And I shall call it "Timmy"

I threw the summer kick-off party Sunday, the inaugural bash on the new patio. I'd say it was a smashing success. Had a couple of neighbors over, the bro, lots of friends... There was much food, drink and burning of stuff. Adam made pitcher after pitcher of Mojitos, Jenny made some killer peanut butter chocolate bars, among many other tasty treats. We played volleyball in near darkness, then whiffle ball batting practice in complete darkness. As it got cooler we put on extra layers and lit a fire. Hardly anything got broken at all until...

Lee and I decided the patio needed christening (with a bottle of Premium, of course). So after much fanfare and a brief naming brainstorm, the patio was dubbed Kon-Tiki-Tiki-Lau in a glorious spray of golden, foamy beer and shards of glass. It was quite lovely.

I can't wait until the next one...

Planters all done

Before:


After:


Close up:



And good thing I got it done, too. The driveway guys are coming 2 days early! Tear out is Tuesday May 8, pouring Wednesday...

Work in Progress

Inspired by my soon-to-be-installed new driveway, I decided to spiff up the rather neglected area by my front steps. So right now, somewhere around half done is a retaining wall and a couple of planter boxes. I need to patch a step before I finish adding bricks, but after that, a few more layers and voila...

I'll post before-and-afters when it's done.