This was indeed a memorable evening at the Boston Symphony. With Keith Lockhart conducting, this was a salute to Gershwin. It included selected works from Porgy and Bess, and An American in Paris. Also, Rapsody in Blue, and I got Rhythm Variations with pianist Max Levinson. Finally, my favorite part, with vocalist Marin Mazzie (Tony award nominee) and Jason Danieley, songs from My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard, Ragtime and more.

Granted apart from the last list of well-known songs and Keith Lockhart, I had never heard of the other named artists and the works. But, it was indeeded very enjoyable.

I think what made this really memorable for me, was President (NEU) Richard Freeland made his debut as a conductor in the last music score! he did wonderfully.... :). Richard Freeland became President of Northeastern University, the same year I joined the school (1996). (Has it been 10 years already?) This year, Freeland retires from the position. So, we had both the outgoing and incoming presidents at the Pops.

Stones, concrete blocks, mortar, drain pipes!! Never thought I would be thrilled to research these. But, I think I am having fun! This is the fun step of designing a retaining wall or walls, as in my case. I am doing some serious landscaping this year, and serious work needs serious people..... and they get to have fun.

During my vacation week, I researched online and visited with my contractor bunch of specialized stores in and around my town and came away with pictures. I really wanted natural stone, since existing walls are in natural stone. The cost of stone and labor was not worth it. Besides, the newer wall blocks are equally elegant.

I visited Lowes and Home Depot first to find what they carry and sat in front of their retaining wall blocks for so long, that (a) I got sun-burnt and (b) people wandering about thought I worked there and started asking me questions. I sat and sat and more I looked and touched the block, the less I liked it. It felt very crumbly and not solid enough. Granted these appeared quite cost effective, but were they really cost effective in the long run? See the first image to the left. In the picture, the left hand side stack is granite gray and the right hand side is concrete white.

The lonesome one brick was in a more hoitty-toitty place. Earlier in the week, when I wandered into the place, I got shooeed away by their office, saying I had to bring my landscaper with me!! What nonsense! What if I am the landscaper? Well! I am, because I am doing the planning, research, and design and my 'landscaper' is really doing only the implementation. Besides, guess who is paying for their rocks.... me. So, what is the landscaper going to do, say look at this stone, do you like it? Damn, I can do that, that is look at a stone and see if I like it! Umph! So, in conclusion, we are not ordering from these guys. I did like the block. It definitely is more solid than the ones from Lowes and it comes with the pins and constructions looks more natural than the cookie cutter blocks.

The third from the left, was simply the best thus far.....  naturally dark granite almost charcoal color. I love this one!!

    

Now for the last set. !Ah! Thats my landscaper doing some measurements. This a ligher granite gray than the charcoal one, and is a larger block, almost 17in wide. and the picture on the right is the same stone, but 12 in wide and almost 8in in height.

   

By this time I am confused. Lowes too crumbly, the lonesome too hoitty-toitty, Charcoal love it and too expensive. That leave the bottom two. :) Looks like we are getting close to a decision. My money is on the 17in one. It is the one with my landscapers head, hand and measuring tape picture. He has promised to drop a sample on my doorstep for me to finalize it. Unfortunately, I saw all these in the Memorial weekend and so they were closed. I have to make a trip to these folks again and find out costs, delivery, who, what, when and co-ordinate that with the landscaper. Fun, Fun, Fun!!

 

9 days from May 20th to May 27th (5 business days, 4 weekend days).

Completed:

Yard: My yard is a shoddy mess, mainly because it is a steep slope along front and right of the house (thankfully sloping away from the house, so no flooding) and it was/is painfully boring with lawn with dandelions and who know what else. I had a vague idea what I wanted to do with the slope, but needed loads of designing, planning (esp. finances), and finally execution.

This year has been declared the "Year of the Yard".  

