Rock Shop

Part of the fun of building the terrace is a trip to the quarry. Yay! The piles of sand, gravel, rock, slag and slurry are staggeringly high and it's like visiting the moon or Mars. The first time I went to this quarry with Bob (maybe when we were constructing the chimney? my studio?) I was intimidated by the vast barren heaps and the gigantic equipment that barrels by at what seems like a million miles an hour. Everyone is on an important mission, dwarfed by their humongous Tonka toys.

They're so purposeful and all lined up to be filled with mammoth amounts of pre-mixed concrete. Our project seems so puny in comparison. (And here's a fun fact: the gravel we're buying is absurdly cheap. An entire ton of that crushed stone we got to start the terrace was only $15. The stuff we bought today was only $25 a ton. But to get it delivered was $305! Thank goodness we have the trusty red pick up truck.) The clouds of dust are evidence of just how fast they're going.

Here's a shot of the mountain of rock that they're busily reducing to the 1/2 inch gravel like the stuff we're buying. It looks like the Grand Canyon (or again, the moon) and there are monster trucks racing up and down this very steep access road. It all seems somewhat precarious.

Here's Bob bravely facing down the giant bucket loader that is a big as our truck. These guys are pretty masterful about loading in just the amount you want. I guess they could really crush the truck beneath a pile of rubble if they wanted to. But loaded up, we safely departed and began the other fun- of shoveling off all that gravel back home...


 

Can't Stop Diggin' It

Here's an action shot from my exciting "Digging Cam". Yup! We're at it again... expanding that outdoor seating area. You will remember that as a quick fix for the garden tour, we demolished our sadly rotting "deck" and put down gravel. It looked lovely, but it was but a temporary stop along the way to true, full house-width terrace...

So I spent a pleasant afternoon carting away wheel barrows and wheelbarrows worth of dirt. (And yes, there was only one of me but three wheelbarrows. I was anticipating some friendly gnomes or dwarves to come along and help me out.) Some of the soil went to fill in a sizeable hole that Robin (who was VERY helpful during the Big Dig) had excavated beneath the picnic table. Some went to a mighty depression along side the shady area. And some simply became a pile of dirt. You never know when you'll need extra dirt! (Like when Robin re-excavates that hole...)

(The beginning of the pile of dirt, out past the horse barn.) And there's always plenty of rocks! These will probably go behind Bob's studio. Of course, none of them are flat and usable for the actual terrace; most are just handy potato sized stones, good for not much of anything.

Another live action digging photo! Isn't this exciting? I know I've mentioned before than I really like to dig in the dirt. It's truly one of my favorite mindless exercises. I guess that makes me pretty luck today as I dug away to my heart's content. By the late afternoon, it was well underway.

It needs to be deeper but I got a good start and all the sod is removed. We need more gravel and concrete, but we have the rocks for the edge and all kinds of ideas for the central pattern. I did this preparation so that Bob and I can do the construction this weekend.

And all day long, I had this bit of doggerel looping through my head. I believe it is from Vonnegut's "Slaughter House Five" (Could be re-attributing...)

 "Me and Yuri work in mine-
Holy shit! We have good time!
Every Friday we get paid-
Holy shit! No work next day!"

That just about sums it up.

