Looking a bit better a few days later. More plants are in and mulched. Still waiting on grass, but I saw shoots today! The wiring for the waterfall is only temporary--that should become more permanent in a few days. No more extension cords stretched across the landscape. I'll also fill in the right side of the area once the outlet post is in place. That will be simpler to install if we're not tripping over shrubbery. I'm not terribly happy that the rim of the pool shows so much, but once the water plants are in, I'm told we can cover that up a bit.
Oh, and the faux heron is hopefully going to keep the real ones from eating my teeny little fish. We have a number of herons nesting across the street and they make regular passes overhead. They'd certainly spot little flecks of gold in the water.
Dad had some time to come over and wire the pump properly, so I was able to fill in the other side a bit. As you can see, the grass is coming in too! I'll probably continue to add plants, but I think it merits a photo for the site as it stands at the moment.
I discovered a local artist who does pretty little benches for an excellent price, so I'm going to order one of those for the edge. It will be a nice spot to sit and watch the fish. I have four in the pond now, and they seem quite happy. So far no nasty predators. Their names are Fish, Fish, Fish and Bob. (I was going to call them Fish, Fish, Fish and Fish, but Morgan told me I needed to name one Bob and thus it was. Thanks Captain.)
I discovered that we have rather a nice view of the pond from the bedroom too.