Sundial Slide

I pushed past the patio door to check on the midday sun in the garden! Sitting beside the flagstones was an old stone sundial draped in patchy moss. Right across the angled brass gnomon, a dry, curved elm bark strip had wedged itself tight. I scrambled up the stone pedestal, grabbed the tip of the bark with both paws, and tried to pry it loose to make a walking stick. Pop! The bark snapped right in half, dumping me onto my denim bottom! But the remaining curved piece made an angled chute. I slid a round, speckled river pebble down the groove—wheee! It shot off the stone edge and clinked right into an empty metal watering ring below.