From the Air, of the Earth, and by the Sea

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Here are two of my favorite things combined, art and the beach. Discovered the work of Jim Deneven and thought I’d share. He does this freehand with a stick. There is something so beautiful about ephemeral art. It emphasizes the experience of the art process without concern for object. It is being in and of the moment, something important about art and self that is so easy for us to be distracted from or to simply just forget. In a way, the ephemeral speaks to us of the the importance of memory and mindfulness.

 

There are more images on the artist’s website.

 

Abecedarium

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The abecedarium was a popular format in children’€™s books from the middle ages through the Victorian period used to teach the alphabet and moral principles simultaneously. Author Rebecca Reid notes that there may have been a biblical precedent. The 22 stanzas of Psalm 118 in the bible use the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order. I think the most well known version is Edward Gorey’s The Eclectic Abecedarium which is based on the primers of the late 18th and early 19th century. A modern alphabet book that looks interesting is The Z Was Zapped by illustrator Chris Van Allsburg.

Come First of May

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A lovely way to start the first morning of May is with a reminder of Lord Whimsy’s post about David Brenner’s moss garden. Moss lends such a lovely patina to the landscape or garden unlike the osessively trimmed blandscapes where moss is banned. There is a small cottage up the road with a moss path to the door with a big stone at the end in front of the door. It’s like an anti-welcome mat. I love that. C.P. McDill and I turned up every stone with moss attached and tucked them under shaded places.

Lack of mossiness aside, the rest of our garden is thriving and the micro-climate we created has held up well to the elements. We are still working on the dry laid stone wall that will go all the way around the garden and up the hill. Last night we had an unexpected frost. It’s an ironic May Eve gift for gardeners, a sort of literal “May Day” for the seedlings and bulbs just beginning to bloom. I put tomatoes, peppers, and basil in the potting shed and lit all of the votive candles I could find.

The mossy path and spring tulips in the front garden.

The dry laid wall in progress.

The beginnings of a strawberry patch and phlox with rocks.

Pesto and salsa hiding in the potting shed.

We live on sand. The bare space is 24 x 24 feet with nothing planted on it. Purslane grows there every spring and every summer we eat it and then the patch is bare again. My plan is to lay out a spiral path with flagstones that I’ve been collecting and then to see what will grow there other than purslane.