I had many chores on my to-do list yesterday. One chore that was not on my list was "excavate the front yard to see what's going on with these randomly placed slates tangled with weeds that are so difficult to mow around." Nonetheless, instead of planting or raking or moving firewood, I spent about four hours scraping, peeling back sod, filling the wheelbarrow with 10 loads of detritus, and covering my hands with blisters, all for the sake of this:

Yes, it appears that many years ago Fred Flinstone laid a broad front walkway, which like so many things on this little property was subsequently ignored and forgotten. Now I can't say I'm in love with Fred's design strategy, but it's what I've got to work with. So I'm going to buy many flats of creeping thyme, fill the mud gaps with them, and voila: we'll have a slightly less awful front path.