A little delay isn't a bad thing

The wood debris and the soil and the plant material were all removed last week and work went well on the cement base for the stone terrace and paths and for the brick wall.  Here you can see the base of the trough for the fountain and markings on the wall determining placement of spout and basin.




But there's a bit of a problem with the wall beneath the parking lot.  You can see in the photo below the crack that's causing concern.  I know it's been there for 30 years because I remember it from when the ivy was planted.  It has opened up a bit more and the owner of the apartment (whose wall it is) worries about where it's going to go.  The more I look at it the more I think it's a good thing to investigate it. We wouldn't want the wall to collapse.

So sadly the brick work which was to have started yesterday is now on hold until a structural engineer can come to assess and determine what repairs might be needed. It will mean a delay of a few weeks maybe, depending on the recommendation to the apartment owner.  But better to get it fixed now than to build a beautiful brick wall and water feature that may have to be taken down later.

In other news, our trip to Venice is right around the corner.  We leave tomorrow afternoon and join the bike and barge tour on Saturday.  We are just about finished our packing and only now are we starting to get excited about the trip. My friend Sue will be here in the house with Geordie.

Some work on the garden project will continue; the stones can be laid and stairs built but the water feature and the wall and the plantings will wait until we return on the third week in May.  I think that's actually better because I want to see it all happen.

Meanwhile, stay posted for photos of Venice, Mantova, Padova and the Veneto region of Italy.