Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-sabi is the Japanese concept of imperfect beauty.  Wikipedia defines it as an appreciation of asymmetry, roughness and/or the natural process that gives things their unique appearance... which I love.   Wabi-sabi accepts peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay.  It celebrates things like scars and gray hair.  But it actually can conflict with my OCD tendency to have things symmetrical or in a perfect order. 

I started Saturday with a twenty minute walk and then my usual tea, peanut butter on toast and computer time.


A day of drainage ditch work was in my plan but I didn't get to work outside until 10 am.  I spent more time than wanted on finding rocks to best fit where needed.  I wanted to work on the ditch wall, the flat retaining wall that goes across from the corner, and the bottom base, where the ditch ends at the large rock slab.



I was ready to mix cement at 12:30, but decided to take a lunch break first.  I love the microwave bowl holder (Patty made two) that she gave us.  This was the first I had used it, and found it to be very handy.


My first batch of cement was a disaster.  It was a 50 lb bag of quick setting concrete.  Long story short, I wasted most of it and had to use a hammer to knock it out of the 30 gal tub I used to mix it in.  At least I was able to use the chunks for fill behind the wall.

My second 40 lb bag of mix was not without problems... 





I had added too much water.  So I added another 40 lb bag of dry mix and then more water to finally get a good consistency.  But, it was a big batch of concrete, which took me over two hours to use up.  I wasn't prepared for this much cement, so at the end was looking for more rocks to fit into the wall puzzle.  Seen above, some rock cemented in on the base and the retaining wall.  Seen right, the ditch wall almost completely cemented in.


I got the new work covered in plastic and was finished by 5 pm.  I was tired and my back sore, but I felt good about the progress I had made.  Joe had gone to golf after work, so I took Maggie for an hour long walk.  Joe had leftover stew for dinner that I had had for lunch, so I had beer and popcorn while we watched the new show, season opener of "Designated Survivor" with Kiefer Sutherland, whom I like.  I think this, and Survivor, will be the two regular shows I watch this fall.

Sunday morning started with one of four, 30 minute long dog walks, I took throughout the day.  I sat with Lisa and Nolan at Church and then cleaned up the partly cured cement work when I got home.  I worked a 1-4:30 shift at the pool, and came home exhausted for some reason.  I sat on the back porch and read for over an hour, enjoying my book, the sounds of birds and a breeze rustling the leaves, and an occasional look out at our wonderful, however imperfect, (wabi-sabi) back yard.


Leaves have started to fall and our yard, drive, sidewalk, deck, and drainage ditch are a mess.  Maybe I should embrace this natural beauty and let the leaves lie where they fall.  Nope... too messy.

Joe and I wanted dinner, but neither of us was motivated to fix it, so at 7:30, Joe went to Food City to get some necessities along with hitting the salad bar.  I chopped carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower and strawberries while he was gone.  This was added to the mix Joe had brought home and we enjoyed our tasty salads.  I read in bed but had the lights out before 9 pm.


A little snapper I found while digging around in the creek.

Monday was a 6:30 sunrise and would be a 6:30 sunset.  I got up later than usual, having slept almost ten hours.  Not sure why the need for so much sleep, unless it was a beauty rest.  One look in the mirror and I would not say it helped with bags under the eyes, wrinkles, and gray hair.  I like to think of it as wabi-sabi beauty.  Wink, wink.


After a few hours of computerizing, I went out to work on my project.  There was a 30% chance of rain in the evening so I wanted to get a move on with the concrete work.  Well, while I was readying the rocks for cement, the skies got very stormy looking.  I consulted with my weather expert (Shirley) who has a good, more reliable app. than I, and she said there was a 20% chance at the moment.  I decided to hold off and see what transpired up in the skies.



I worked at tree trimming out by the creek since four deer had been running up and down the sandy bed earlier in the morning.  A little later it cleared off and I was again tempted to mix a batch of cement.  Then Shirley called and said it was raining out at the barn, where she was.  So I gave up on the cement plans and took my tree trimming to a new level.  The tree in the creek bed (photo below) was leaning some, so I started pushing on it and got it to finally fall over.  Seen right and lower right, the creek bed with the tree now gone.

