our scars and wounds included. The meditation of John Dominic Crossan on the the harrowing of hell also remained with me. Between Good Friday and Easter Sunday Jesus broke open the gates of hell and led out all the lost souls. His was a personal and a communal resurrection.
Later in the day I found my way down to the Rising Sun Nursery, An unusual variety of cistus was in stock, with a white flower and a yellow center. I planted it in the circle garden at the barn on the way in, I also found ruby and and gold lantana, and planted it in the abandoned gopher cage from a year ago. Hope springs eternal.
Only a week and the back lawn was a jungle. The grass is spreading but so is a large amount of crabgrass and the insidious Bermuda grass. Mowing, raking and edging was enough for the day.
I met a flock of wild turkeys on the roadway, as I went out. The wild ones are thinner and they can in fact fly.
Brother Francis and Sister Rockrose
Tonight a brilliant full moon lights up my bedroom and the bathroom. Not surprising. The full moon in March came a few days before the vernal equinox and pushed the date of Easter into the third week of April.
A Year at the Snake 