running dry

Who would have thought it? This has been a typically miserable summer so far. I've only sat out on my new patio twice! Even our dry garden soil is wet.

But the pond is completely dry!

This area should be the pond. We've been working our way down the garden since December 2006 in a great big, sustainable garden makeover. In the final quarter of the garden, the walls were finished by Alan several weeks ago using reused sandstone. The retaining wall is raised to about 75cm, giving great views of the water life - when there is some. It should have ledges that step down to allow pots of native water plants to grow and be managed easily. There should be tiny lilies on the surface, trickling water and the noses of frogs poking out, waiting for wasps to arrive for a drink. There should be mighty dragonflies and tiny newtlets. And perhaps a few little minnows. That's what I should be looking down on from the patio, or peering into with little children and pond nets. But it is a dry hole part filled with rubble.

In fairness, I have had no time. It is the toxic nature of modern living that our work dominates our lives. And then there's the backlog of other stuff to do. If I get the chance this weekend, and the rain holds off, I'll have the satisfaction of aerating the compost and adding activating layers of horse manure: smelly, but satisfying - but enough about me!

The pond will have to wait.

And while this wet weather holds, the frogs can't really mind.