Posts Tagged ‘landscaping’
the rock project – update
It sometimes takes years to make progress on a project. That has certainly been the case with ‘the rock project,’ begun November 2011 and reported here https://janetims.com/2011/11/13/plans-for-a-rocky-road/
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The original project was to add a circular component to the driveway and to install a few rock features along the way. In part, this was to allow us to avoid backing out to the road in front of our house. It was also meant to give us an interesting walking ‘trail’ as we get older. This was the feature map as it existed in 2011.
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Over the years, we built a rock fireplace and added a concrete bench. And, last summer, we brought in gravel and rock to finish the circular roadway and a rock feature I refer to as ‘rockhenge.’
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‘Rockhenge’ consists of a platform, fronted by six very large rocks and accessed by a stone stair. Eventually it will be planted in periwinkle and moss.
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The roadway allows a pleasant walk in the grey woods.
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Now that the road is done, we have more plans for the rock project.
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This summer, every time we go for a drive, I bring back one or two rocks towards the building of a stone wall along the front of the area where I feed the birds. I also added two small solar-powered lanterns; they shine every night and make the woods less dark.
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The next step in our project has begun, with the creation of a small platform, a flat surface to put another concrete bench. It will be a place to sit and watch the woods and occasional wildlife.
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A future part of the plan will be to build a narrow roadway through the grey woods, to the back of our property.
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Not having to back out of our driveway has made life better and safer for us. The circular drive is also an exercise opportunity — every day I try to find the time to walk the loop. Every evening I watch the little lanterns flicker and shine. I love this place where we have lived now for 43 years. And with the ‘rock project’ ongoing, I love it even more.
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All my best,
Jane
(a.k.a. Alexandra)
firepit
Our firepit has a roaming spirit. It began its days in front of the house and we had many wonderful evening fires. Then, as the years passed, the maple tree overhead grew until it was dangerous to have a fire under such a thick canopy.
To improve the safety of the firepit, I moved it, stone by stone to the back of the house, reassembling it exactly as it was. We had a few fires and then, one day, our lives became busy. We kept taking wood for the next fire and the next fire never happened. Gradually the pile became so large, you could not see the firepit!
Last month, my husband put our tractor to use to move the firepit one more time. I clawed my way into the pile of scrap wood and uncovered the stones. Then we pushed them into the bucket of the tractor and away they went, to their new home across the yard.
Now they are in the driveway, waiting for their new home (see the plan in ‘plans for a rocky road’ November 13, 2011 under the category ‘the rock project’).
The next step will be to fell four spruce trees in the area of the firepit, to make sure we can have our fires safely. This next step may have to wait until spring since the stones are now in the frozen throes of winter!
fire
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rattle of leaves
bark, twigs
and paper
as the air warms
finds its chimney
surges red life
into the tunnel of maple
the moment when breath
turned cloudy on cold air
becomes smoke
and lungs draw ash and fire
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the summer night
when lightning strikes
when thunder
bold in its dreaming
turns beneath the earth
ions leap
and pine sap explodes
in a fistful of sparks
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the warming by smiles
and clasping of hands
striking of sparks in the tinder
the flame leaps
from candle to candle
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the sharp ache
at the corner of an eye
where cinders and smoke
have gathered
lungs drawing fire and ash
an effort to breathe
and fingers
warm with tremble
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© Jane Tims 1995
plans for a rocky road
This fall, we have begun a new landscaping project, using rocks to embellish a length of road on our property.
On our travels this summer, we were impressed by the many ways home landscapers use stone as a signature element. Some of these ventures were as simple as a stone wall snaking through the woods. Some had elaborate stone benches, stone sculptures, or carefully-built piles of stones.
We have an offshoot to our driveway, intended some day to form half of a circular road. Over the years, we have added some stone embellishments to this road and its associated path, so it seems to me to be the perfect place to develop our own rock project.
To date, we have the following features in place, some in an advanced state of disrepair:
- two stone pillars, about three feet in diameter – each is a page-wire cage filled with rock
- an ‘old-fashioned’ rock wall constructed of granite stones, each about the size of a large honeydew melon
- a lopsided (fallen-down) sundial built of small angular rocks in the shape of a cone
- a chunk of black basalt, a five-sided, columnar volcanic feature, harvested from the shore where my ancestors came to Canada via shipwreck
- a stone ‘stream’ built years ago before we purchased more property and Fern Gully Brook entered our lives – this stream is a one foot wide course of small stones screened from a pile of pit-run gravel. It ‘runs’ from a small artificial pond and is now completely overflowing with dry leaves.
- existing rock and stone features on the road and path
Over the next months, we want to add some features to the road:
- rebuild our formerly wonderful granite fire pit in a new location along the road
- create two new lengths of stone wall to match the existing wall
- build a stone statue or monument
- lay out a circle of stones to mark the one area where we can see the Milky Way from our property (star-gazing is difficult since we have so many trees)
- build a stone embankment-with-moss feature to emulate a lovely roadway we saw at my brother’s wedding last year.
- rock and stone features we plan to add
Over the next year, it is my intention to report back on the progress made on our Rock Project. If you never hear another word about this project, remember – I like to plan.
Copyright Jane Tims 2011
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