(no subject)

[boxofdelights]

ursula restarted the Five Questions meme, and gave me five excellent questions, which I will answer one at a time:

1. Tell us about something you like making with your hands.

My first thought was "compost", but my hands are not really doing much of the work there. My second was "garden", but, there again, I'm just the prep cook: my work is necessary, but other living beings have to take over to create a thing of beauty. My third thought was "crazy paving". I love rocks. I love fitting them together. And I'm staying at my husband's house, where I can take pictures of my two biggest pieces.

ETA: Nope, I have to resize these.



The stone that is quarried near here is easy to break, and I did get a hammer and chisel and learn how to cut it, but what I really love is taking a random assortment and figuring out how to fit them together. The rectangular flagstones in this patio were scavenged from a friend's sidewalk, when the city replaced the stone with concrete. The other big pieces were bought from the stone quarry. The small gap-fillers were fished out of the creek.



When I lived here, various thymes and speedwells were growing between the rocks. Nine years after the gardener moved out, there is one big patch of speedwell left. I think it is Veronica liwanensis. The patio has also acquired pasture grass, woolly mullein, and a couple decorative sprays of horse manure.



This is the path from the house to the garden.



Working with smaller stones here, especially where it curves:



I hoped it would protect its plants better, but it is a harsh climate: hot dry summers and cold dry winters, and windy all the time.

If you would like me to ask you five questions, comment below.

Comments

[julian]

Oh, by "one at a time" you mean, "One per post." I have brain!

This is a very specific and also very meditative art form, sounds like. And it seems to have worked with the space you're in.

Nifty.

(I could have some questions, if you wanted.)

[enemyofperfect]

That's really cool!

[eeyorerin]

Me please.

[sasha_feather]

That is lovely!

[jesse_the_k]

Those paths are so attractive, and also functional--I could wheel down them. It's also gratifying how they create stories about interaction with local flora & fauna.

[boxofdelights]

Yes. I remember I kept getting stuck on two or three of the questions, and never posting the ones I had answered.... I'm better at finishing things now but one of my strategies is breaking tasks up into smaller and smaller pieces.

(Note: If I ask a question you don't want to answer, or don't want to answer in public, I always respect your right not to)

1. What do you like most about your new house?
2. What do you like least?
3. Do you have an ideal household shape? What I mean is, my ideal is me and two dogs, in a house with a garden. I could give some of that up, if for example, one of my kids had kids, and wanted my help, and I couldn't afford a house on my own where they lived; but this is what I really want. You?
4. What are you doing as a job now?
5. If you had to choose just one political issue to focus all of your political energy on, what would it be?

[julian]

Breaking things into smaller and smaller pieces makes perfect sense, and is definitely one of my ADD and depression strategies.

(Also, I answered these here: https://julian.dreamwidth.org/584824.html)

[boxofdelights]

Would you like questions? (If I ask a question you don't want to answer, or don't want to answer in public, I respect your right not to.)

1. What do you like best about living with your parents?

2. What do you like least about living with your parents?

3. Flight or invisibility?

4. Who is your favorite AI?

5. Which is your favorite book by C.J. Cherryh?

[boxofdelights]

1. Do you use music to regulate your mood? If so, what works?

2. Tell me about something you loved as a kid that you got to share with your kid.

3. Tell me about something your kid loves that you have discovered delights you too.

4. Do you feel like you are intrinsically polyamorous, or is that just the path your life happened to take?

5. What's the best part of your job?

[jesse_the_k]

...and I'd love to answer questions, if you have any (less than five is also good).

[enemyofperfect]

These are such lovely, hand-picked questions, thank you! If my brain cooperates, I will love answering these.

[boxofdelights]

Okay, I have debated with myself about whether the questions I really want to ask are just too nosy. If I came down on the wrong side, I hope you will forgive me and pretend that I only asked three. (The first time this meme went around, my fifth question to everyone was 5. Do you ever fake it? Why or why not? This did not always go over well.)

1. What is the current state of your quest to find a new place to live?

2. How does the saying, "In fandom, we'll correct you just to be polite" make you feel?

3. What new skill would you most like to learn?

4. What is your relationship with orgasms like these days?

5. How do you feel about not having kids?

[jesse_the_k]

Really, given how much I love talking about myself, no question is too nosy. I liked your previous number five so much I added it back in.

Six answers here, and thanks so much for playing