Back from North Carolina

We're home from North Carolina which was very fun. Actually, we've been back for a few days, which is good because we completely missed the rain and have only have a little bit up here (maybe an inch today--though one more band possibly coming through according to weather.com).

I have a lot of pictures which probably appeal mostly to me but i did think it was fun to find what i'm pretty sure was a coral bell in the Great Smokys that looks almost exactly like the Dolce Mocha Mint coral bell being sold by Proven Winners.

This is the plant I found...

and this is the Mocha Mint--not identical but still kind of fun to see how the variations come about.

every other Huechera I saw was plain green. Of course, i may be wrong about what they are--there weren't any flowers, but i think they were Coral Bells...

More to come

It is hard to believe how long it has been since I've posted. it isn't as if nothing has happened, but nothing has happened as far as the garden. I did plant two Witherod Viburnums and I know I should take pictures, but I haven't. Work for the landscape architect as well as Wildwood has taken my time. Even next week I was hoping for two days to work on my patio but I'm not sure if I'll have them.

So much of life is lived with the idea of some sort of payoff tomorrow. My Dad died instantaneously in a car crash (he was driving) in Arizona. Was he thinking of today or tomorrow?

At least the Phillies were in first when he died. To put this into persective, when the Phillies won the World Series in '80, Tug McGraw's feet had not yet touched the earth again, when the phone rang and it was my Dad saying "They won!"

Which is a part of the only song I ever wrote, a part of which is

"He gave me a quiet place
Where I could always go
Not always seeing eye to eye
Still always sitting side by side,
Listening to a ballgame
on the radio."

It was the Phillies.

I work tomorrow. That is our mantra.

here is the patio with the cinder block center for the wall in place. Now all I have to do is add the rock veneer. I added some on the back last night so I could get a feel for how it will work in an area that will actually be buried. It uses a lot of mortar! Well, today is my one day in several weeks when I can work all day so I'm going to read the paper and then get to it!

Hey, the weather is perfect today--almost fall-like--so it's great for laying cinder blocks. I'm not fast but am closing in on finishing the main wall (need to mix more mortar so took a lunch break). then I have to do the fire pit. that's just two courses of 8x8x8 cubes so should go pretty quickly. With any luck I'll finish the whole cinder block work today.

Then it's clean up that mess and start putting on the rock to create the outer face of the wall. But not that today.

Okay. The concrete for the fire pit is in--only four bags worth so pretty easy. And all the cinder blocks are up from the driveway. I'm going to take a break and then get to mortaring.

Today is going to be a slow day. So far I've removed some of the stone dust from the fire pit so I can make a small foundation for the fire pit wall (lower than the back wall) and lugged a couple of bags of mortar up from the car and I'm already tired. It's humid and I'm still tired from Monday--yesterday was a tie--I didn't make myself worse but i didn't really rest either. I'd like to get the foundation fo rhte fire pit made as well as lay down some of the cinder blocks. We'll see. i'm going to need to take breaks frequently.

Yesterday was as hard a day as I can remember. I created a concrete pad for the patio wall using 25 80-lb bags of concrete which works out to 1 ton plus water. The last five bags I was having arm cramps--my left arm was so bad my fingers were curling up and I really couldn't get them to straighten out. Drank some extra-thick gatorade (I have the mix because it costs so much less to make your own) and that seemed to help.

i have pictures but they aren't very spectacular. 25 bags isn't much--way less than recommended, but I'm building this on the old gravel and sand bed of the swimming pool so it is well-draining very compacted subgrade so frost heave shouldn't be much of a problem (the patio stone I laid last year went nowhere over the winter).

The old tee-shirt i wore went in the trash immediately afterward. it was funny--I told Lucy iwas going to throw it away and she said something like "Somewhere outside i hope!" It was so hot the sweat had to take a number and wait its turn before pouring out. I think the 24th bag I didn't add water--just stood over it and dripped ! :-P

Anyway, today was a bit easier as all I did was collect rocks to use for the wall and lay out the first course of cinder block interior wall to see just how many I need. Tomorrow I'm going to dig out the fire pit area (I filled it with stone dust to make laying the patio easier and so we could use it for fires) and then mortar in the first course of cinder blocks. I'd like to do all three layers but I'm not sure how long its going to take. I've never mortared in cinder blocks before and, of course, my first wall is a curved one so nothing lines up easily.

I love my Fit (car) but it has been a bit of a problem getting all this dead weight home. I suppose I could push it a bit further but cinder blocks and bags of mortar/concrete are heavy so I just make more trips (two today). This is the first new car I've ever owned (not leased) so want it to stay in good shape. i did rent the Home Depot truck for twenty of the bags of concrete.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel...

Oh, I did plant a Korean spice viburnum (anticipating next spring!) and four pink knockout roses (sale at Home Depot--$3.99 each, couldn't resist buying from the 'enemy') today as well.

Why did the previous owners backfill with stone?