We bagged a bargain from a local(ish) garden centre when Kath spotted these exotic (fake) blooms going for half price. The selection includes Heliconia, Protea, Banana and Curcuma flowers. Not bad for fakes, gives us a bit of colour on the deck all year round.

I got bitten again. My calf swelled up to nearly twice the size. My foot is still swollen, over a week later. There's something around here that disagrees with me. Still, a week on antibiotics solves the problem. Just need to put up with the pain for a while.

Mustn't grumble too much. I managed to get my feet up for a day or so.

We've now got rid of the old, manky greenhouse, clearing the way for a brand new decked area. The ideal location to employ the humungous new barbeque we just bought.

We're also going to erect a large two person hammock that we bought in Florida whilst on holiday in June (holiday snaps coming shortly).

To improve access to the garden and new deck, we are going to knock down the old wall around the patio. I took down two large sections this weekend. Fortunately, our neighbour needed some rubble, that saved us several trips to the dump. This just leaves the wall that the mud mountain is leaning against.

Found this outstanding product called Carpet Stones available from our local branch of Focus. It's a bit pricey, but then it's a bit special.

The carpet stones were so easy to lay because they are simply concrete cobbles tied together with plastic mesh. So you're putting down 1.2m x 0.4m of cobbles in one chunk. The time-consuming bit was levelling the ground to lay them on.

The first version (note the slabs down the side of the pond).

Kath giving Charlie Dimmock a run for her money.

Having had a few days to think about it, Kath decided to take out the paving slabs down the side of the pond and cover the whole area with Carpet Stones.

... The Deck at Night

Main task this weekend was to try and finish off the edges of the pond. Using some of the soil dug out of the pond (got to put it somewhere), we leveled out the ground around the edges (As the edges were left sticking up some six inches above the surface).

We then laid paving slabs around the sides of the pond. I still have the path down the left-hand side to make, but that will probably involve some carpet stones, some dirt and lots of our hard work.

On a more personal note, it sometimes seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel, when you're working all weekends and most evenings to get the job done, and you feel like jacking it all in and moving house. However, it is days like today when you can look out at what you've achieved and really feel good about it and get a sense of how far you've come and how little there is really left to do.

Getting the pond water back into the pond after it's been filtered is always a problem. How do you get the water in, without display for all to see, the big grey pipe that returns the flow.

Kath and I have built ourselves a small waterfall. It's not grand, but it does well for us.

We picked up three small pieces of slate paving from a local aquatic centre.

Tried several different methods for joining them together.

First up was a Hot Glue Gun - No use, didn't stick
Second, contact adhesive - Again, didn't stick, mainly because the surfaces didn't mate properly.
Third - Cement. Lovely. However...

Whilst trying to install it in the pond, I realised that without something at the back, the water would flood out under the decking and we'd lose the contents of the pond. So, I moved the waterfall, lost my grip and ended up knocking the sides off.

Fourth time lucky, I cemented the waterfall back together, found a small piece of wood and stuck it in the back. Then I covered it in cement so that it blended in and sealed it with Kitchen/Bathroom sealant.

Now, it works a treat and entertained my Nephew for several minutes (which is quite a feat)