I resumed work on our fire pit today.  The probability of rain jumped up and back down at 10 AM, but the rain held off.  The revised forecast had the probability back up starting in the late afternoon and remaining elevated through the evening and overnight.  Clouds streamed in from the southwest all day.  It was warm (~80) with 70% humidity, but the clouds provided much needed relief from the direct sun.

The fire pit being constructed around the old burn pile.  View to NE towards the marsh,

Keith was mowing our neighbor’s lawn, which he does every week, and I waved him down to see if he had time to also do ours.  Our normal schedule is every other week, but our clay soil is holding a lot of water that, combined with the abundant sunshine of the past five days, has caused everything to grow; a lot.  He got it all done before the rains came, which was great.

Looking east towards the pond.

Linda made her scrumptious chickpea (garbanzo bean) salad/spread and we had some for lunch while Keith mowed the area of the yard around the fire pit.  She served it on toasted rye bread with fresh Bing (sweet) cherries on the side.  Linda loves rye bread and will eat anything on it including peanut butter and jelly.  I really like rye bread for certain things, but not others.  Hummus and onion; yum.  Chickpea spread; absolutely.  PB&J; no way.  Of course in a former culinary life it was always my favorite for a ham and Swiss cheese sandwich.  Rye bread is still an agreeable choice for sandwiches made from the “fake” cold cuts we occasionally buy, including “ham and Swiss” and “pastrami'” both with mustard, of course.

Looking SSW towards the house.

I took a few photographs after lunch and then worked for another hour or so until I hit my personal wall and knew I was done for the day.  I gathered all of my tools into the wheelbarrow and rolled it back up to the garage.  A cool shower and a long nap had me feeling almost human again just in time for dinner.  A quiet evening with a small glass of Egri Merlot and a piece of the (vegan) chilled double chocolate torte, followed by Season 1, Episode 4 of Doc Martin.  What’s not to like?