The Avant Garden

... and will see K-T tomorrow. In about 24 hours, I think.

Brubeck played the Grand Ballroom (so grand that the ungrand get lost there) at the Grove Park Inn. Loonis McGlohon Band opened. Brubeck is 84 now. He still hit the keys hard, still delivered solid jokes between songs. Bill Barley and I went. It was groovy-cool.

I have work-work to do and heat pumps to unthaw. Have yet to touch a rock or anything today.

... that we so richly deserve. I leapt from my nice warm featherbed to take Anne to work this morning at 07:00. Not much traffic out. Snow mixed with ice falling. Of course, I have already been to the Avant Garden, but it was too dark to take photographs. I went down there last night and stacked a bunch of silly things. Photos of the rocks stacked in the rockpile don't turn out that well because my camera doesn't capture much in the way of "depth of field." But with the ground white all around them, I think they will be a bit more
Has a certain regal air about her, doesn't she?interesting. So I did some speedstacking in the dark last night, as the aforementioned Moon was hiding behind snow clouds. I heard AC-T editorial page editor Joy Franklin (my
Things taste better here. No kidding.boss) on "The State of Things" on NPR this morning.

On the left here is "Conversation Pit #4c," a project borne of a few days of mania back in late August. My 0125 entry mentioned, "All the rest of the family had plans so I had a picnic with the dog by lantern light in Conversation Pit #4c." It's the kind ofpicnic table Fred Flintstone would belly up to for a brontosaurus burger on his deck. If you look over the head of this rockstack over on the right, you can see Conversation Pit #4c nestled among the poplars.

Well, I have to go back out in the snow now. I sure do wish K-T were here to go for a walk in the snow with me. I love snowy days with K-T. One of my favoritest snow memories goes back to when she was four and we sat watching snowflakes fall into the River for a long time and talked silly things. She will be home in just over 48 hours!   

I went out to the rockpile last night and tanned in the full moon. It shone brightly  on the rockpile, and as I walked by, the reflections of hundreds of pieces of mica in the granite sparkled back at me. I did this stack in the moonlight, singing a happy song.

Reserve your moonlight tour today!

I took this photo this afternoon when I came home from work.

Rob had been working out in the sun today and did this Triple Arc
Intertwined archesh Bypass thing.

Three arches sharing rocks ... it's like a contortionist-only orgy.

Well, not quite. But Rob really ate his Wheaties.

We sure do miss K-T. She comes home Monday.

.. and the stacking went well. I fixed up some downed stuff today, including a new Russell family set for the Permanent Collection.
Those zany Russells ... notActually, I just realized there is no "Josh" totem in there ... there is one for Sylvia, our mutt.  So never mind all that about the Russell family. These are a bunch of totems who don't know each other. 

 
Top shelf rocks, aye?

Irish Road Sign, the tallest guy here, is about six feet tall.

I like stacking rocks that don't look like they could stand. This guy sorta has that "How he do that?" look about him. 
Cute lil' guyCheck the poplar trees for context.

He didn't feel very interesting when I did him. This may be the first one that looks better in the Avant Garden blog than in the Avant Garden proper.

All the rest of the family had plans so I had a picnic with the dog by lantern light in Conversation Pit #4c.  I had a Subway sub. There's a full moon out; think I will go down to the rockpile. Someone has been showing up at the Great Curve leaving empty quart Miller bottles down there. They don't knock any totems over, and they seem to come regularly no matter how cold. I think we need to set up a ghost presence to scare them away. Any ideas?

I want my money back.

Last night we had gusts up to 60 m.p.h.  and snow falling. I had to go pick up the boys from a birthday party in the boonies (yes, we still have a little "boonies" left in Asheville) last night and there were "snow devils" dancing in the road. The wind howled all night. Temperature fell to 14. And so little snow fell we really can't call it a "snowday." Snowballs are great, but they are at their greatest when you don't have to work for them and still end up with a lump of snow and pine needles.
They look awfully lonely out there in the cold, don't they?

I did go down to the Great Curve, and I did get out of the car. Many things have fallen in the wind, but only one of the Marching Arches.

And it was not the arch who stands only (as I noted a few days ago)

Dependent upon the friction of strangersbecause of friction between Rock E and Rock F. There is no semi-vertical plane on which they lean against one another. That friction is working out well for him. A least for now. When he falls, all the other arches are going to whisper to one another, "I'm not surprised. There was always some friction bubbling beneath the surface ..."

We sure do miss K-T.