Well, that didn’t take long! After setting up the pump/filter/UV lamp last weekend, the pond is completely clear and ready for another year – actually it was clear in less than a week, but rain put me off taking photos earlier!
Another year on the board of the Open Door (previously Cape Ann Food Pantry), and time for another annual board meeting. Back in 2006, my first experience was a board meeting where it was realized that instead of buying an expensive building to relocate to, we should focus on our mission of addressing hunger in Cape Ann.
Interestingly, four years later we now have purchased a building! But sensibly we were able to purchase the building where we were already located (becoming a landlord instead of renter); we’ve also updated our mission statement to a more concise “The mission of the Open Door is to alleviate the impact of hunger in our community. We use practical strategies to connect people to good food, advocate for those In need, and engage others in the work of building food security.” (see the 2009 board meeting for more on the development of this new mission statement).
So this year’s board meeting needed to find a new focus … of course I didn’t need to find a new task, as I still take pictures!
After taking a picture every day last year, I have a “weather photo calendar”, so it’s interesting to compare 2010 with 2009. It’s felt like Spring is early this year, especially with the 88 degrees day (!) we had a few days ago; we restored the pump to the pond today, and coincidentally did it at the same time last year, but I should have done the pond last weekend (though we were away).
The plants definitely are further on this year – the Forsythia have opened and finished, while last year they were just opening; and compare Daffodils this year, with those from a week later last year …
2010:
2009, a week later:
A few more pictures from today … our house and the bush in the front garden:
The pond, and Fish – they know it’s Spring, they want lots of food:
M&I / GBMINI 