Flashback Friday

The march of time toward Spring in Northlandia.  Today I want to repost a few pictures of our back yard we had at Grove Street in G-Burg.  It was a constant ritual of cleaning, weeding and pruning.  It wasn't a hobby as much as a Frankenstein - beautiful and rewarding, but a monster of time and effort.  At its zenith we had three ponds, two electrified, with koi and all but a small spit of ground to mow.  

It was in its way a paradise of color.  When the toads would be in mating season in the Spring the sounds coming from the big pond was teeth-filling shattering to behold.  We'd sit on the bench late night, hear the little duffers craoking, the in-pond lights casting a gentle evening glow.  I loved that sound.  A cacophony of horny little frogs in heat. 

The back yard was host to Tiki Fridays - late night drink-and- conversation-athons with the Gerdes',  Makeevers and others who would drop in.  Things change - the Gerdes are separated and in different parts of the country, the Makeevers still across the street but Lisa and Dave have had their health issues.  And that back yard paradise?  The owners have had the ponds taken out, gardens undone and back to a very ordinary backyard.  The frogs?  They no longer sing.