Near pond's edge at the home studio, a new patio project led me back to the craft of cutting and fitting stone. Like playing an instrument, you never lose the skill, nor the rewards or the pain of hard labor. This new impenetrable surface is like a magnet, drawing me to contemplate its solidity while pulling the eye beyond its grounding, web-like seams toward the light reflecting off the water's surface just beyond. A hand-cut patio was supposed to be just a place to sit. It's also now an illusory surface that will never disappear.