Thanks woodsfairy and dragonfly. I hope you do save the stone walls on your property. So many of them are being lost to develpment or just torn down and used for other things. 100 years from now I would be really sad if someone tore my walls up (since I will be dead by then I would have to come back and haunt them! :0 ) I think they're an art form, really, as well as being something practical. Just an update - the pergola came in and we're staining it ebony. Needs another coat, but I've included a few shots. The last of the rock is in as well, so Jesse will be working on the wall this week now that school is out. I found an awesome book on dry-laid stone walls called , "In the Company of Stone", by Dan Snow. Very creative and beautiful stuff. I got a lot of ideas for the Ruined wall from it. DV Pics of Pergola, and the pond area is now cleared out - just need to burn the brush pile. Making progress.... Pergola & Pond

Looks like spam to me.

P, I think it must be a matter of where you live, because I had no problem getting a sample of Fantasy Brown quartzite, or any other quartzite to bring home to test. The texture that you mention on leathered is not so much that anything can get caught in it. I can put a piece of paper on the counter and write on it, and there is no effect on the writing. I went with the leathered finish as it is what the experts recommended for that stone, and with no issues in 2 years, they were right. I didn't want a shiny finish on my counter top.

Leave it empty. It's a geometric design feature, not a ledge for piling stuff.