A pink fiberglass pokey. It may be pink, but I guarantee there will be a stink once it’s removed five weeks from now. With no fantastic tale to share, suffice to say that my left hand has a major broken bone, and typing with one hand doesn’t inspire witty copy.
What survived in one of the hottest summers on record. Take one last look at the current setup of my front shade garden, because this fall or early next spring it will be expanded. Due to climate change and the growing tree canopies, what worked ten years ago has either died back or outgrown its location. I will be extending the beds, replacing most of the grass lawn, transplanting a few perennials, and adding perennials that will survive Dallas’ more frequent climate extremes. Once complete, I hope not to depend on seasonal annuals to fill in the voids as much as I have these past ten years.
If you’re wondering how often I run the sprinkler system, the answer would be twice a week. Instead, I hand water every evening, which is a real pain and has not been fun, but this is — hands down — the most efficient way to water annuals. Next year, once the re-design has been completed, a soaker hose system will be implemented, because I want my life back.
Keri Oldham’s exhibition of film related work will open with a reception tomorrow, Saturday, August 13 from 7 to 9 pm at The Reading Room, 3715 Parry Avenue. It will continue through August 28.
The pieces in this exhibition are the fade-out “end scenes” from various films, re-imagined and used to examine endings on a personal level. Oldham is interested in how we are influenced by film and television narratives and incorporate stories about love, success, and morality into our lives both consciously and subconsciously.
Oldham is an artist, curator, writer, and former Dallasite now living in Brooklyn. Her work has been shown at Camel Art Space, Fountain Art Fair, and Dave Bown Projects as well as The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, 500X Gallery, Centraltrak Artist Residency, and Kirk Hopper Fine Art in Dallas. She holds degrees in philosophy from Loyola University and in curatorial studies from San Francisco State University. She is a 2010 BRIC Arts Media Fellow.
Glasstire has also done a writeup about The Reading Room and this upcoming exhibition. If you’re interested in knowing more about visual art here in Texas, Glasstire is definitely worth a read and a bookmark.
UPDATE: Follow the below link for more images of Keri Oldham’s work exhibited at The Reading Room.
The continuing saga of the lace fence. After arriving last week, the package was too long and heavy for one man and a dolly to maneuver from the truck, through the gates and into my garage. So it’s just been lying on my driveway ever since. From looking at the package, it appeared that they had shipped the fabric in separate panels and not in the continuous roll that I expected. This worried me, but after opening it up, we discovered that it was indeed one continuous piece of fabric. Yes! Yes! Yes! On closer inspection we realized that the woven lace designs were small and tight and would have never been able to conform to a compact rolling technique.
A sampling from my summer collection of hand fans. With our Dallas temperature consistently hovering around 109 degrees, I can’t imagine life without this simple accessory. Over the years, I’ve collected an interesting group, despite the fact they are hard to find — that is if you’re looking for something more sophisticated than the Asian souvenir type of fan. How can a basic and beautiful tool be so under appreciated? The Asian sandalwood fan is my everyday choice. They are a bit fragile, but easier to find, very affordable, and have a wonderful scent. Occasionally I come across a stinky one that has been unnaturally enhanced and requires a year to calm down before it can be taken out into public. If you’re in Dallas, World Market has a fun selection of paper souvenir types of fans along with the sandalwood variety.
Handmade clay brick pavers don’t seem to be popular anymore, and until a close match can be found, the backyard job is on hold. For at least a week anyway. The pavers on my front steps that you see in the above photo were installed seven years ago, and I failed to make a note of their name and color at that time. Ideally, the pavers for the new back steps and extended paths should match what I already have. Since they aren’t stocking many paver choices, the dealer has been kind enough to offer to walk their Denton yard to see if he can come up with enough pavers to match from the overage pallets left over from previous years.
Tomorrow, Thursday, the lace fence fabric will be delivered sometime between one and five, and once it’s physically here, I will ask Hadden Landscaping to schedule the fence’s installation. I don’t expect this to happen this week. Knowing my luck, the fence and pavers will be installed at the same time on the same day causing mass confusion.
Dirt has moved. A four inch layer of finished compost and expanded shale have been added and tilled to a six inch depth in all planting beds. Then in the areas where clay pavers and stone paths will be laid down, the dirt has been tamped down. Next Wednesday is the planned day for the stone and brick installation. Only after this has been done, can we proceed with the final phase of regrading and steel edging placements.
I have received word that my lace chain link fabric is slated to arrive at my house on Monday. Maybe, just maybe, the landscape crew will be able to install it next week.
Are you as bored as I am from looking at these backyard update photos? For a change of venue expect a post that has nothing to do with hardscaping, landscaping, and gardening. Hopefully I’ll have it posted by late tomorrow, but first some staging and photography must occur.
A brief update. Yesterday, Monday, they poured the garage concrete pad for the second time. The forms will stay on until Wednesday morning, and hopefully, this will give the concrete ample time to cure and not stick to the forms during removal.
note: If you notice a little square of exposed dirt between the garage and the greenhouse, this was deliberately designed to help absorb the runoff during a rain storm and to avoid water draining into the greenhouse.
A tragedy unfolds. Not a real tragedy in terms of the world and humanity, but a tragedy that turned into a pain in the derrière for everyone involved. Especially me. It’s all been downright intrusive and isn’t over yet. There’s more to come tomorrow, day 11.
Day 8. The concrete was poured only after waiting for the mixer truck for three hours. Three hours AFTER the scheduled time. First was the pad in front of the garage and greenhouse, and the second and longest pour was the complicated tiered back steps which now look like some kind of wedding cake. I was instructed to not allow my dogs on them until later that night. We coped very well and went to bed thinking that progress had been made and all was right. WRONG!
Bertha, the fraidy cat. She’s the smart one peeping out. Bubba is not bright enough to consider the spring board action of the temporary ramp as dangerous. It looks like I will have to bring Bertha around to the backyard the long way for one last visit tonight before we call it a night. I don’t want either of them to go out on that ramp at night, so I’ll be sliding down the temporary door to keep them in.
Please excuse the wonky-wall syndrome in this photo. I had better shots, but this is the only one showing Bertha’s cute mug looking out.
The framing is finished, and the concrete will be poured tomorrow morning. Even though it’s a small job, the complexity required four men to work ten hours with an additional three men for the last three hours.