When the men are away, the gal does play!

I've been having the most glorious summer vacation since August 20th. All of my men have been in Hawaii, and I have been deliciously alone, alone, alone! Except for our 3 cats and 2 dogs.

This year I've been in the mood for landscaping, not art. I'm in one of my rejuvenation periods, which means no art, because my artistic side is tired. And the yard was really primed for me to get in and finish off some projects. Cody and his friends have been yearning for money all summer, so I put them to work in the yard, doing all of my tendon-killing projects that would take me years to do, and only takes them hours to do. So, I was able to spray all of the new flagstone that we laid in my favorite new spot in the yard, with a color enhancer/sealant, and it really looks great now. Then I went on to our little Japanse garden. First I dug up and relocated two azaleas; one was doing poorly and the other was being buried underneath some overzealous groundcover. Then I had the big, strong 18 year old next door move a couple of potted plants for me. Next on my list was acquiring a quantity of polished black Mexican rock for our little Japanese garden in the side-yard. I talked a buddy into going with me for that one. And we oohed and aahed at all of the gorgeous rock before we loaded up with 250 pounds of polished black Mexican rock, which now looks spectacular in our Japanese garden, and should save me from doing a lot of weeding in that area.

This past weekend was Airshow weekend here, and although the weather on Friday and Saturday was less than ideal, yesterday the skies cleared up and they had nothing but blue skies and perfect conditions. So I was out in our cul-de-sac with my cameara, and here are the shots I got.