Through the Looking Glass Dimly: Backyard therapy

Over the summer I started landscaping our backyard. I dug a french drain in front of the existing patio and out to behind our yard and covered it with river rock. My sister helped me level and set in a new patio area with inexpensive red blocks:

And I created a dry river bed of rocks to channel the rain around the big tree. The garden has grown beautiful and lush. I was starting to prepare to put some sod on the remaining ground when we got the news - the new owners of our apartment complex are planning to take down the back yard fences. No!!!!!!!

We've gone to them as a family with a letter asking to keep our backyard, and we continue to petition each time we are in the office. Apparently the issue is under consideration, but until we know for sure my project is on hold. I will be heartbroken to lose the private backyard - it is so good to be able to send the girls outside and know that they are safe, besides having a place for Tabitha Twitchit and for me to have a place where I can "get away" without even leaving home.

While we wait to know if we will get to keep it or not I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible.

While we wait to know if we will get to keep it or not I'm trying to enjoy it as much as possible. We get to observe so much life on our little space. The girls will often call me to come outside and see what new discovery they've made, and I try to remember to grab my camera on my way out.

Grasshopper

Sunflower

Ant

Southern Leopard Frog

These big swallowtails would come by and spend several hours in our yard, slowly working their way from flower to flower, and sometimes there would be several at a time. (I don't have a photo of our hummingbirds - they stop by daily for the canna flowers)

Zebra Swallowtail