Christmas in April (continued)

We left the story, dear reader, right after Town Mouse had bought the patio furniture and Mr. Mouse had, as a Christmas gift, agreed to having a patio built. The next step was getting a builder. Town Mouse knew she could probably patch something together herself, but she wanted something attractive. So, in early spring, she got in touch with Ryan of BuenaLuna Landscape Design. Town Mouse had followed Ryan's blog and had seen some of the flatwork he'd done here. Very attractive indeed! However, Ryan lived in Richmond, which seemed a fair distance to a mouse. Still, Town Mouse got in touch, and Ryan and his partner Anita came to have a look at the patio site and the garden.

Town Mouse already thought BuenaLuna might be a good choice when they arrived, not in a big SUV, not in a big truck, but in a small station wagon. Some conversation ensued, and the professionals thought they could maybe do the patio in a day, so the distance was not a big problem. They were less impressed with the leftover flagstone Town Mouse had to offer. 

But they enjoyed the garden, and left agreeing to do the work later in the spring.

Town Mouse wasted no time and used up the flagstone for a new fountain (read more about that here).

 

Town Mouse also took a trip to Lyngso Garden Materials, where she much enjoyed the display garden, fountains, and laterns.

And then the agony of the stone choice. The Arizona flagstone was beautiful. 

And many colors were available. But the carbon footprint of that stone, while not bad, wasn't great. Stone is heavy, so you need to burn a lot of gas to get it from one place to another. 

Walking around, Town Mouse also saw Mariposa Flagstone, and found out that it comes from the Sierra foothills. Town Mouse really liked that stone, dark gray with yellow and rust highlights. And when she talked to Mr. Mouse about the stone choice, he was immediately in favor of the stone that had traveled a shorter distance, asking neither about color nor about price. 

And then Town Mouse started to exchange some email with Ryan....

Will Ryan be able to find a day in his schedule before the garden tour? Will a horrible downpour stop the work and delay completion? Can a dry-stone patio be made with Mariposa Flagstone, which is a slate? Can a round patio be made from a slate, which has a lot of straight edges?

To find out, come back for the final installment of Christmas in April!