Our Little Bit of Scotland

The above dramatization occurred at work one day while describing to a co-worker how I will never retire. I maintain I will simply be found collapsed and deceased on the job. He captured the moment for posterity*.
A month or so ago, Bob and I began toying with the notion of visiting Scotland, as the ticket prices advertised by Norwegian Airlines from our local airport were very enticing. We haven't been on a significant trip- or even out of the country- in a very long time and our passports are up to date and why not Scotland? We looked at videos of perky travelers exploring the offerings of Edinburgh and the Scottish countryside, sampling haggis and whisky. We viewed hotel accommodations...
But wait! It came to me at work (perhaps while demonstrating "dying in my traces" like Boxer in "Animal Farm") that we should spend our money and time concentrating on that which would have a lasting, life-long effect. We should spend our time and money traveling to New York as we both truly wish to make a mark, leave our stamp upon the Art World!
So, newly reinvigorated and inspired, we sped off to NYC on Saturday and spent the day perusing galleries and the requisite ten million faces. (I mean, New York is nothing if not full of faces.) We saw the good, the bad and (dare I say it?) the less than sublime. But we went! And we saw! And it was (as always) oddly transfixing and transformative and exhausting. We're tired today.
However, the Lower East Side is (and has been for a few years) the new-er area to see art. It smells a bit like fish (occasionally) as this is Chinatown before Art Land, but who cares when culture (Kulture!) calls?
We had several "on trend" moments when it became apparent that scumbled, pealed back paper eroded "archeological" pieces were favored. And painting. Yes, painting is still "having a (big) moment". And space men? It's a decent season for the artist that pixel-ates or likes space alien/robot heads. (A few were actually okay.) What else... drawings that were very detailed and had a fantasy element seemed worth looking at. Some want to call this "outsider" but hell: what's an insider artist? And then we met a woman running a gallery that (I swear) was like eight feet square, featuring an obsessive artist coloring in plywood carved anal sculptures. Heavens help us...
And then we celebrated Bob's birthday ( five months late) at an Indian restaurant. Not just any one! It is a restaurant that we've been going to for years. I swear they save us a front row table, under the most amazing strobe-lit disco ball, with ever-lower red hot pepper themed Xmas lights- what a treat! The food was wonderful, the company exclusive and charming... we had a really good time.
And now we're tired but happy. I feel really good about our decision to "stay put" and go to NYC more frequently. We need to get that art career train rolling...

photo credit: Antony Corso

Legs 'n' Leaves Etc.

I've been digging out my heavier tights and stockings because (bloody hell!) it's getting colder. I keep reflecting on how big this (crazy) country is, as there's lovely (albeit chilly) weather here and a huge hurricane ripping a tropical path of destruction there. Thank goodness that everyone I know that has some association with Florida is somewhere else, safe. I guess people like the idea of living in warm, sunny, beautiful sunset laden beach-y areas but Climate Change has mangled that equation.
For one reason or another- including becoming somewhat weary of the company of my fellow human beings, I haven't even felt like blogging recently. We were so busy with the garden tour, parties, work, cleaning up Mommy's house that I needed a break and to get into my studio and rest. (And I need to resolve my dilemma of the death of my digital camera. I really don't want to use a phone...)But I'm back! No more shirking my blog-a-tory responsibilites!

And speaking of tropicality, take a look at what we grew. Those leaves are truly gigantic. This is the first time I grew this particular variety of elephant ears and they are pretty amazing. Here's a shot to give a sense of scale:

I got these bulbs (marked down and really cheap) at Home Depot. They sat for weeks in this container and I was feared they had rotted and died. But as soon as the weather got really warm, a little green nose appeared and then they sprouted extravagantly. I will attempt to winter the bulbs over; some varieties have been easy (cannas, dahlias, a couple of elephant ears) some trickier (the elephant ears that require even moisture, striped cannas etc.).

See? We're enjoying the last of the summer! We were picking blueberries this morning- yes! we're still picking "Elliot" a remarkable variety- and our fingers were freezing. I told Bob I'd help him finish up after I take my walk and get warm. And peaches! We've had a bumper crop of delicious spicy sweet peaches. And beans, and tomatoes and peppers. It's been a great gardening year and I hate to see it go. But at least we're not awaiting a Category 4 or 5 storm... just snow.

