In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on.

We started the year by segregating the 3rd section with the 4th and final section, and breaking up the 3rd section into three segments. We built two short garden walls with a 3 foot gap between them, which would be the entrance to the 4th section. I used the same bricks as in the other gardens, cutting in the first row to be completely buried in the ground. Since the ground is already sloped, this meant at the high end by the house, there would actually be almost two rows buried. 

 The garden patio became quite a conundrum. Marie and I spent a couple weeks trying to decide how to shape it. We first thought of either a square, octagon, or even a hexagon. But after scratching the designs in the dirt, we decided on a decagon.  After several attempts, we finally arrived at the best design that would require the least amount of cutting. This meant we would actually have a pattern of gaps, which we decided we would fill with concrete.  So we began leveling and tamping the dirt.

The back steps were supposed to be the last project of the year. This was another fixture that I had absolutely no experience in, which was not just pouring concrete, but turning it into exposed aggregate.
So once again, I spent a couple days on Google for help, and found a several videos and instructions for making exposed aggregate. They made it look so easy!  We originally planned to make the steps a half-circle like the patio steps. But I decided it wouldn't look right, so we changed it.

As I said earlier, the steps were supposed to be the last thing for the year. Well, Marie had another idea.
So we sat down one day and drew out the design. When we were happy with it, Marie drew it out in Google Sketch so I could get the approximate measurements. 

After spending a couple weekends being bored, I decided to build this one now instead of waiting until next year.
For this wall, we used the more expensive blocks that are rectangular, longer, and taller. Once again I started by digging the trench down 8 inches, cutting it several inches wider than the wall. I then poured in 4 inches of aggregate and packed it down.