Phase 1 - c'est fini

For those of who either came in late or would rather not revisit earlier postings , here is what I started with when i began this yard art project.
And here is what I have accomplished so far :

For now , I plan to allow this to just be what it is. The plants all seem to be doing well and I like the idea of showcasing a portion of my frog collection. Some of the frogs will probably be migrated to the next phase which is the plot in front of the house on the other side of the sidewalk. Already have several pieces and a group of plants selected for incorporation into Phase 2.

Some of you might be wondering " why frogs ? " , and/or " where did they come from " ? It started a very long time ago when one of my father's younger brothers ( known as "X" ) was wondering what to give me for xmas. A female acquaintance was dabbling in ceramics and to help support her he had acquired the large frog which can just barely be seen in the far , upper left corner of the yard/picture. When it was presented to me , he said he wasn't sure how I would feel about it. I told him I thought it was great , and that I might start collecting others to keep it company. Luckily , when I was first dating my wife and presented her with various froggy gifts ( pins ,pendants , earrings , planters ,etc. ) she thought they were cute and even at times has encouraged me in the purchase of additions to the collection. Frog phone , frog lamp , frog cookie jar , frog pictures , doorstop , planters , candle holders , and so on in many different sizes , and materials. The smaller ones are in several display cases and many others are scattered as decoration throughout the house. My kids had frog toys when they were growing up and their housewarming gifts included frogs which they assure me have pride of place in their homes.

We really haven't come to a consensus yet on what to do with the other side of the front yard and I don't want to invest any sweat equity in it until we have a clearer idea of where we're going with it .Lots of other things to do while we think about it. My daughter's new coffee table made from the wood from used produce crates has sparked an idea. Our sycamore tree in the back yard has grown to a point where it overshadows a large portion of our current garden plot. We are considering relocating the garden to a less shaded portion of the back yard and using the present garden site as a space for the creation of a covered work shed type area which would be constructed using wood from used pallets. There are construction ideas galore for projects like this all over the internet - my wife showed me several THOUSAND ideas on just one site ( PINTEREST ).

As the url for this blog suggests : work to do , work to do. No one needs to fret that retirement will find me depressed because of feeling useless. What you DO need to worry about is hammer damage or strain from overuse of my Polish backhoe.