Memorial Day

 For the past few years, Cassie and I have been working on a "Secret Garden."  This weekend, Cassie asked if we could get some stepping stones for the garden.  That part of the yard has poor soil and very little grass.  Stepping stones would be a nice addition.  And, Les has been meaning to fix the leaky faucet in the kitchen for some time now and needed to pick up some parts. So, Sunday afternoon found us, along with half the other families in the county, in the gardening center at the hardware store.

We browsed up and down the rows of decorative stones and pavers.  We studied the wall displays.  We picked up some stones and set them out on the floor, trying to envision how they would look.  We tried to determine how far apart the stones needed to be and how many we should buy.  Les was happy with the gray squares.  Cassie shook her head.  He pointed to the brick colored rectangles, the tan squares, the gray rectangles.  Cassie shook her head and explained that she had something less symmetrical in mind.  Lacey sighed and sat down on the floor.  Cassie finally settled on two different stones that have irregular shapes.  Les pointed out the variety of colors these stones come in. Cassie then explained that gray was probably best as she planned to paint the stones.  You know Les' eyes got rolling with that.  I gave him the look that means, "We're all tired, let's talk about it later," and we loaded up our cart and headed for home.

This morning, Les got up early to work on the sink and Cassie and I got up early to beat the heat.  Our garden needs a lot of work.  We decided to start by edging the berry bed with the bricks that Les bought two years ago.  I showed Cassie how to measure carefully and set in four corner stakes.  Then, I showed her how to tie string to the stakes to make a straight line.  "Why are we doing all this?" Cassie asked.  "Well," I replied, "My Dad taught me that if you're going to do a job, you have to do it right. He's the one that taught me how to make a straight line like this."  

I sent Cassie to check on Les' progress.  She came back and said, "I couldn't understand what Daddy said because he had a flashlight in his mouth."  "Well," I thought, "You're probably better off not knowing what he said."

We began digging a trench.  Because of all the quartz, I had to use the pick ax to break the ground.  I showed Cassie how to use the hoe, to make a nice straight line next to the string.  "This is cool!" she said.  "How did you learn to use a hoe like this?"  "My Dad taught me," I replied.  

We took a break and I sent Cassie again to check on Les.  She came back and reported that Daddy was now searching the Internet for instructions on how to fix the faucet.  Meanwhile, Lacey somehow managed to sleep through the noise.    

Finally, we were ready to place the bricks.  First, though, I had to get a level.  As we placed the first brick, I showed Cassie how to set the level on top of the brick and then adjust until the bubble was in the middle.  "Wow!" she exclaimed.  "Let me guess, Opa taught you how to do this too."  Then she said, "Mommy, do  you really want to know why I want to paint the stepping stones?  I want to make a memorial garden for Opa."  "What a fabulous idea," I told her.   

Cassie with the hoe

Cassie's stepping stones

We did it!