The Avant Garden

I just can't stay inside very much. While I shoulda been cooking dinner one day last week, I snuck down to the River (the Downstream Rockpile area, to be more exact) and did this one: 

The next day I had a hankering to stack something big, so I went over to Rob's to see what would happen if I stacked a lot of rocks -- 15, in this case -- on top of each other:
It's about 6 feet tall. I want it taller, but Rob says I have to wait until it falls to mess with it.
 

Remember last entry I mentioned the geese on the island behind the Avant Garden? Well now that they have moved on downstream, I waded out to the island to see the remains of their nest:  

They keep house more betterly than I do.  

 
Also, check out these gorgeous ferns in Rob's garden:

The picture just doesn't capture it ...

He was nice enough to give me one.

While over at Rob's, I fixed up this thing by the driveway:

Those are come choice rocks in a bad spot. Cars hit 'em; most recently, Rob in the Toyota truck. Rob's Taliban-tough Toyota Truck's only fault is that it has the turning radius of the space shuttle. Or worse.

Yesterday, to celebrate the Avant Spouse's Birthday, we went to Bent Creek to picnic at the Unphotographable Herd of Arches. They were all knocked down again, and there was a smelly dead snake in the middle of the pack. Is the rockstack mafia trying to tell me something? I didn't listen. I ate too much good food and fixed 'em. Later I took a photo of my teenage daughter and a dang big rock I balanced:
She's probably thinking about what dopes the Avant Parents are ...

 One of the things the Avant Spouse wanted for her birthday was to have her pile of dead-batteried watches repaired. She had seven watches that didn't even have enough juice to blink "12:00" over and over again, so I took them to the jeweler for repair. To gift-wrap them for her, I made each one a little stocking and hung them from one of the driftwood trees that follow me home:
We like to do things the traditional, old-fashioned way here in the Avant Home.

 She cut the stockings open and watches fell out and we sang "Happy Birthday." Badly, but with sentiment.

I mentioned something before about hosting the AC-T plant exchange. Polly McDaniel was one of my co-conspirators in the thing, and she forwards this photo of The No One Else Has One Garden:
Sedum-n-stone, like Montana-n-Rice. 

The aforementioned Polly McDaniel  has taken this Garden Asheville Web site and run with it. It has become an awesome pile of knowledge and experience, and it is only a few months old. Check it out if you're a gardener, or not.

Speaking of Web sites, VineyardRocks.com is pretty awesome if you are into this rock thing.

We seemed to be in the express line for summer, but yesterday was sweater weather. I still haven't had my first skeeter bite of the year, though I have swatted a few.  I am currently working on a mobile of things I pulled out of the River plus some other junk. Should be interesting. Or just strange, depending on where you come from.