SK On Elderberry: SK's Endless Wandering

Something From Nothing

I don't know about you, but I am impatiently waiting for that first garden tomato to show itself…In my opinion it can't come soon enough.

So to keep my artistic mind from becoming atrophied, I began to open my mind to creative re-purposing.. So I hit a dead spot creatively. Is this the same as writers block? I think the feelings could be similar. Frustration.

I’m walking the summer garden, while looking over the hill I spy two broken and downed trees. These smaller oak trees had been killed by the death grip of ivy. Some of the ivy vines were an inch thick. These poor oaks never had a chance.

As the winter ice had grown heavy on the oak and ivy it could no longer hold it’s own weight and snapped.

“Wow, Ron look at that. Those are so cool. Do you think you HAUL those up on the back yard?” “Really Shirley? Are you kidding?”

We get the trusty old come-a-long and chains and haul them both up to the backyard.

They both are worn, bedraggled and look like they need to be used as firewood. NO WAY! Hey let’s build an arbor…Ron sighed resignedly. He dives in cutting the grass back twelve feet and levels the area. Of course there has to be a step. What were you thinking?

If you know Ron, you know that he is a sweety. He will do just about

The yard is now a mucky mess. But hey, look at it this way, we will have less grass to mow..anything legal and or moral to keep me happy. Poor dear.

We embed four tall steel rods into concrete for strength. Then start to wire the curved trees to steel posts, overlapping the limbs at the center. We then cut stray limbs off to make the arbor more symmetrical.

Looks pretty bad at this point. But in my mind I could see it at the height of summer. Mind you, Ron still can’t see what I am envisioning. He just plugs along.

Now that the arbor is built we need to plant. Oh Wait…We need a bench so people can enjoy the view. Right? Wait, it gets better. To get to the bench we need stepping-stones. Agreed?

At this point Ron just wants it to end.I found an old fence and designed the seat so you could sit facing the valley or sit facing the yard. Simple? You would think so…I never think things through as thoroughly as I should. But Ron always makes it work.

The stepping-stones are formed from concrete. we poured them individually in the studio as it was raining cats and dogs outside. As they dried we took them out and placed them in the muddy dirt.

We have planted several varieties of roses. One is a white climbing vine rose and will eventually cover the arbor. I can’t wait ten years to see the result so I am planting hops which will cover the entire arbor by mid summer. Moss and small steppable ground cover will be planted among the cobbles.We eventually placed the last cobblestone. The pillows came soon after.

Can you envision the end result. Hope we get to see my grand scheme. Poor Ron.

Thanks for visiting. sk