April 9 Clean Up at Chestnut Hill Monthly Meeting New Building Lot

 April 9 was the designated day to begin 2011 volunteer cleanup at the "lower lot," proposed building site for the Chestnut Hill Quaker Meeting.  There are years of trash and weeds built up and this posting shows some before cleanup shots.  The postings below show scenes during and after cleanup.

During Spring Clean up

 Trash was collected, recycling gathered, brush cut and weeds pulled.  Tires were pulled for recycling.  The very large filing cabinet below stumped the volunteers.

After Spring Clean Up

 The Volunteer Coordinator for Fairmount Park of Philadelphia Dept of Parks and Recreation hauled away the trash and recycling picked up during the clean up day.

 The cleared area is viewed below.  It was seeded with a cover crop mix to hold the soil in place and compete with the weeds; the cover crop included oats, crimson clover, hairy vetch, red clover, and alfalfa.

 These volunteers are happy with the progress - and very tired!

This is How it is Done at a Great Private Garden

 Severe pruning happens in the small window of time in the spring before the early bloomers emerge.
Also, low spots have soil added to build up the beds.
Finally leaf compost is added to protect the soil: dumped in piles and then raked to form a smooth blanket.

Yellow Spring Bloom

 Chinese Witchhazel, above and Winter Jasmine below are the earliest.  You can imagine the daffodils!

Mid-Century (Mostly) Antiques at New York Shows, March 2011

 The English dealer below had some older objects, like the 17th century handmade round wooden table.

Philly Flower Show, 2011

 The container display put on by the Plastics Council was well done.
Below, the Philadelphia Water Department is pushing rain gardens (and bike transport).

April found a new friend.

Trees in Quail Hollow County Park, Santa Cruz County California

A Visit With Renee

San Franciso Scenes

 Looking back to San Francisco from the ferry to Sausalito, above.
Below, the sun rises to the east, looking from Noe Valley neighborhood near Twin Peaks toward Oakland.

 A small city park in Noe Valley has a magnificent view north toward the city.
The red patch is a homeless person in a sleeping bag.