Generous Servings' heaven strip

We have finally completed a project that has been on the to-do list since we bought the building: we landscaped the "hell strip" (which is the official term for the space between the street and the sidewalk, so named because the property owner is responsible for maintaining it within city requirements, but can't use it for anything useful). In fact, one of the first things our architect mentioned when we took him to see the building, before we even owned it, was that we'd have to do something about the hell strip (he's the one who explained the term to us). To review, here's what the hell strip looked like last fall, when we took over:



This past spring, we got all the crazy plants and the railroad-tie planter dug out, which left us with a lovely dirt patch. Then we ran out of energy on that project, so it stayed like that for a long time:



Finally, two of our regular customers, Larry and Bob, got so tired of us ignoring their helpful advice on how to landscape the area that they just did it themselves. They put in tons of work, both of the manual labor kind and their signature bargain-hunting skills to find us plants, rocks, and other materials. They did a fantastic job, and we owe them free coffee for the next two centuries. They put in a cute little plum tree and some herbs and groundcover plants that will spread over the next year. The plants are still small now, and they don't show up very well in pictures, but already the hell strip looks a million times better.



And just when you thought life couldn't get any more exciting, Jill and I went to the semi-annual Sysco food show. As soon as we walked in the entrance, Jill said, "Well, we've found our photo backdrop for this trip." I certainly hope you can zoom in on the picture below to really appreciate the detail of the ice sculpture we are standing in front of. In case you're having a hard time getting oriented, let me tell you that it includes a whole squid (or maybe an octopus?) and a lobster holding three pieces of asparagus in its claw. A true masterpiece.