• Researched, called/emailed, interviewed, discussed, got estimates from landscapers. Finally, selected one landscaper and detailed plan, and measurements for breaking the slope into terraces with small retaining walls. As we designed and planned, I needed to research what stone, block? what color should the retaining wall should be. That lead to endless research into the designing retaining walls, sturctural stability, drainage system, and of course actually seeing the blocks and stones, pavers and coping stone at countless sites online and couple of them in the neighborhood towns. I don't think I have settled on this one yet, but I have a fair idea what I want.
• Researched endlessly (and I mean endlessly) online (a sample of the sites = Greenwood Nursery, Autumn Ridge Nursery, Wolf Creek Gardens, Moonshine Designs Nursery, Michigan bulbs, so on and on and on) and driving to nearby nurseries (Wilson Farms, Lexington Gardens, Mahoneys, Lowes, Home Depot and any other nursery I could find) for the trees, shrubs, flowering, non-flowering bushes. Researching for plantings meant literally walking or driving around town, taking pictures of plants/trees that I liked, asking neighbors and knocking on doors asking people what that plant was (that was weird! but what the heck!), asking strangers, getting back home, downloading, printing them and then researching them for seasonality, when to plant?, what soil?, how does it look like in summer and winter?, are there other varieties of the same genus?, where are they available?, how much does it cost? etc etc etc etc........ whew! I now have a set of plants/trees/shrubs that I have totally fallen in love with. So, the plan (subject to changes), for spring have Pink Flowering Dogwood, mid-end spring Lilacs (Lavender, Pink and White) and colorful Azaleas (Red, Orange, White, Fuchsia), end spring Deep Pink and White Rhododendrons, late spring through summer Pink and Red Myrtles, White Buddleias and possible colorful Gladiolas, fall have Pink dogwood display burgundy leaves. All along the season, spot the yard with Golden Euonymus, Rosy Glow/Burgundy Barberry, Salvias, Lavender, and the list goes on. Along with the flowering frenzy, I wanted to make couple of vegetable beds mostly with Tomatoes and some herbs.
• During my running around (rather driving) I picked up (it was so irresistible) bunch of herbs and planters for indoor planting. I am now a proud mum of a few indoor pots with Lavender (Munsted, Hidcote, Provence, English.... you think I am partial to Lavenders?), Thyme, French Tarragon, Chocolate Mint, Sweet Basil, Rosemary and a few succulents whose name I did not catch.

Along with yard work the other things that I managed to do are:

• Cleaned the garage (swept, washed and got rid of cobwebs), moved the packing boxes to the attic, trashed un-used stuff (thankfully this was the recycling week, so I could dispose of stuff), organized the yard and hardscape supplies.
• Cleaned the attic and organized boxes in attic for storage.
• Cleaned deck, and some part of the yard.... most of it is still shoddy, wacky mess which will get done sometime soon (hopefully this summer!)
• Porch work took a life on its own, I got down to design storage space with shelves or book cases and endlessly researched in local places and online for specific shelf constructions and/or book cases. Most designs, concepts died a natural death, as either they were too expensive or plain dorky or just not feasible or simply I got tired. Three good things happened for the porch, though, I finished staining the french doors (needs final finish), researched and got great deal on curtain rod brackets and rods and got a fantastic deal for curtain lining material. This was big for me as I had bought absolutely gorgeous silk materials for curtains, but the silly linning took 6 months to get. Now another project can get completed - curtains.
• Knitting could not be left behind. I completed two itty-bitty baby sweaters and one narrow scarf.

Perhaps the biggest achievement was I organized my To Do list... Funny, but true, now I have a little better system to track work done, work to be done and work that maybe a good idea to test out.

Not done:
There are so many things that I have not started or not done as yet. But this week was a great start. I did not get to relax, don't remember having wine (apart from one night where I was invited to a dinner party), I am exhausted from the vacation and need a vacation from the vacation. But knowing me, if I do have a vacation, I am going to be running around again. So, it was a great break for me to get organized and have a clear vision of what I want to do in the next few weeks, months, and perhaps years.  

psssst..... I am sure everyone would like to see before and after pictures of my yard....... stay tuned.... I will keep all updated....

Finally it is here! My long awaited vacation week. It has been 14 months+ since my last vacation. Vacation defined as more than one consecutive days off. I have taken half day or day here and there, but they were mostly because the previous week already clocked way more than 50 hours at work.

