So this weekend, when it finally stops raining, I will go collect the last load of bricks, and then I will be ready to launch side yard schemes! I figure that if I do an hour of work on it every day over the next month or so I can probably manage it by the May long weekend, aka mulch and planting time.

* bash up cement in current walkway, dig up fieldstones
* disassemble current "deck"
* dig up pavers
* lay out and dig new walkway
* lay down and tamp aggregates
* put down interlock
* concrete toe

 Need a way to get rid of all the (very heavy) garbage this is going to generate...particularly the dirt. Can probably freecycle the pavers, at least, and I'm sure I'll come up with a use for the fieldstones. Maybe there will be little enough concrete from the walkway that it will fit in a bagster with the lumber from the "deck". 

Also approaching: the Experimental Farm's plant sale. w00t! I needs must marshal a shopping list...
* colourful shade plants - e.g. bergenia, epimedium, japanese kerria
* hellebores
* lespedeza
* some sort of tall ornamental grass for the back wall bed, as per my sister's awesome suggestion
* interesting small evergreens
* mid-summer bloomers