I had to dig around the roots under water and cut three of them before the tree was freed.  In the process I found the baby snapping turtle, pictured earlier.  I moved him to a safer swimming hole.

I trimmed all the branches off the tree and eventually got Joe to come out and saw the trunk in two places so I could move it out of the creek bed. While waiting on Joe, I started excavating the creek bed farther down stream.


I raked sticks and leaves up out of the water and dry creek bed.  Then I moved dirt and sand up onto the shore line to better direct the water if ever it rains again.  I continued with my digging project all the way down to the pond in front of the bench on the rock.  Seen below is all the silt I had removed. 



A big flooding will probably wash some of the stuff back into the creek, but it looks good for now.

It never did rain and I ended up working till dark.  I was completely exhausted and sore from all of the digging.  Joe and I watched a movie together and then I took a pain/sleep pill and was out for the night.




Maggie wanting to join me outside while I filled bird feeders Tuesday morning.  I went in for my last day of work at 9:30, and got a lot of cleaning done before my first customers came at 11:00.  Seen below, the pool (and everything else) was clean and ready for people to enjoy.


The high was 78 but I only had four people come before getting off shift at 1:00.



I hurried home and got right to work on my concrete project, mixing up a batch and officially finishing the drainage ditch wall, seen right.  Yay!  Not the prettiest work of art, but functional and by wabi-sabi standards was appreciable.

I ended by work in the yard watering the outdoor potted plants (including Brian's because he is on holiday).



Joe was golfing at Dorchester and we had planned to met there at 5:00 for dinner out on the veranda.  Well, the cafe was closed because of a private party, so I went on to the barn to check on Amiga while Joe went to Catfish Cabin to pick up carry out dinner.
Jan (whom I haven't seen in a week because she has been moving) was at the barn grooming Cash so we caught up with each other while caring for our horses.  Regrettably, Amiga is still slightly lame.  Again, I treated her scratches, hoping this would help, but the lameness issue is starting to concern me. 

I got home shortly after Joe did.  We ate dinner out on our back porch as the sun set and later (after a long dog walk) watched the Dinesh D'Souza's movie - America: Imagine The World Without Her.

Wednesday was to be sunny and low 70's all day so after my morning ritual of computer, tea, breakfast of toast, and dog walks...
I headed out with plans to get a bunch of concrete work done.

This days struggles were with heavy rocks sinking into the wet concrete mix and not staying level in the wall.  I kept stuffing the concrete (along with some small support rocks) up under the two big rocks.  I ended up using my fingers because my trowel just didn't do the trick.  Often washing the concrete off my fingers, still did not prevent the burning of my skin.  My finger tips were raw.  Is this what is meant when they say working your fingers to the bone?

I got the first batch of mix done and went in to eat a late lunch.

Below, the photo of the big rocks 'set in stone' with the concrete cured, the following day.





My fingers hurt so much, I put ointment and surgical gloves on them before going back out to work.  I decided to skip mixing a second batch of cement, but moved rock around and re-did Allen's side of the hill at the end of the ditch (seen in lower photo).





I also moved some more dirt from the bed of the pond, where the creek empties into it.  The pond water is about 20 inches lower than usual, so it is a good time to muck around in it.

Maggie keeps watch and naps while I work.




My fingers tips hurt while scrubbing off grime and dirt in the shower.  I will be so glad to get all my cement work finished.

The moss and lichen on this tree stump roots caught my eye earlier in the day, and when I got close to take a photo, I noticed the acorn as well.  This is wabi-sabi beauty.

Shirley picked me up at 6:30 and we had a yummy dinner (Chicken Pasta Buffet) and an even better chat.  We were so busy getting caught up with each others lives that we were last out of the restaurant at 9 pm.  (Joe was at his card game.)

After my big meal at Legends, I had a cup of de-cafe green tea to settle my stomach and because I was cold (the temp had dropped into the upper 50's).  I was soon too tired to catch up on computer notes and chats so hit the hay at 10:00.  But it would prove to be a restless night because of sore muscles, throbbing finger tips, and concerns running through my head, about being able to get on as a seasonal employee back at the CC front desk in the spring.




