This year, the snow was done by early March but it has remained cold, windy and wet for three months. I believe the rest of the world calls this 'Spring'. I don't care for it. There has been no sproing in this spring. It's like a slinky that was pulled out a mile long and can't snap back. If this is 'spring', it should be called 'crawl'.
Here it is June and the lilacs, flowering apple trees and tulips have just finished. Irises, which usually adorn our early May, have just started popping up. The ice has been off Lake Harriet for two months but the trees only reached full leafiness in the last week or so. I think we've had three days in the 80s. Maybe. Could be four.
At least it looks like summer around here now, even if it doesn't feel summery.
We had the house painted. Just the wood bits and trim. I wanted to paint the whole thing and go for a completely new look but Jay fought me. Other people pay me big bucks to tell them what color things should be but Jay doesn't trust me. Actually, I think he was afraid that if we changed the way the house looks, he wouldn't be able to find it anymore, which is a perfectly legit reason not to change it but he wouldn't admit it. I finally gave up the fight when we were walking across the park and I realized that when the trees are full, you can't even see the house from the street so what difference did it make? Besides, painting the stucco as well as the siding would have cost twice as much. The house looks the same but fresh and clean, which is nice. We also had the driveway resealed to look like new and the deck refurbishes. We looked into replacing the surface with no maintenance decking but the cost right now is ridiculous, so we just replaced the boards that needed it and had the whole thing repainted. We did go with a new color there; it's a nice neutral shade as opposed to the redwood it had been, which I was heartily sick of. It looks fabulous!
We had planned on doing some more interior upgrades but when the economy began to tank we had to make some decisions as to how to spend our money and we decided that with summer coming, we'd rather put our meager funds to work outside; we live out there all summer. We bought 3 new Adirondack chairs! No, the front yard doesn't look like a theater, the new ones are for the back deck. Almost accidentally, we found some gorgeous aqua blue chairs for a very good price, so we've added them to the seating out back. There's almost enough chairs now for everyone to sit when we have the family over.
The new area mats are from Michael's. They were also on deep discount this week, so of course I had to buy one. The plastic weave mats don't last more than a summer or two but awhile back I splurged on a real indoor/outdoor rug from World Market and it barely lasted any longer than the plastic rugs. It didn't disintegrate like they do but after a few years it was so spotty and mildewed...yuck.
We went back and forth over the side of the deck that runs along the driveway. 22 years ago, when we built the deck, we had a fence on that side, with a gate. We had little kids and a dog and it effectively fenced in the whole back yard. In '03, a wind storm took out the silver maple the deck was built around, and half the deck with it, including the entire railing and gate. We never replaced the rail. We don't like the view of the driveway and we've been looking at options. Here's the problem: the driveway is a wind tunnel so whatever we choose to put as a visual barrier between the deck and drive has to be able to let the wind pass through it without getting blown onto the next block AND it has to be removable, as the deck is the only place to pile up the snow off the drive during the winter. A lot of folks in our neighborhood have lovely tent like pergolas, with different sorts of canvas walls or drapes but we didn't want anything that may billow out, or turn into a sail that would wrench up the pillars, like the wind wrenched up that 40' silver maple in '03. Also, those options are all kinda spendy.
In the end, we opted for new planters.
For the last 15 years, we had big old whiskey barrel planters that Jay loved and I tolerated. They finally fell apart and not a moment too soon, if you ask me. I was over my whiskey barrel phase by 1990. The new ones are tall, black and very contemporary. They'll probably look incredibly dated two years from now but I don't care! They raise the flowers up two feet higher than the old planters and that's where I want them. As a visual barrier to the driveway, they're perfect! Now, your eye will be caught by the flaming bright geraniums that hover at eye level, rather than the unlovely sight of the neighbor's garage.
Perfect!
I haven't done a thing with the secret backyard yet. Maybe next week, I'll get started on it. The ninebark I planted in huge terra cotta pots survived yet another winter, so I'm happy about that.
I don't actually mind that it has rarely gotten above 70 degrees. The older I get the less I like the heat. I just want this annoying wind to calm down and it would be nice to have more sunshine.
I've been working like a fiend to catch up on orders and inventory, which is all good. I haven't had time to do any plein air painting this spring but I plan to. It's waaaaay too much fun not to carve out the time to do it. Now that my back yard is all decorated, I have plenty of subject matter on hand, as well. I just have to get my lazy butt in gear.
But when I have a minute or two, all I want to do is read Jack Reacher books. Or needlepoint. I'm almost done with Sara's Christmas stocking and then I have to do Kitten's and I haven't even started on Christmas ornaments for next Christmas and I only have six months left!! That may sound crazy but you stitchers out there know what I'm saying. I've got 16 ornaments to stitch in less than 6 months. It's panic time.
I'll get at them as soon as I finish reading The Sentinel.