The patio is done!

We finished our new patio! I wrote a "slice of life" about this sanity project back in April. We've worked very hard since then. Yes, it took us many weeks, working around our babysitting duties and other time demands. In the end, we created this 11' x 12' space just in time for a weekend of the most incredible weather (cool, dry, low humidity). Let me share photos from 'start to finish' of our work, and a short poem about the project, as well.

We no sooner dug out the patio, when rain was expected.

First, we made a layer of pea gravel.

Then we add rock dust, and began placing flagstones.

If you like puzzles, you will enjoy this!

Our patio is done.

all good projects

I wonder, do all good projects start with a sense of frustration?

my overall crankiness about our ill-defined, unkempt, blah backyard

the eyesore of the rusting fire pit

the plague of weeds and mud

the annoyance of no place to sit and relax

the exasperation of home remodeling delays delays delays

we traded these for a do-it-ourselves flagstone patio

this desire to get something done,

to imagine start do finish enjoy

walking the stone yard, choosing flagstone

days of sweaty labor, down on our knees

measuring digging leveling

pea gravel rock dust 

negotiating our different approaches, rethinking

more sweaty labor, down on our knees

laying the flagstone

adding more rock dust

leveling, adjusting, repositioning

and

now look

just beautiful!

__________________

It's Tuesday and I am participating in the

 Slice of Life.  

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

Playlists

 

Rainy weather has offered many opportunities to continue culling and clearing for our kitchen/family room remodel (which has been pushed back yet another few weeks as we make our way through an interminable permit process - oh my, THIS CONTINUED LAMENT will not be the point of today's blog post, I assure you, I assure me). 

Inside a large hope chest (really, a bench in our home), I found a treasure trove of music CD's and cassette tapes, long long forgotten. What to do with all these? 

The cassettes were problematic  - we have nothing to play these with anymore, and by and large, these were handmade playlists. Many of these I simply trashed; but, I made a small container of 'treasures' and we will see if anyone we know still has a cassette deck and whether these cassettes still play. In some cases, we are able to recreate (beloved) playlists again on our computer.

The CD sorting took an unexpectedly long time, as I opened each CD case to check for its corresponding CD, and created numerous piles:

- empty CD cases, requiring a further search through the large compilation cases

- a pile for donation

- a pile for trash (no corresponding CD can be found)

- a pile for each family member 

- a pile of "I DON'T KNOW, WHAT DO YOU THINK?" for everyone to look through

The individual piles for family members really confused me when I realized I had no music CDs for my youngest son; all the boys love music and have varied tastes - where/what/why does he have nothing? Then it dawned on me - he was ten years old when the ipod was created...he has always had music available digitally. Unlike his older brothers, he did not spend hours creating his own CDs for road trips and friends. He has no physical detritus to sort through! Extraordinary to think about.

It is astounding how clearing out this one chest led to a long, sentimental journey through time, remembering. 

It also led to a poem about creating playlists. I had a little fun with its visual structure, as I tried to capture how the technology of music collections has changed over time. Enjoy!

how to create a music playlist

imagine which songs to include? which to record first? which should be last in the set?

create the perfect music playlist romance friendship road trip dance party have fun

thinking this through you’ll need a blank cassette tape one by one spin the tunes

 on the turntable, line the needle up with the track, press record on the deck, &

build the playlist, yes there was such an art to it, don’t forget, hand write, no 

better yet, type the list of songs for the sleeve and if you really want to 

make this a gift, create vibrant cover art for the jacket, use your

imagination. later there were cd’s and computers so all

you had to do was gather songs from various cd’s & 

record an all new playlist on a blank cd 

yes a very similar process as before 

plus you could still create art

on the cd sleeve to add

sentiment and then

poof! there was

streaming &

nothing

at all

to

h

o

l
d

___________________

It's Tuesday and I am participating in the

 Slice of Life.  

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!

Sanity project

 

We're in the midst of a sanity project.

Did I just make this term up?

I may have.

Here's what I mean - 

As we wrestle with our huge home remodeling project, as we -

• finalize plans, 
• order materials, 
• plan out all these moveable parts, and 
• deal with the unforeseen delays plus new problems, 

I feel very much that I am not in control.

I know this.

I know, too, that this is ALWAYS true - of home projects, of life itself.

I know I'll be okay, we'll be okay, the contractors will finish the work, it will all work out eventually.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it.

In the meanwhile, however, I need a sanity project: I need to do something that has a definable beginning, middle, and end. I need to do something that gets completed. I need to be the one who gets to do it. I need to get it done. I need to feel able. I need to smile at its completion.

Thankfully, my husband understands and appreciates this about me. 

So - we are installing a small flagstone patio in the backyard, Tony and I. I'm so excited! We visited my favorite 'home remodeling' place, our local quarry. We traipsed around that lot, looking at all the different types of stone, until we found the beautiful, irregular pieces we desired. 

Two days later, on a day when we were babysitting our granddaughters, it was delivered to our house. I actually woke the older one up from her afternoon nap (you can see she is still sporting her 'sleep sack'), so that she and her sister could both watch the flagstone be delivered by forklift. They love construction vehicles and wouldn't want to miss out on this. 

They were SO excited! 

We are SO excited! 

Honestly, this is just the work I want to do right now - dig in the dirt, move and sweat, make something pretty. 

Now, my day is not surrendered to others' deadlines, obstacles, delays, setbacks, confusion, forgetfulness...I can make these myself, hahaha, with my new spring sanity project! 

Now, excuse me, I'm going out back and getting dirty.

___________________

It's Tuesday and I am participating in the

 Slice of Life.  

Thank you, Two Writing Teachers, for creating this supportive community 

of teacher-writers!