Thursday I was off to a slow start because it was cold.  I had an extra cup of tea and lingered here longer than planned.  Even Maggie and Stevie were chillin' on this chilly morning.





The bulk of the day was spent out back working.  Rock moving was the first item of business.  I re-did several parts of the ditch dry rock bed to get the slabs well settled in, so they wouldn't wobble or move and stay permanently placed.  This was a time consuming job.

Then I got my next rocks cleaned and ready for cementing (seen left).  I finished off my last bag of concrete and got most of the rocks in (seen below) but decided I really needed one more bag of mix to finish my project off.




Having moved all the rocks from the yard area where I would soon seed, I started moving dirt.  (Bottom two photos taken the next day when I first went out to start working.)  I worked until dark, thus the reason I waited to take photos of my progress.  Joe had gotten dinner started (frozen Banquet meatloaf) and I finished cooking taters and corn when I came in.  After our 7:30 dinner we watched both taped weekly TV shows, Survivor and Designated Survivor.  A pain/sleep aid was taken at bedtime.
 

Friday, the last day of September, I was bound and determined to get my grass seed sowed.  Waiting for it to warm up, I went out mid morning and continued moving dirt and digging to put in some edging block (seen left). 








The rock in the middle of the rounded area is what I call an 'iceberg rock' because there is way more below ground than above.  I had tried digging this out of the yard, but gave up on it.  Once all the dirt was loosened and smoothed out with the rake, I started spreading grass seed.  I had set aside buckets of good, un-rocky top soil that I then sprinkled over the top of the seed.  I ran short of dirt and used straw to finish covering the seed.  Everything then got a good watering.  The dried ground just kept soaking up the liquid, so this took time.   

I was too tired to celebrate the completion of my back yard project, but enjoyed a beer on the back deck  as I looked out on it.  There is still rock work and a tad more cementing yet to be done, but for now I will concentrate on getting the grass to grow.








Even though autumn began on the 22nd of this month, it doesn't seem like fall starts until October, especially when it has been unseasonably warm, until two days ago.  No doubt, fall is a wonderful and pretty season.  Hope you can find the (wabi-sabi) beauty in it and in all the people and things around you. 

A Hikin'

A hiking we will go.  A hiking we will go.  Hi-ho, the derry-o, a hiking we will go.
Maggie and I (with Joe some of the time) hiked 18.3 miles last week.  We made a great dent in the 39.4 total miles we need to do by September 30th.  I wanted to get the distance done early, so this week I hiked 21.1 miles in five days and finished the full and half Marathons.

Saturday morning I was at the barn by 7:45, to ride with Jan.  I got there early to give Amiga hay, and brought Zorro in to get him cleaned up.  








Here is a before and after shot of Zorro.
 
Jan and I had a good ride, covering five miles in 104 minutes, so we were not moving real fast.  I didn't take any photos out on the trail, but got this one of Amiga grazing while we waited for Jan before leaving the barn.

This was a great spot for her to eat the tall grass right up next to the log pile where they hadn't mowed.

Just after I got home for lunch, I got a call from Nancy wondering why I hadn't gone to work.  OH NO!!!  I had no idea I was supposed to go in.  This time it was completely my fault, I had not copied down the date from my work calendar onto my desk calendar.  I felt horrible.  Mike had noticed the pool wasn't open when he went to Dorchester to hit golf balls, so he opened up the pool for me.  I called to see if he wanted me to quick come in for the last hour of work, but he said not to worry about it.

Joe and I continued with our afternoon plans and headed off (with the dog) to hike two different trails.  It was about 30 minutes driving time to each, and each hike was right around 30 minutes long.  We did the Soldier's Beach Trail first and then the Lake Alice trail.  For the second hike, we were briefly walking on this one way road in the Uplands Village area.  We had driven this neat (narrow) road to get to the trail head. 

We stopped at Food City on our way home to get some essentials like milk, OJ, and bread.  Joe stayed in the opened SUV with Maggie while waiting on me to shop for 14 minutes.

I crashed before 9 pm for the second night in a row.

