keeping those herbs in place

having successfully created one retaining wall in her yard, the baron recently felt empowered to build another one, just off her kitchen, to keep her herb garden in place.

(apologies in advance for the darkness of the photos.)

the baron constructed the wall the last sunday in september; it took most of the day, and was kind of tricky, given that she had to account for both a corner and a downspout. this first picture shows the almost finished product. see how the stones are kind of crooked and only mostly level?


these next two pictures were taken the first weekend in october. the baron spent the better part of last friday, october 3, measuring, cutting, and gluing these capstones in place:

the baron has decided that the beauty of the capstones, besides giving one a place to sit, is that they effectively address the 'crooked and mostly level' issues, don't you think?


really, the baron wanted to put this retaining wall in so that she could avoid working on the larger retaining wall project that's slated for the back of the yard... but, alas, the husband made some headway on that larger project over the weekend (digging out and leveling the trench), so she can't dodge it much longer.

but, the good news? more masonry pictures for you, reader! yay!

what? here i am!

the baron and her dogs have developed a nice weekday morning routine. the husband leaves for work around 7:00am, at which time the baron lets three of the four dogs out while she attends to her, ahem, toilette. (the fourth dog follows the baron around the house, usually coming to rest on the bath mat while she brushes her teeth.)

around 7:30, the baron is ready to leave for work and forcibly encourages the fourth dog outside, so he can, ahem, relieve himself. he hops to the bottom of the steps, makes his business just off the front walk, and hops back up the stairs, at which time the baron lets loose a LONG whistle. this whistle is a noise the other three dogs know - they know it means, 'mom's calling, time to go inside'.

dexter and tucker are very obedient dogs, and answer the whistle almost immediately by running up the front steps and into the house.

harlan, on the other hand, fakes deafness to get himself an extra three minutes of outside time, at which point he bursts up the stairs like a rocket with this look on his face:



as if to say, 'hey! where've you been? i've been waiting for you the whole time, but here i am! also, can i have a treat?'

drying out as she types

the first day of fall is just one week past, but the baron is already feeling the effects of this change in the weather: she gets all dried out in these crisper months.

lucky for her, she very recently discovered Badger brand Cocoa Butter Lip Balms at her neighborhood market. she picked up a three pack, above, with cool mint, sweet orange and cocoa flavors. the first two are delicately flavored, not like some bonne bell assault on her mouth and nose, and the last one has no flavor or scent at all. all are creamy and long-lasting, and on the label of each is written 'a little magic for your lips'. you know what, reader? it IS a little magic for your lips!

how did this get here?

the baron and the husband spent part of their weekend thrift shopping, visiting some of their favorite ones. they could think of nothing in particular that they needed, really, though the husband did have an eye out for halloween decorations. for her part, the baron really just wanted to get out of the house (it had been a rainy, cooped-up kind of weekend).

once they got to their first stop, though, the baron realized that she did want something: didion's 'the year of magical thinking', a book that the she had often (always!) seen at the thrift store. it happened that the two or three thrifts they intended to visit had excellent book sections, so the baron felt certain that she'd find her book.

but.

the afternoon turned out to be an education for her, an education about the books left to thrift stores. for example, she saw lots of copies of frey's 'a million little pieces', proving once and for all that oprah's reach is mighty and far. she also saw a number of 'what to expect when you're expecting', quite a few of the 'the da vinci code' (in hard back), and LOTS of harlequin romance novels.

what troubled her about the whole thing, though, was the appearance on the thrift store shelves of some of her favorite novels: 'the corrections' (in both soft and hard back), 'absalom, absalom', 'the color of water', 'a confederacy of dunces', 'moo', and even a hard cover copy of 'me talk pretty one day'. 'me talk pretty one day'!!! mccullers, rowling, morrison... they were all there together, abandoned, and the baron was sad.

the baron was left wondering, how did these books get here? and, to the husband, can we buy them? don't you know someone who wants a copy of 'harry potter and the sorcerer's stone'? alas, he did not... and all the books stayed. the baron said a little something under her breath, something for the books she loved, hoping that someone good would buy them.

as for her - there was no didion, not this time anyway. there was, however, thackeray, and 'vanity fair' is proving a good read so far.

with this ring...

today, the baron presents the nearly accurate transcript of a conversation she had with the husband had last night:

the baron: i have to tell you something.
the husband: yes?
the baron: i've been thinking that i'd maybe like a wedding band...
the husband: instead of the rock, you want a band?
the baron: well, yeah... a thin band, something plain.
the husband: like mine?
the baron: well, yes, but thinner.
the husband: ok, it's your finger. we can do something with your ring and get a band.
the baron: what?
the husband: what?
the baron: i didn't mean 'instead of' my wedding ring, i meant 'in addition to'. wtf?
the husband: ...

outside living, done

reader, you may remember that the baron and the husband recently built a retaining wall and patio?

well, said retaining wall and patio are now totally finished and occupant-ready! low growing, foot-traffic tolerant moss has been planted between the pavers. ferns and bananas have been planted around the patio's perimeter. the furniture is back, and buddha has found a place among the greenery.

reader, it's a pretty sweet spot - it turned out very nicely indeed.

dragonfly, for candles!

reader, the baron knew you would have the answer.
special thanks to k, for having an idea and a link with a photo, and to t for bridging the gap.
photos are coming, once the dragonflies are properly outfitted with their new candle holders and tea lights.