In my vacation I am going to catch up on sleep..... hmmm.... perhaps travel to Montreal or New York or someplace other than home. Or maybe just relax on my deck, wine and dine, watch movies, and/or do nothing. If I feel enthusiastic enough I may even tackle the 5 page To-Do list that has been growing exponentially.

Sunday was riding on Satudays high, and I let it. I really wanted to complete my tea light bevel prototype.

Complete being the operative word. I did try couple other prototypes and it kept falling apart on me. The concept was sound, but there was something lacking in the sturctural reinforcement, that made it wobble and collapse. I knew, I needed a stronger base to balance the weight.

To the computer.... I researched for small artists glass or stone blocks and all I came across was the building blocks (some rather very interesting glass blocks, with colors and patterns and sandblasting done, but I digress). It struck me, why not construct it? AH! What a radical idea! And lo behold!!! here are some pictures of a structurally sound and dazzling tea light holders with bevels...... what do you think!!

          

These are views from three different angles and are really three different tea light assemblies (each oval bevel is pretty much a standalone tea light), as the reflection on the camera with the lights was too dazzling. I tried different angles and different settings on the camera, and I don't know if I can take pictures for the web that well. Ah, well, something new to learn over period of time.

A very productive weekend on a very deary day. Perhaps, due to all that rain and icki-ness outside, I am forced to stay indoors and be creative, productive and keep myself entertained. The forcing function turned out to be fun and at the end of the day I was happy, proud and ah, well! tired.

The day started as usual around 5ish, I slept in a little, but not much. Right from the first waking moment, I knew this was going to be the day I clean up and organize my attic and hopefully the basement. (I need to get my stain glass studio in ship-shape and ready for work! It was a pile of boxes, and more boxes). I get out my ladder, and it is a heavy ladder, very discouraging one, to pull out, setup to get to my attic. After brief struggle and couple of cuts on the forearms, I was frustrated with the ladder..... (anyone want a 22 foot ladder, which folds into 6 ft for storage, send me an email! For a $150 (I spent $325) bucks I am willing to happily part with the cuts and bruises I got with it).  I had to clear my head, and get the annoyance out, so I did the next best thing, setup the ladder, and treated myself to cup of great Australian coffee!

Re-energized, I got to the basement/garage and started the cleanup. Rule of thumb, if I did not need it in the last 2 years, or even thought of it, then it is got to go. No sentimental attachments to old pair of shoes, old mats, wooden slats(?), and other wacky items. The junk got to go, and rest needs love and care and ORGANIZATION!! Whew! two hours later, I had most of my garage about 40% cleaned and basement, except for the stain glass studio, rest was in a better place, either shelved, marked and cleaned OR in the garbage.

Several trips were needed to get all the items to be stored in the attic to the attic. It is 3 flights of stairs, one from basement to living room, and from there to bedroom and then the ladder to the attic. Large bowl of oatmeal was a welcome treat after that workout.

Perhaps it was the workout of cleaning and climbing innumerable stairs, that got the endorphins kicking in in high gear. I got down to tackle the weekend chores of cooking for the week, cleaning, laundry and most importantly relaxing, in that order.

By the time afternoon rolled in, it was still raining outside. I made myself comfortable in front of the idiot box (TV and Cable) and started to watch surf channels, when the new Lacette Yarn, started clamoring for my attention. Should I knit, or shouldn't I? Duh! I did! A very simple caplet with eyelet pattern in drop dead gorgeous silky, soft yarn called Lacette (Patons) and edging with silverlash (also from Patons). Pictures coming soon... I promise.

   
For me spring all about Lilacs and Cherry Trees. As you walk around in the neighborhood, these blossoms cannot fail to grab your attention, either with their fragrance or their color.

To celebrate, lilacs, I knitted two scarves using Fun Fur (from Lion Brand), they are so quick to knit with #11 needles and one ball of 60 yards, gets knitted into a lovely, furry scarf in no time. Tell me they don't look lovely. Look at it wrapped around the lilac vase.

This weekend spent time nursing a cold, watching movies (Attila, Red Eye and Legend of Zorro). The looonng list of todo's just got a tad longer. Well, tomorrow is another day.