Sunday morning I took this photo of the back, but you can't really tell it was raining.  The precipitation was sooo needed, but made dog walking messy.  I guess the lazy rainy day feeling kept me in, giving me a chance to finish and post last week's blog and try to correct the Alaskan Cruise blog I had struggled with.  The rain persisted throughout the morning and well into the afternoon.  Such a wonderful rainy day.


I finally got my lazy bones up and going and 'hiked' on over to the Wellness Center to workout.  It was the first time in four weeks.  I am pathetic.

I was completely fatigued and shaky when I got home.  After a late lunch, I laid down on the lounge chair pads out on the screened porch and read (and napped a little) for the next 90 minutes.  The rain let up and finally quit while I was resting.





I took Maggie on a nearly two hour hike of the paved paths here in Fairfield Glade.  It is part of the 1/2 Marathon route.  We covered over 4 miles of populated trail, saw and talked to a lot of people, and met their friendly dogs.  Maggie has become very skeptical of strange dogs now.

Joe was playing cards (again) so I had a quiet evening at home, with the dog and cat.  It has really been cooling off at night, so I had to partly close all the back doors to the porches.



It was a foggy Monday morning.  After the fog burned off, Joe, Maggie and I  loaded into the SUV and drove about 40 minutes to Camp Nakanawa and hiked the 4.5 mile loop around Lake Aloaloa. 
 







The rain from the day before had made the trails soft and there was an outcropping of mushroom in several places.  The leaves were quiet to walk on, and it was so peaceful.



Camp Nakanawa is set up for girl scouts and other adventuresome groups, so there were many other trails and features we navigated past or through.


I thought this old rusty swing looked more like a metal drawing. 




On the way home, we stopped in at Stone Memorial High School where we hiked the 1.6 mile Cross Country course.  The hot sun and morning's humidity had really warmed things up, plus there was very little shade on this course/trail.





We got home about 1:00.  I was exhausted, had lunch, and read/napped on the back porch.  By the time I arose, it was too late to start landscape work so I decided to knock off another hiking trail, the 1.9 mile Kirkstone Loop.  Seen left, Maggie on the dock at Lake Kirkstone. 


Maggie and I walked a couple of extra cul-de-sacs as part of my quest to walk all the roads in Fairfield Glade.  I will continue with that endeavor after the tall (un-mowed) grass dies back on the untraveled roads, and tick and chigger season is over.

Next, along with the dog, I dropped by Wildwood Stables to check on Amiga.  I lunged her and noticed she was still favoring her front right leg.  I treated her for the few scratches she has, but wasn't convinced that was causing the lameness issue.  Notice in left photo, Cash is watching from behind Amiga and Maggie is up on the work bench, watching from a safe spot.





I fixed dinner, and then at dusk, went out to collect some rocks I had seen near a hiking trail.  There was a large one I worked at moving closer to where I had parked the SUV.  I finally got too tired, and it had gotten quite dark, so I gave up on getting it, for the time being.


I was up and out by 5 am Tuesday morning, back to moving the large rock to a place where it could be loaded into the SUV.  After an hour of invigorating work, but still not getting the rock, I returned home to enjoyed my tea and breakfast.  Then, around 9:00 I headed into work at the pool.  It was a quiet shift, with only ten customers total.   Getting in the water to scrub tile was a little difficult at first, but the 76 degree water felt good after I had been sweeping the deck and worked up a sweat.  From work I went straight to the gym to get more exercise.  Since I hadn't really hiked, I did 40 minutes on the elliptical, after a tiring weight workout. 

Our evening ended with a fantastic dinner party at Gwen and Michael's.  Their home was lovely and everything about the evening was so well done, including the great tasting meal.  Sabrina and Luke were also there, and we girls had a wonderful time reconnecting.  I really miss these two from work at the front desk.  I brought my phone with me, but completely forgot to get any photos.

On the way home, Joe and I scooped up the big rock I had moved to a good pick-up location.  I had rolled and carried this thing, probably about 100 yards total.

After my usual routine Wednesday morning, Joe and I (with dog in tow) went to Cumberland Mountain State Park.


