We messed with the placement of these stepping stones for at least an hour. The curve of the concrete patio made it hard to know how to make it look good because it meant that symmetry was out. When we figured out to put the square one in the bottom left instead of a round one, it came together.
As I said in my earlier post, these concrete "Think" and "Hope" blocks were made by my daughter-in-law, Mae. She picked up the little tiles on the beach in Italy and brought them home with her. She had nothing in mind for them, but we were the lucky recipients (along with others of her loved ones). The words, "Think" and "Hope" are ambigrams. I've linked to a definition there, but it just means that if you look at the words backward or forward, they both say the same thing, Angels and Demons style. She is just so clever.
Here they are close, up. If you turn your head upside down, you'll see what I'm saying. And if you'd rather not, you can take my word for it.
My husband is an engineer and so the "Think" is for him. I had been quite ill with a life-threatening illness at the time she made mine. Although she didn't tell me so, I think that's why she made "Hope" for me. And so here's how the front of the greenhouse looks. (And if you're sick of seeing the greenhouse, I promise this will be the last picture of it.)
George is tired of all this greenhouse work. He just wants to go for a walk.
I think we'll probably do that today if the guys don't come to work on the deck again. It's getting close to being finished, but they still have to finish the railing and put the siding back onto the house. I don't think I told you much about what they're doing. We have a deck off our dining room that also serves as the roof for our daylight basement below. It had a waterproof membrane on it (because you can't walk around on roofing shingles). The membrane started to leak last year, and so we had to replace it. But when we got bids on it, we discovered that it hadn't been built to code in many different ways. So we had to pretty much rebuild the whole deck/roof. It turned out to cost about four times what we'd expected. But such is life.
They still have to finish the railing. Even the railing hadn't been built to code. And, because rebuilding it meant building it to have a slight slope, they had to raise the two doors on that side of the house and that meant taking the siding off the house. You can see where I'm going with this. What a mess. Anyway . . . now we're waiting another couple of weeks for the railing to arrive. Fortunately, the waterproofing portion is finished because we've already had some rain.
As I was walking around the yard yesterday, I took a couple of pictures for you to see.
Dahlias are absolutely my favorite flower. I've been trying to grow them for three years, and this is the first year that I've had any real success. This yellow one was given to me by my neighbor. The picture doesn't do it justice because it's as big as a dinner plate. Really fantastic. I like this one too. It's about the size of my fist.
Finally, because I'm introducing you to where I live, I wanted you to see the sundial I have in the garden. I have had a fascination with sundials since I was a little girl. My dad, in addition to being a career Marine, was a watchmaker by trade. When I was a little girl, he read a book to me about telling time. It had all sorts of time pieces in it--different kinds of clocks through the ages. There were some that involved water and all kinds of things. But the one I loved most was the sundial. I knew someone once who had one, but it was the only one I'd ever seen in my life (besides the one in the book). So when I saw this in our local Backyard Bird Shop, it spoke to me and I had to have it. Fortunately, it didn't break the bank because there was no leaving it behind:
In case you can't read it, it says:
The Time to Be Happy Is Now
The Place to Be Happy Is Here
I had just started feeling better after a lengthy illness, and so it seemed like a good omen.
Okay, now I guess I'm off for my walk with George. I can't disappoint my cat.
4 comments:
Your greenhouse, flowers and sundial are beautiful.
I am very glad to hear that you are on the mend, and I hope you continue to feel better!
Thanks for the good wishes, Vegetarian Hunter. My illness was several years ago, and so I've been on the mend for a long time. When one goes through that kind of experience though, one always marks time from that point. Thanks for following.
The magic word tiles speak to me on levels deeper than I had anticipated when I started reading this entry. I am not yet bored with greenhouse pictures; your cat gives great expression !~!
Dahlias bring to mind my mom, another grower of flowers that still move me after 40 years. Watchmakers, my late father-in-law; sundials Myra-another precious loved one who recently died too young and tended her garden fiercely.
As always, Lynda--Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
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