Our Sebastopol house came with a Bocce Ball court in the front yard. So for the last six years John and I have debated what to do with this area. Buying Bocce balls and learning how to play never made the list.
John wanted a Bellagio type fountain.
Bellagio Fountains
Sprays of water shooting into the air, with wild gaudy colored lights. On the weekends we’d add music. Our brainstorming always ended with the phrase ‘enough to annoy the neighbors.’ We like our neighbors, so why annoying them played into the equation, I’m not sure.
I wanted to hire Patrick Amiot to sculpt a Loch Ness Monster type creature, based on this dragon from Dennis the Menace Park—my childhood playground. We’d fill the Bocce Ball court with some type of blue-green glistening material, and the great metal creature—named Nessie—would snake above and below our artificial water line.
Dragon at Dennis the Menace
A few days ago, John said, “Why don’t we put raised beds in the Bocce Ball court?” And I loved the idea. So we poked at the calculator for a few hours. In a case like this, it’s measure one hundred times, and buy once—that refers to cinder blocks and dirt—especially dirt.
John Building Beds
Here’s John building the beds. He came up with the name Bocce Gardens.
Bocce Gardens Empty Beds
And here’s Nessie, small but cute.
Nessie On Brick
Thanks to [email protected] for the Dennis the Menace Picture.
