gives the story of the unearthing of the Oval Path we began in June 2014.
This was begun on 5th.


The next day the kitchen garden hadn’t been thought of, and I was digging out bamboo roots that stretched under the gravel.


By 10th Jackie was sieving soil from the gravel that we had weeded.


The Oval Bed was better established by 11th June 2015, and Elizabeth’s Bed, named because she cleared much of it, was far more inviting by 25th September that year.
During the last few days Jackie has continued clearing it once more. She reached the point where the oval curve joins the brick segment shared with the Weeping Birch Bed. Although the overnight rain has desisted, the wind has not. It drove her inside late this afternoon.
Petals now litter where she had raked;
and Peach Abundance, its support smashed, hampers her vision and obscures mine on the final stretch. Eventually she temporarily propped it to keep it out of her hair.
Along the way she has lifted and realigned half buried rocks,
and dug up a useful nail, seen here alongside lingering leaf-borne raindrops.
This evening we dined on Jackie’s wholesome chicken stewp and crusty tiger rolls, with which she drank more of the Zinfandel and I drank Cambalala Stellenbosch Shiraz 2024