Aaaahhh. It's been a long time.

Computer dysfunction adventures have let me join another world for a while. The DVD and CD drive on the iMac became totally dysfunctional, so the machine has spent over a month in the shop. I just got her back. She still doesn't have a functioning CD/DVD drive, because it's still on "backorder" from Apple. They say they'll send someone out to the house to replace it when it becomes available.

The iMac is very QUIET again. Thanks to Rick the technician at MacTown.

I'm very much behind on some projects, notably shipping copies of "Sanctification of Time in the Third Millennium," for which I've received a number of requests lately. Can't make CD's without the computer. I also owe St. Joe's Youth Choir some pictures, and they've almost forgotten that we took them.

HOWEVER, low-tech time is an advantage, too. I have been having a mud and stone experience which has been thoroughly enjoyable. When I left Holy Trinity Parish, people asked me what I was going to do. After all, how can you leave a high-powered, good-paying job at the top of the heap unless you're going to a higher heap? I told them I had walkways to build. I've been dragging stones from up and down the gullys. I've been moving the garden topsoil over to the side of the new walkway, and using the good old Bullitt County clay that lives just under the surface. The idea is to set the stones in clay muck. (That part's done. Whew!) If it stops raining, this can dry. The plan then is to cover the stones with more goopy clay, filling in between the stones and even covering the tops. Once this dries solid, we can wash off the tops and rediscover the stones.

We don't know if this is going to actually work, but I sure like the way it looks! See pictures at homepage.mac.com/mhettinger Garden Pathway


I got the idea off the web, and can't find the article again, but someone has done it and it was very durable. She's had it for 10 years. Looked great in the pictures. She used regular formed stones, not fieldstone, but maybe this will work as well. Laura helped me get started, and now that she's going to be living here for a while, maybe we can finish it together. That's a good thought.