Storms...

The landscape team managed to start the patio last week before a series of thunderstorms came by. It is a painstaking process, setting the stones on compacted gravel and then filling the cracks with sand before holding everything in place with a frame.

You can imagine the mud behind the house, but our valiant landscaper has been a trooper despite it all.

Yesterday he and I visited a local quarry where I selected some large rocks that will form part of the rock garden behind the living room. 

I can't wait to see them in place.

Nicholas

The photograph above was the light within the cloud forms just prior to one of the extraordinary storms last week. We were seated on our front porch and this was the view over the hills to the west...glorious.

Here are the first pavers for the patio being put into place. They will also be used for the floor of the fire pit area of the garden...the colours remind us of the brick homes we had in England...we didn't consciously make the decision, but it is quite a wonderful kind of comfort and memory.

The bricks are now all in place, but are covered with a tarp, to protect them until they are tamped down and "cemented" into place with the fine grains of sand that will fill the small spaces between.

And here are examples of the "bluestone" from our local quarry. This is a type of limestone native to this part of New York state...it has such interesting colour variations with the iron oxides and mineral deposits...Nicholas has selected 7 stones, which will be formed into a small sculptural feature in the meditation garden directly behind the living room... (the lower image is a HUGE stone...see Nicholas' feet just above...we are not having it in the garden, but it gives an idea of colour)

During a long meeting with our landscape designer on Friday, I found out that he grew up not far from my tiny hometown, that we know numerous people in common, and that we share friendships...but had never met one another until this moment. Somehow the garden feels even more precious now...

It will be a wonderful thing to see the trees and plants and sculptures going into this earth...we were reminded when we looked at the calendar today that all we own was packed into storage exactly one year ago...what a journey it has been to this new life...

Judy