We’ve been busy planning for our big backyard debut party this weekend (menus! decorations!) but managed to make some progress on the backyard pizza oven. What do you think?

We took out the first round of supports and… It held! I was pretty nervous about it. In fact, I freaked out a bit about not having a “keystone.” As it turns out, you don’t need a keystone if you’re using grout. (Thanks, Dad.)

We got inside the oven (so did one of the cats) and chiseled off some of our grout drips. We filled in the seams on the first bend of the arch and then added the remaining two rows. Ta da!

Clearly the oven is on my mind: I designed the entryway in my dreams last night – along with something about Sesame Street, which I haven’t thought about or seen in at least 10 years. I think it was that the letter of the day is “s.” Somebody analyze that and let know. Maybe it means that I need to enjoy a “S”yrah tonight? Anyway, I took some remaining measurements before I left for work and will continue designing it in my head today.

We’ll buy bricks tomorrow after work and hopefully get the firebricks covered by Friday and the forecasted rain. Hopefully it rains just enough to refresh the plants, but not so much that it ruins the backyard’s debut party on Saturday!

Happy wine Wednesday!