Sometimes, the simplest things turn on you! Like digging a hole. After choosing the spot and the diameter for our first pond and starting to excavate, Garry suddenly realized that there was more to this site than meets the eye. First, out came large stones and bricks. Good - we would use them in the garden design. Then animal bones - not whole, but sliced as in a steak. And then a layer of ashes, broken ceramics, glass, part of a lady's boot circa 1800's. Did we mention the garden was in the Bytown area of Ottawa, the first area to be built up for the Canal workers, lumbermen and such. Finally, we hit the floor boards and stone for a hearth. We had managed to dig right over top of, by the looks of it, the cause of the fire and destruction of the first(?) building on the site. By the way, the whole garden was built up with found materials (on site, and a burnt out building close by), as well as local plants, including water plants. The site itself was small and came with 5 huge deciduous trees. The Bruyere garden featured deep shade and predominately plants naturalized to the Eastern Canadian forest. The following is an over view from the roof of the apartment building next door, and then a variety of views we'll change regularly: