runbacks: variations on a theme

A couple weekends ago we were dividing our time between a riveting Men's World Curling competition (no sarcasm there at all; it really was a nail-biter) and gardening, and I noticed some parallels between the two.

Here's an example of a "runback" in curling:

Basically, the idea is to knock a rock back to hit one or more behind and displace them all, leaving an open field in the front.

Here's our version of a runback in gardening (note the position of the large rhododendron and it's bushy partner in the centre of the photo).

Note the empty space at the rear of the yard by the fence.

And here they are, after the "runback"... with lots of open space in front!

In curling, the open space in front is quickly filled with more rocks. In gardening of course it's more plants and a really cute path put in by My Guy!