What made this last weekend in Ridgway a special treat was that we also visited with Kurt and Carol who were in town for the Ridgway Art Festival.  They only live 7 miles away and we don’t often get to spend an evening with them as our summer schedules don’t always mesh.  Fortunately we do see them individually on a more frequent but shorter basis in town and occasional potlucks.

The McKenney’s Ridgway house, garden and projects are always a joy and marvel to see, we wish we were closer to help or appreciate the work they’ve put into their home and grounds. Tom’s current and lingering project has been the “detached” shop and it’s Belvedere / Mirador atop the shop.  Winter, surgery and recovery have no doubt frustrated the progress, nevertheless daily improvements add up to major changes when we only visit several times a summer.

McKenney gets the credit for the bricks and mortar improvements, but Martha Ann’s decoration, polish, green thumb and artist’s touch cover the framework and infrastructure he’s built.  The garden is the jewel and the Aspen grove park is an in-town wonder on a quarter of the lot.

We weren’t encouraged to bring a thing and Martha Ann regaled us with a white tablecloth Aspen Grove dinner featuring homemade cheese, a tomato torte, mostly home grown organic salad and delicious local peaches with heavy cream for desert.  Outstanding.

Projects always loom high on my list of fun and McKenney allowed Kurt and me to team up on the north wall of the Belvedere’s shop base finishing the Tyvek wrapping, flashing the foundation and painting the T-111 sheathing prior to installation. We were told the siding needed 24 hours of counter-warping, but evidently enthusiasm trumped the clock, as Kurt and McKenney put it up the following day.

Good times for all were topped off with a full moon around the garden’s raised fire pit.