It was time

Note: I will be in the Pacific Northwest until early October, so there will not be a new post for several weeks.

     The antique paving bricks in the Williamsburg Garden had shifted and sunken since their installation after reworking the garden about 15 years ago.  The bricks were originally used in the streets of Waukesha, Wisconsin in the early 1900s, and they were removed in the 1960s.

White oak aging

     Five years ago, I had three hanging light fixtures made by a cabinet shop, though the design was my own, way back in 1980.  One was made of white oak, the other two of red cedar and ipe.  I find the one out of white oak is aging the fastest.  The first photo was taken this year, the second three years ago.  The last photo is of the red cedar fixture, which is weathering much better. 

Thousand of chances...

     There is a flight of steps leading out my garage door and upper patio down to my main lower patio, built about 1973.  I estimate that I go down and back up those steps three times a day for 200 days a year.  So, since 1973, I negotiated those steps--without once falling on my face--about 54,000 times.  In early August, I was walking up them, carrying my tripod with my very good camera attached.  I stumbled on the top step, falling forward and trying to stay upright.  Finally, I reached the garage door and grabbed hold of the door jamb, face and camera remaining unbroken.  I said to myself, "That's it, I'm putting in a railing!"  So I did--as I did at nine other places around my gardens.  Why I did not do so in the most frequently used steps is beyond me.