This time, last year.

Last week, Eric and I were reminiscing about how this time last year we were in Atlanta for the American Library Association's Mid-Winter convention.  And how one night we (and Amanda & Jeremy) had dinner and drinks with Joshilyn Jackson ('cause she and Amanda are BFFs), how one day Eric met and chatted with Senator John Lewis during his book signing, and how on the final day of the convention we were witnesses to the magic show of NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, a magic show during which Mr. Harris stunned us all with one of the biggest slights of hand I've ever seen (or not seen, because hey, slight of hand).

But once we came back from convention, we got down to the business of having our retaining wall and second patio built.  We went from this:

To this, with the work of our friends from Finlayson Landscape Design:

And then, after moving some plants I'd been saving for the spot, plus the dawn of a new season, this:

Yes, that's Booker in the middle of the planting bed.  With his stick.  The three of us have enjoyed sharing that space with our people.

A Patio for The Bungalow

Remember when we retained the Bungalow backyard back in May?  That project was the first of many projects that were recommended to us by Liz Wood Finlayson of Finlayson Landscape Designs (FLD) in the master plan to make our backyard more usable.  The original plan was to build a deck as the first layer off of the house, with a hard-scaped level below it.  For many reasons (drainage, longevity, etc.), we chose to put in a concrete patio for our first layer instead.  So, once we built the retaining wall and installed a drainage system we designed ourselves, we were ready for concrete.

Concrete work that requires something more than opening up a sack of Quikrete and mixing with water is more work than I want to commit to, so our concrete was poured, stamped, scored and sealed on two of the hottest days of the summer by someone who does concrete work for a living.  The pouring went quickly, but still, a bit too slowly for the setting time of the concrete in the heat we had.  Despite the prep work Eric had done to ensure the correct position of the brackets for the uprights,  the guys had trouble remembering where and how to set them.  They were set incorrectly, then corrected as best as they could be set before the point of no turning back.  Thank goodness Eric was home to help.

Several weeks later, friends came to help raise the uprights and the beams.

A Washington Crossing the Delaware moment.

On nights after work and on weekends, Eric attached rafters, placed decking and added the metal roof.  And we christened her many times with wine and beer during the process.

 

What we began with in 2010.