Hill Slug Chronicles: Easter Sunday, Spring Fling, and Flowers In Between

Saturday, April 26, 2014

Easter Sunday, Spring Fling, and Flowers In Between

Grounds for Sculpture at Rat's

(Or is it Rat's at Grounds for Sculpture?)

26 April 2014

Today we're playing catch-up. Below is a massive photo dump.

Sunday we slept in. We had reservations for brunch at Rat's at 11:15. I drank a lot of coffee and did chores before we left. Our timing was good; the park was almost empty when we sat down outside. I got a few pictures before people began to stream in. My camera battery was dying. Zooming in would shut it down.

Yes, it's supposed to look like Monet's bridge:

The wall next to the restaurant:

Although we were in a sculpture garden, I took pictures of two sculptures. One isn't worth posting. The other is a reflection.

I was more interested in the peacocks this time.

The camera battery died for real at this point. I switched to my phone.

There's one more sculpture that was photo-worthy, but the scene petered out before I could get close enough. It's a semicircle of kids, holding hands and running. The last kid is about to trip. What I didn't capture was the handful of real kids playing on the statues of the fake kids. The kids were moving a lot faster than the peacocks.

A cherry tree on our way out:

Every few years I buy far too many bulbs in the spring for fall delivery. Last fall I enlisted Jack's help in planting them all. I can never remember from one order to the next which tulips and daffodils we planted. Sunday I took pictures.

Terry C emailed a bunch of us and asked what we were up to. This is what I wrote back:

Today we had brunch at Rat's and walked around Grounds for Sculpture. No sign of Ms Monroe, whole or in part.

I repaired a cat-shredded comforter by hand, with much feline assistance.

Most of what I've ingested today is caffeine.

At 4 pm, Sean is going to drag me around the county until the Evil Bean is out of my system.

I'm about to do battle with dying bamboo. Toodles!

At 4:00 Sean pulled up. I took him on the old Friday Night Route. We saw sheep on Bayberry Road:

The wind was kicking up pretty good, and the air was getting colder, by the time we got back home. I unloaded a handful of leftover bunnies on Sean.

Three more days of bike commuting. Three more days of pothole slalom on Princeton Pike. On Wednesday the signs went up: Mercer Road will be closed at Quaker Road on or about May 5, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. The repaving is expected to last a couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to the mile-long milled surface. It'll be safer than the potholes, and there won't be any traffic. I'm hoping the work crews let me through.

The sky in West Windsor yesterday as I finished grocery shopping:

Cheryl led the Spring Fling B ride today. I'd agreed to lead if I had to, but I didn't want to. Fortunately, Snakehead volunteered before I was called into service. Cheryl and I pushed the faster riders onto him. We still had a big crowd. I said I'd sweep, but I didn't really. When I was near the back I kept an eye on the group, but I found myself near the front most of the time. Cheryl says I need lessons from Plain Jim on how to sweep.

We went by Peackock's General Store.

I could still smell smoke when I got close to the fence.

Lunch was fun. I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen in a long time. I sat with people I hadn't sat with in a long time.

This is the D&R Canal at the back of the Masonic Lodge property:

I rode home with Mike B and Theresa. I stopped for the Cherry Grove Farm cows that have been grazing on the Princeton Pike side of the farm all week.

Yes, Jim. I stopped for cows.

The tulips were open when I got home. Same deal about forgetting what we planted; I've got them documented this time.

I'm not sure what this one is going to look like when it opens. I think it's going to be a ruffly one.

Grape hyacinths multiply on their own. I planted these years and years ago.

Guinea hen flowers, with species tulips (the originals from which the rest were bred) unopened underneath:

I'm almost positive that there was some creative squirrel action this winter. Several tulips have popped up impossibly close to the azalea and mountain laurel bushes, too close for the bulb planter ever to have reached.