Saturday we worked. Dug a new compost heap. Mrs. Curley read a book which recommended digging a hole 2-3 feet deep and then forming the compost heap in layers: compost, grass, manure (if available), dirt, repeat. Hopefully this will work better than it has in the past. Further, with our "new" (using the term very loosely) pickup truck I have the means to retrieve an almost unlimited supply of free horse manure (if I can find that phone number). So next year's garden should be well fertilized and maybe our yield will be better.
Figs
We also picked figs on Saturday. We have a neigbor who has a huge fig tree. He can't climb the ladder to pick them anymore, so he asked us over to get as many as we could. He gives some to his sister who makes up some fig preserves for him and her. We came home with a basket full-and are they gooood!. Now we just need some recipes as Mrs. Curley has never done anything with figs before and can't find any recipes in her cookbook.
Sunday
Sunday, the plan was to be out of the house before dawn, go to Mass in Charleston and then hit the beach. But with overcast skies in the morning and the forecast predicting 40% chance of rain on the coast, we decided to stay home. Since we were all up and ready to go so early though, we went to Mass at another parish (not our own) as they had an early Mass. Coming home, we all got to work on our projects (see this entry). After lunch we had a rehearsal for our play (The Play of St. George, a traditional folk play. See the post linked above also.)-which is coming along nicely. We will probably perform it in a few weeks. Lines are being memorized, sword fights (practically) choreographed, and songs being learned. It is really coming together-and fun for all of us.
Zorro
Finally, to round off the afternoon, we watched the 1920 version of the Mark of Zorro. Starring Douglas Fairbanks, this silent film (in my opinion) has the most character development, best acting, and best action (Mr. Fairbanks does his own stunts) of any Zorro movie/television series I have seen. 
Character development? Don Diego/Zorro woes a young lady, but Don Diego is shy in his own persona. He only can express his love (in poetry no less) when speaking from behind the mask.
Except for a comment at the beginning of the movie, calling Oliver Cromwell an enemy of oppression, the movie has some definite 'Catholic' moments. Don't take my word for it-a real movie critic has this to say:
In one striking sequence, a dignified old Franciscan friar, falsely accused of fraud, contemptuously tells the corrupt magistrate, "If I were a supporter of the licentious governor, I would be innocent. I am a robed Franciscan — therefore I am guilty!" The magistrate has the priest flogged for these "treasonous" remarks — an outrage that immediately causes a bystander, well-born but impoverished caballero Don Carlos Pulido (Charles Hill Mailes), to intervene despite the consequences he will surely incur. In a touching scene, we see the priest being carted off to safety, blessing his rescuers with the sign of the cross.
When Zorro hears of the flogging, he is furious. First, he has the magistrate himself flogged in the same manner. Later, turning on a posse of blue-blooded caballeros pursuing him "for sport," he denounces them: "You sit idly sipping wine while the naked back of an unprotesting soldier of Christ is beaten!" This outrage, more than any other, finally turns the tide in Zorro’s favor.
Read the rest of the excellent review of an excellent movie here.
You would think that in this day and age a black and white silent movie (90 minutes no less) would hold no interest for kids (or adults for that matter). I beg to differ. My sister gave us a copy of this movie a year and a half ago. The kids absolutely love it (we've watched it at least 3 times), and Zorro becomes a member of the family for a few days after watching it.
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