Okay, here’s the link to the Palace of Wonders in the Walters Art Museum. If you are ever in Baltimore, you have got to see it. Very cool. I wish I’d had a lot longer to linger there. We barely scratched the surface.
The tour guide/educator discussed one of the paintings on display and then the students sat down on the floor and gazed in wonder at a bizarre creature in a floor-level glass cabinet. What was it and did they think it was real?
It was a strange amalgamation of lizard and bat with a head that didn’t resemble a head. It’s skin was dried and unnaturally bronze-ish in color. I could immediately tell it was a fake but many of the kids were quite sure it was real. What about the creature made them think so, the tour guide asked? Dusty looked at me and gave me the look she gives when we discuss religious belief, the look that says her bullshit detector has gone off. We knew it was a fake and simply had to wait while the other kids had their say and the tour guide announced that it was indeed a fake.
The 17th century was a time of exploration of the world and so many new and interesting creatures were being discovered that it wasn’t so hard to cobble together various animal parts, taxiderm the thing, and call it a new species. The bullshit detectors didn’t go off so easily back then.
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In other news, I had a very productive day yesterday. Worked at home (and did actually do some work), got some things planted during a break, charged up the new edger (with a rechargeable battery) I bought which will get its maiden voyage tonight.
Yesterday morning, though, I joined Dusty’s class in the school garden. The students’ job was to plant lillies underneath the windows of one of the school wings. A rectangular cul-de-sac has been cleared for a school garden and every class in the school got to do something yesterday – plant trees, plant vegetables, paint rain barrels, make mosaic stepping stones.
My job ended up being one of slave labor as I, and another mother, hacked away at a dry hill of top soil. We transferred it to a wheelbarrow which I toted from one group to another. I am not really sure any of these lillies will survive. The soil hadn’t really been properly tilled, no amendments added other than the top soil, and they weren’t watered before the groups had to move on to other duties. Dusty had wanted to paint the barrels but got assigned somewhere else. Where, I’m not exactly sure. It was 10:30 and I needed to get back to work. Paying work.
But it was a fun, if chilly, morning. Later, I planted some herbs. Since my front flower bed was decimated by voles, I’m slowly clearing it out and have decided to dedicate the space mainly to herbs, esp perennial ones: lavender (to replace the dead one), rosemary (to add to the half-dead one), parsley, mint, sage, etc. There’s still plenty of work to do.
The vegetable garden is just about done. I’ll take some pictures soon and tell you what’s where. I need to install two new metal stakes in the ground (that hold up the fence) to replace the wooden stakes that snapped off during the snows. I need to get a sturdy tarp for weed suppression before things get out of hand. I’m slowly laying down soaker hoses and beginning the watering cycle as things are so very dry despite a couple of days of on and off rain. My garden missed most of the weather fun so that’s how I’ll be spending my evenings – watering. I need to get some rain barrels of my own soon so that this task of dragging hoses from one end of the property (a big pain in my ass) to the other can end. I’ll let Dusty and Red paint those for sure.
Life in Scribbletown 