Work in Progress

As promised, this posting will be about art. First, I must commend myself that I am now on blog posting #502! Congratulations to me! I am pretty amazed at my capacity to keep blogging away (although my suspicion is that it has something to do with not being able to shut up...). Anyway, when I started out with BobnRita's House Party, I didn't really worry/wonder about where it would go. And hell: there's no end in sight!
So the hideousness of the current administration continues to offer plenty of raw material for me to embellish into works of art.The above offering is a case in point. I was channeling The First Daughter as she answered the inquiries of a newscaster who had asked whether she was "complicit" with her father. Not understanding the meaning of the word, she had concurred that she was indeed "complicit". (She thought it simply implied her being in accord with The Orange Menace's activities and not being a criminal accomplice.) Anyway, I was inspired to create a piece, ripe with epaulets and plenty of gold and fringe (a friend suggested that it smacked of The Dallas Cheerleaders, and all the rethuglican tackiness that recommends!) Another friend said that the white twinkly stars made her think of advertising for laundry soap or toothpaste. That's on target because I wanted to allude to the overly white teeth of the First family. The stars and letters are made of very thick, very white vinyl.
This piece has been kicking my butt as I attempted to render a slightly 3D padding of the letters (I tried several methods before hitting on thin foam as is used for cushions) and the edges had to be sewed three times to hem the front, attach front to back and finally secure the fringe (which felt like a mile and a half!). It finally is all coming together.
Also, you can see that I Photoshopped in a semblance of the elaborate (gold painted, of course) metal hanger that I am employing Bob to construct for me. I want it to suggest the gold plated toilet paper holders that reside at Trump Towers; you know, a Versailles meets Las Vegas vibe. I hope I'm succeeding hansomely!

Gardening as a Contact Sport Etc

This is what I look like after an afternoon of heavy gardening... filthy and in need of a through cleaning. I had no idea I was so dirty as I shed my shorts, but the mud that ran off of my into the shower was impressive. I probably could have planted seeds on my knees!
Additionally, I looked like I had been cutting myself as the sharp embrace that the Miscanthus I was weeding around scored my tender fore arms:

Ouch! I'm not kidding about it being a contact sport. I will also remind you that I suffered several rounds of poison ivy as well as stings inflicted by angry hornets. Pain ans suffering to deliver that beautiful garden. But the reception by participants in the garden tour was great: everyone loved our gardens and were very impressed with all our hard work. It was so entirely worth it, on so many levels. First, our place looks terrific and we get to live with that. Check out what Bob did with the door frame behind that terrace area:

Look! No broken board. No wine corks stuck on nail heads. (Not kidding.) No baby birds living in the wall. It's sealed up and weather proof and looks clean and wonderful. Being on a garden tour is great motivation for getting all those big (and small) details completed.
Bob and I are both pleasantly exhausted and glad that we committed to the garden tour, but we're also glad that it's behind us.
And I promise my next posting will be about art- remember that?

What We Do For Fun

I occurred to me that a stipulation for us being on this year's garden tour was that we get the deck redone as a lovely terrace. Let's face it: you can garden until the cows come home, but if the back of the house looks like Shanty Town, then none of it is worth the effort. I knew we had no time to replace the deck entirely and I was even debating dragging one of the carpets out of the house to disguise the rotting deck and aspiring plant life housed there in, when the most excellent solution presented itself. Why not simply tear up the disintegrating boards and replace them with gravel?
I can't believe that Bob actually agreed- and agreed that it was a good idea- because the gravel is really a step in the final master plan of a cement and stone terrace. So we're just replacing the deck in stages. Tuesday was set aside as Terrace Construction Day. As you can see, Robin helped with Stage One: the tearing up of the boards.
This part was relatively easy and sort of fun. We crowbarred and maddox'ed the old boards out and soon had an empty site.

Here, Robin and I admire the (mostly) removed deck on our way into lunch. The next stage (Stage 2)was to dig out a layer of dirt so that the level of the gravel was below the sliding door. This part nearly killed me! It was incredibly humid and the dirt was very compacted (a full of small stones) and needed to be wheel-barrowed down to Bob's studio. It was heavy and dirty and we were sweating like pigs. But we got it done and with an eye on the clock (as we had a dinner engagement) we proceeded to Stage 3. This is where I realized that Bob and I would do just fine on a chain gang, as we shoveled a half ton of gravel off the truck and onto the deck area.

Oooooohhh! It was heavy and our shoulders and backs and bodies were killing us, but all that work paid off and it looks great! Nice and neat and clean and beige and no weeds or weird gaps...
it made the terrace area look like a terrace. And done just in time to shower and go to dinner!

The ultimate finished stone and cement terrace will expand to the whole width of the house, but as a quick (relatively) fix, it was a good solution. I'll post pictures tomorrow of the chairs and pots of flowers back in place on the terrace; it looks terrific! Also, pay attention to the left hand section of the sliding door frame. Bob did a super fix of that today...