Full Stop

I've been forced to full stop by a nasty cold. Because I'm too sick to exert myself much, I'm not doing very much work and can catch up on my blogging.

I actually had planned to take most of this week off of work to get some personal organizational stuff done, but having the cold seals the deal. Since I've had to attend a conference call or two this week already, everyone at the office understands that I'm sick and can't be expected to squeeze in work this week. I guess my body knows when it needs a break, eh?

Quite a bit has been going on, too, like...

Changes to my garden landscape.

Before... After...

There's more. Like this:

Before... After...

Isn't this wonderful? It will have to grown more for the true design to be seen, but I think it's wonderful. No more lawn to mow! I can't understand why so many people in the city have a lawn in front of their houses. I mean, it isn't large enough for kids to enjoy, and it's a huge waste of water, fertilizer, fuel, etc. to keep the darn thing going.
Notice where the gutters are located? They're directed into the rain garden, a nice little area to drain the water and filter it into the ground (where it belongs) and not the sewer.

Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

I didn't do any of this myself. I hired a great landscaper to work out the design and then to install it. There's more to come in the spring, too. This was just Phase I of my grand plan for the front and back and of my house. Phase II comes in the spring.

There's been a bit of knitting going on, too. I made some socks for Mark. And I've worked a bit on a lace shawl I'm test knitting for a fellow Windy City Knitting Guild member. [Blogger is being a pain again and not allowing me to upload more photos, so if you want to see any of these things be sure to follow the links.]

So, all in all I've been pretty productive, even if I haven't been very communicative.