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On Track

 

Blue sky above, grassy field below, there's a stone track running from the top to the bottom of the field.


The grass track was supposed to be a fairly straight run from the top gate to the bottom gate. It had additional wiggles where the muddy spots had snagged a wheel. I will not miss digging the van out of muddy trouble, or pushing it. We rarely dared to drive uphill.
The stone track gently curves to follow the land. It will need compacting before we call it a job done- but here we are, driving uphill, downhill, hearing the stone crunch, not quite believing what our ears and eyes are confirming. It’s a silly-hot day, we barely get any work done, and every job we do wanders back to the stone line and rechecks: yep, it’s here. We did dream it, but then we ordered all this stone and now it’s real.
So, what next?
Of course, there’s a list we can refer to, and subdivisions of lists depending on which segment of our project we deem to be the next practical step.
So..?
It’s easy to write lists. The first item usually starts ‘research…’ because we are edging along a tightrope here, a couple of self-taught amateurs, wobbling from dreams to plans, at the whim of so many variables:
wind direction, soil type, budget, sudden frosts, heatwaves, sharknados, tree diseases, the right footwear, velociraptors, burst pipes, socks full of grass seed, number of hand trowels put down in the grass and never found again, how many tons of stone for a track all the way down,
and so forth.
We dreamed it, we planned it, we did it. We learned that achievement can be a shock requiring rest and acclimatisation, that it too is a variable.
When we get home we unpeg and fold the dry washing, make a nice cup of tea.
We watch the cherry tree sway in a welcome breeze.


Gnarly old tree stump looks like a smiling face- a gurning sort of a smile, funny and friendly
Happy-faced tree stump admiring the track :-) 

Comments

Well done. A triumph. And one I hope of many.
We live on a dirt road. It's an ongoing adventure. However, I'm not at all convinced that asphalt actually makes anyone's life easier.

Man, I love that tree...
Steve Cromwell said…
As soon as I saw the photo, my first thought was, "It's an actual road!" Glad to know you got the same sense of wonder about it being there. And a beautiful stump, too!
Lisa Southard said…
We're going with stone, keeping it simple. We all love that tree, it just gets better as it weathers :-)
Lisa Southard said…
Long may it continue to amaze! That tree stump has quite a fan base :-)
I can't comment on your latest post. It demands I sign in - and refuses to let me. Sigh. Thanks for the early morning smiles. Your kitchen hygiene made complete sense to me. And I loved the blooms too.
Lisa Southard said…
Blogger does some random things sometimes - I have no idea why it wants you to sign in, but apologies for the annoyance. Glad you could still read the posts and get some smiles :-)

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