I had my last two trails to hike, one each to finish the full and the half hiking marathons.

So we set off together on the 2.5 mile Byrd Creek trail.  Seen right, the cover bridge the Boy Scouts had built.  I am over exposed in the left photo but you can see Byrd Creek in the background, and that the sun's morning light was filtering into the woods.





Some of this trail was quite rugged with rocks and roots (seen right) that you had to walk on and step over. 







This trail ended at the road over the dam, but we chose to walk at creek level down on the back side of the dam.  The only water coming from this lake at the moment, was a brown sludge.  



Having finished the full marathon, Joe went to get a hair cut and after a short rest, Maggie and I set out on the 2.7 mile Pioneer and Lake Trail loops.






 

These top two photos were taken while hiking the Byrd Lake Trail loop.  You can see the front side of the dam/road bridge in both photos.

Next we headed out on the Pioneer Trail Loop.  I love how the light was filtering into the woodland above this rock out cropping. Maggie is such a cute puppy to add to my photo shoots.

She was not too sure about going over this swinging bridge, so I let her take her time.  

There were many beautiful sights with the natural rocks, vegetation, lake, and creek.  The man-made structures were also impressive.

Seeing is so much better than photos.  Next time you come, I'll take you on a hike.

Well, Maggie and I officially finished the full and half marathons, getting it done in just 12 days!

We then treated ourselves to lunch at the Cumberland Mountain State Park restaurant, to refuel and celebrate.  The weather was perfect and it was a beautiful setting by Lake Byrd.



I was sore from rock moving and weights and tired from hiking, so opted to go with Joe to the adult pool, rather than work in the yard.  We were there almost two hours, sunning, swimming, reading and napping.  Oh, I had finished one book (James Patterson - 11th Hour) and started another.





Joe went to his weekly poker game and I got a little blogging done.  After a light dinner, I took Maggie for a nice long walk.  Right when we were passing Mirror Lake,  her flexi-leash broke.  I returned home (over a mile) hanging on to a bitty, one foot section of line.

Some family e-mails and also Facebook messaging with Britney concluded my evening.


I started my Thursday morning with a nice long walk.  This little (well actually kind of large) spider had been busy overnight.  After computerizing for a few hours, I went out to get work done on my drainage ditch, which has been sitting idle for almost eight weeks.







Right away I noticed Allen next door, working too hard at removing a big pine tree from his yard.  I went over to offer assistance, and helped him for awhile.  I was thrilled to get three wheel barrow loads of dirt.  It was full of grass and roots but would be good for fill dirt by my ditch wall.  I also got some sod I put along the wall.


Finally I got to work on my project, using the new rock I had hauled home to put at the corner where the ditch wall ends and where a retaining wall is going to come across the hill and tie in with the ditch. 








I only had time for one batch of concrete, before calling it a day.  It gets dark so early now.  I fixed dinner and then Joe and I watched the first episode of season 33 of Survivor.  It was unremarkable for the most part, although the teams had to be evacuated from the island because of a cyclone.


Friday morning Joe and I drove separately into town to drop his SUV off and then do some shopping together.  The four furniture stores were a flop, but I did get more concrete mix and four Blue Rug Juniper to finish off my one flower bed.  After Wal-Mart the SUV was ready and we each headed home.






Once groceries were un-loaded and the dog walked, we left again, for the Fairfield Glade Employee Appreciation Picnic.  It is always nice to see and hangout with fellow employees we have become friends with.

 





I spent the majority of the afternoon planting the four new little shrub.  The before and after photos are above.

The holes were not easy to dig because of planting three of the bushes so close to the big oak tree.  Some tree roots and lots of small rocks got in my way.  I cleaned leaves from the bed and also built a cairn (seen left).




You can better see the four Blue Rug Juniper in the photo to the right.  And below is another look at the whole bed from the down hill view.  





Everything got a good watering.  Then after getting cleaned up, Joe and I went to Legends for the Asian Buffet.  Again, I ate more food than necessary.  It was all very tasty, but some of it was kind of spicy, and there were lots of peppers, so I ended up with a little indigestion. But it was worth it.