A Gardener's Diary, 7/27/18:

I am playing Amateur Archaeologist outside my suite at the plantation. With a cool morning for a change, I made good headway clearing an old brick terrace.

To the left is a strip of ground I've cleared for a small afternoon sun/shade garden; to the right is about 50 square feet of three-hole brick with grass up out of every damned one. I feel my life force seeping away just looking at it.

But in Charlotte, I left much the same during three months of digging out 1800 square feet of grass but leaving behind several hundred square feet of moss to expand. Once I get over the OMG phase, the work turns into a sort of zen experience.