I have to tell you that I wrote an awesome blog post last Wednesday. It was first inspired by fear and then gratitude after having my first-yet garden meltdown and my friends coming to the rescue. Maybe it was like the fish that got away, but it was really big, I mean really good, and I deleted it by accident. Do you know how your computer just shuts down on its own and auto-save captures where you left off? Well, you have to click on a button when the computer comes back on and that’s where I got into trouble (sob). So all the “lessons learned” that I was going to share are gone. All the real-time anguish about having to get the labyrinth base “table-top” perfect, gone. All the words of wisdom that I took to heart from the paver manufacturer and the best mason in my world, Coast Guard Vinny, gone. But, luckily, gratitude does remain!

So I’m going to start with Vince, who I call CG Vinny to protect his identity from other needy people like me. I won’t go into the details (because I already did and then deleted them) but basically, he came to the garden on a Sunday with his wife and four children (how he even made time for us is a miracle in itself) and assessed the pathways, the crab claws/legs, and the body of the labyrinth. Vinny gave us so much advice our heads were spinning. There were three of us, Mary, her husband Jeff, and me. Between the three of us and Mary’s copious note-taking, we were able to follow his advice which saved so much time and effort it was ridiculous. Vinny’s many years of experience translated into a labyrinth that will be sturdy and long-lasting. I am so thankful.

Tuesday morning, after texting Vinny the correct measurements for the height of the edging and photos of the pavers placed in it for emphasis (yes, I had messed up the initial calculations) he assured me that we were good and that gravity was our friend (at least the paver’s friend). Whew! High stakes! With Vinny unable to make it to the site, friends Charlie, Dean, and Jacob (my rescuers) set about helping to create the table top. We did everything Vinny had told us earlier, measuring from the top down to get our height, running lines from the highest elevation, and swiveling the set line in every direction. The guys hauled wheelbarrow load after load of heavy road base while Mary and I raked and measured. Then the guys re-measured and tamped the whole thing with a commercial plate compactor, measuring, adding, and compacting some more. Holy cow was it a lot of work to flatten that 20’x20’ space equally! In the end, we SET that table! (Fist pump!)

I was expecting approximately ten volunteers from the Coast Guard that Tuesday afternoon but I especially needed help laying 75-pound pavers in the labyrinth, which wasn’t even close to ready for them (another reason for my meltdown and the friend bailout). I wasn’t even sure we’d have the base prepared by the time they got there in the afternoon (it wasn’t), let alone having the edging installed (anguished sigh). On my way to the site, however, I’d received a phone call telling me that something unexpected came up and that eight of the USGC volunteers had to postpone until later in the week. I’d almost passed out with relief. Postponing the brawn was the universe at work for sure!

The three CG volunteers who were able to come (brawny but few) started digging out the main pathway, leveling it off, and filling it with an aggregate base. This was hard work since the soil was heavy and wet, but needed to be done for the geo-grid pavers that are to be installed within the next couple of weeks. So Tuesday ended up being such a perfect day. What had I been stressed about? Charlie reminded me of the saying sometimes attributed to John Lennon: “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” On that note, this blog post has to end because it’s too long and that’s okay because it’s not the end!