work and Play

So my son built me this table-shelf. It took a couple of weekends and we had to take it apart and redo it once, but I'm really happy with it.
I drew a picture of what I wanted and Patrick bought the supplies and we all helped but Sam did the bulk of the work.
There used to be a rusty 55 gallon drum topped with an old wooden pallet in this spot. This looks so much better and more useful too!


I still need to paint it. The wall is white and that won't change because it's vinyl siding. The porch posts and ceiling is turquoise and the door is deep purple. I love the look of the wood, but I think it needs some protection. I'm still trying to decide between painting it all funky and bright or doing a stain.

I have a lattice to add to the back, it will give the table a little bit more stability and give the Mandevilla vine something to climb on. Mine is red and pink, gorgeous. I don't have a pic of mine but here's a stock photo




I planted it right in front of the porch so it can climb the post and then the lattice. It will screen the back porch from the neighbors yard and give a bit of privacy and shelter from the rain.


And here is our latest project; we're making a mulched path from the driveway/front door to the garden. We were wearing a path there anyway, so I decided to pull up all the grass and put in a path and ground cover.



The path will be on the left of the picture and goes between the Crepe Myrtle and the rose bed in front of the house. By the driveway it will be about 4 feet across and narrows by the tree to about 3 feet and then widens again in front of the house.

Between the path and the front garden which is the garden on the right of the picture will be ground cover. I have Ice Plant, Sedum and Stone Crop. I'm also going to do some oregano; it spreads like crazy and smells great when you brush against it.


We got all of the large area in front of the door by the driveway done before the skies opened up and dumped gallons of water on us. We had a great time relaxing on the porch and watching the rain.

The Crepe Myrtle has MORE baby birds! The first batch hatched and grew and flew away and about 3 weeks later I noticed some activity and we now have 3 new baby Mocking Birds. They just hatched Saturday. So fun to hear the peeps and see the bright yellow-orange wide open mouths sticking up out of the nest. She built it just above my eye level so really easy to watch.

Next weekend we'll continue to dig up the pathway and put in the edging and mulch and plant some of the ground cover.

In the meantime, we've been taking advantage of the late summer sunsets and going to the beach after work one night a week. I love living close enough to the beach to do that. It's about a 40 minute ride and so worth it. I would love to move even closer but Patrick's not going for it. I'm going to keep working on him.