I finally got to mowing the other half of the yard, which we didn't do a week ago. However, I have this intense aversion to mowing anything that is flowering prettily. So the patches of Ox Eye Daisies become islands in the lawn.
Then, I dug out some rocks. BIG ONES. Our yard would be a stream bed had it not been diverted, cleared, and sodded over by a previous owner. We theorize that much of the stone from the yard was used on the house and walls. However, there have always been a few poking out of the grass. This makes for difficult, alarming and down right dangerous mowing. When you miss one, and mow over it, there is a loud rattle, the blades spark, you take a chance of damaging the mower and you, etc. So I periodically will dig one out. They are like glaciers. Only a tiny bit of will show above the surface, hiding the boulder beneath. Here is one now.
The tools give you some idea of size. I estimate 150-200lbs. Only 4 inches of tip was sticking above the surface. The patch of bare dirt next to it is the hole it left, now filled in. I did four like this. There are still a half dozen more, but it will happen. Suffice it to say, that getting one out, much less four, is big hard dirty work.
I then moved on to our terrace area. The area that was a former stone foundation for a chicken barn or something. When we moved in, it was a pile of bricks and rubble. We cleared the area dug down through the layers of broken glass, shingles and junk, exposed the stone floor, and started leveling. I have since installed a fire pit and we use it as a terrace. Here is one angle of it.
It needs alot more work. One of the large oaks that bracket it is hollow inside. So when the rains come, a spring wells up from under it and flows into the firepit. I dug a deep french drain and 2 foot drywell between two buttressing roots, after leveling and going down a good eight inches. So there I was going about my work. There was a loud cracking sound and when I turned around a beautiful faery door had appeared in the tree. With a brass knob and copper hinges. Roofed over with bark and chinked with moss.
It looks like it's always been there, so maybe it wasn't visible until I cleaned up that the pixie glamor lifted and we were able to see it. Ellawyn loves is and we have been knocking to see if it will open. Sadly, the faerie inside seems to be shy and will not answer, nor can mortals get in. Here is a picture of Ellawyn next to it to show scale. She looks sad, but I just snapped a funny picture...or maybe because we aren't small and can't go in.
There are lots of other fairy doors in the world. Here are a bunch of Urban Fairy Doors. There is even a Fairy Door and Window Company.
