my walkway has just turned the corner

Several months ago Sally told me that I needed to take some pictures of John doing his rock work on the walkway that he is building. He has had my largest bed inaccessible to me for two summers now due to deep ditches, strings tied to rebar posts and stacks of rock a few feet high. I haven't taken any of him while he is working, but did have him take one yesterday afternoon.

This is the short side which has steps that cannot be seen from this point. He has now officially turned the corner which means that the work will now go a whole lot faster due to not having to do steps and corners.

He has done a fantastic job even if it is slow going.

Ruby

Ruby, that's stunning!

John has a project and a half going there. I didn't realize he was building not only a walkway -- with steps! -- but a walkway and a mortared rock wall, and adding those wonderful accent boulders, too!

*deep bow of astonishment and awe*

Two WOW's from Ric and I. Give John a big hand of applause from us. That's really beautiful. Hey, Two years ain't nothing around here. Please post more pictures.

Will try to take some photos of walkway later this morning. The boulders behind the rock wall have been there for three years. It is the edging of part of the flower bed. There should be a giant white Hibiscus blooming here pretty soon.

I took a lot of pictures last summer of the front of the house when he had just started the walkway. I have misplaced the memory stick that they were on. Shoot!!! I hope that it turns up soon.

You two will swell his head too large to come through the door.

Ruby

This view is taken from a front angle.

From the front also.

This shows the long side of walk that he is just beginning now.

Have I shown this already?

I love the boulders edging the flower bed and your stone is such pretty colors. OOOOOHHHHAAAAAAHHHHHHHH
That's an awful lot of work. Did he collect the rock, too?

Wow, Ruby! John is doing a terrific job on that.

WOW! That's incredible work! Is John a stone mason? How does he move some of those huge boulders? Do you have a front loader?

NICE! Can he come and do 1 for me?

umm, I'm guessing you have to, well, share blankets with a guy before he'll tackle a project like that for ya!

Critter, LOL I could make a few comments on that one. You know Ric does a lot of work around here. LOL

super rocks ruby!

Wow Ruby!!! So nice to finally see photos of John's "rock work", although I'm thinking "work of art" is a better description - incredible :)

Very nice!!! He's done/doing an incredible job.

LOL... I shouldn't say things like that, since a lot of you know Jim isn't much for garden projects (although he will dig holes for trees)... but he does keep my computer running verrrry smoothly!

Dear Ruby,

WOW! And John's a really interesting guy too! Wayne won't even use his weedwacker ! I am definitely stopping by next summer. Pam

Ruby, That is fantastic. I'd rather have that rock wall than a rock for my finger. Pam

Oh my gosh you gals. How hilarious to read this at 4 AM. Critter, you are a nut.

John says thank you all for the wonderful comments. He says that this is just the beginning of what is to come. Whatever that means. I hope that it means that he completes this soon, though I am just glad that he finally has gotten serious about doing it. I am tired of having a construction zone for my front yard.

Flowerjen, he was afraid that people would start asking that question. He no longer does this for a living, much too hard on the old back.

Shirley, yes he used heavy equipment called a Bobcat to move the larger rocks. We don't own it but have rented it a few times in the past few years. And yes Holly, he collected these rocks, most of the rocks have come from right here on the property. He did some major excavating a few years ago to build a garage out back and that is where the boulders came from. A few have come from a friend who now owns property that my dad used to own, a few hundred yards from here.

Shirley, he was a mason until about 15 years ago when his back wouldn't take it anymore. Yesterday I decided that this weekend, I need to get our massage table out so that I can begin giving him some treatments while he is working on this project. I needed to order massage oil and ended up ordering $75 worth of little massage gadgets. ha-ha

Debbie, that is quite a compliment. Thank you so much.

Jody, so good to see you post. I am sure it means a lot to John to hear this from you. You are very special to us, you know.

Pamspace, would love to have you. Let's just hope that the rain fall next year is as adequate as this years.

Love your comment Pamgarden. I believe that you have others here who share the same sentiment. Same here, diamonds are no where near as impressive as a beautiful yarden.

Alright, John has got his bearings about him and woken up a bit. His comment to Critter is - blanket sharing is the last thing on his mind after doing this grueling work.

He said that if you all are so impressed now, just how impressed will you be when he lays the soapstone as the actual walkway? That will be the beautiful part of the project.

I guess that I should begin charging to visit here. ha-ha Thanks again everyone. He is a very special guy.

Ruby

Yah, well, wait until you start in with those "little massage gadgets"... you'll have him feeling *much* better!

Only you would say that Critter, only you. Where is your mind these days? ha-ha Love it, you are such a cutie.

Ruby

So, when are you and John going to be holding garden tours? And when can I come and take photos for a DG "feature" on garden walls and walkways? :-)

Jan, I hope you are serious, what a wonderful idea for an article. Maybe Ruby will let you bring your Mantis with you.

Next July for the garden tours. His almost 500 Day Lilies have been blooming for several weeks now and there are more to come.

An article would be very interesting Critter. Tomorrow I am going to take a picture of the rock monument that he built for me when we first met about 15 years ago. It is lovely work too, even if we keep planting the wrong things in it and they outgrow the space in a year or so.

Ruby

Oh Ruby so sweet a rock monument. You and I sure picked good men. Ric gave me a tree. The huge Norway Spruce in the front yard was one of the first things he gave me.

LOL... I'll bring the Mantis, sure! Maybe a little tilling will work as a bribe and John will let me interview him and get a mason's view on the project!

Ruby, I really would like to write about it if you're willing... that's a remarkable project he's got underway, and I'm glad you're documenting it... I think some before/during/after photos would make for a great "read!"

Amen Holly to finding good men. I do not have a very good track record with marriage. I have two exes. I have been truly blessed to have met this man fifteen years ago. He has been a true helpmate. Each of us are better as a couple, than on our own.

Critter, someone else spoke of the Mantis. We have something similar to that but it hasn't even been started this year. After the walkway is completed, his next project will be preparing more beds and the tiller will be coming out then, I would bet.

As for photos, any of the "before" pictures are on a lost memory stick. This will give me incentive to search harder. John says, sure give him a holler and he will try to answer any questions that you might have. I will dmail our phone number to you along with my email address. Of course, if you would like to take a little ride, you are welcome to come by and see it being constructed.

I hope that everyone will have a great weekend. Try to stay cool folks.

Ruby

Hi Ruby, I've just been catching up on the MidAtlantic forum. Along with the others, all I can say is WOW!!! I absolutely love stone work, and yours is BE-UTIFUL :-) John sure is creating something wonderful...
Terri

Ruby, Where is that picture of the monument to love you promised?

HA, ha - Will step out the door right now and take a shot. Nor sure when I will get it posted.

Ruby

Monument that sits in back yard directly behind our deck.

Taken from deck.

Another shot. The Day Lillies in the monument have already bloomed. There was also a good bunch of Rose Campion in it a while back too. Everything will be dug up this fall and transplanted. We are trying to decide now, what sorts of plants to put in it that won't grow so tall and spread so much.

While at it I may as well post the pictures that John took this morning. He has spent the past three days pulling weeds that have grown where the walkway will be. I am not talking small weeds, we grow weeds like we grow rocks, big ones. ha-ha Some of the weeds were 3 and 4 foot tall.
This looking from the long end of ditch where he will soon start again on the wall part. You can see the corner that has just been turned at other end of ditch.

Ruby

another

yet another

This was taken at the end of June when things were in bloom in the monument.

Ruby

The Artist.