Greenland

[skyring]

Mowed the lawn yesterday. Used to be I'd mow it every second weekend, but nowadays it's more like once a year. We've had a bit of rain recently and the holiday sunshine was spoilt by the buzz of mowers next door as we sat out on the verandah for about the first time this spring.

Hard to know what to call it, really. It's a cement slab, two metres wide, ten long or thereabouts, added during one of the many extensions to our old ex-guvvy. Underneath is where I store the lawn mower and bikes and old furniture and stuff. It doesn't have a roof, so it's not really a verandah, just a couple of awnings over the sliding glass doors that lead to the lounge and main bedroom respectively. It's not a balcony, really, because it doesn't jut out from the wall. Nor is it a porch, because there are no stairs down to the yard. It isn't a deck, because it's not wood.

It's just a pleasant place to sit, a railing covered in about-to-flower honeysuckle, a few pot plants, a small table and chairs. And a bird feeder which will hang off the railing once I find the cup hooks I stored away in a safe place for future use and forgot where. The cats like the thermal mass of the concrete after a sunny day. And yesterday we sat outside with a cup of coffee and enjoyed the new greeenery. The desert ash is covered in mint green leaves and the trees in yards all around are likewise springing out.

Lawns are showing the effects of the drought. We used to go for a walk and look at some of the velvet-smooth lawns in lush green, but now many of those same lawns are patchy and ugly, and some people have replaced them with expanses of tanbark chips.

Spent a half hour or so trimming the hedge. More like slashing through jungle - this is one thick and tall hedge, and it's like discovering ancient ruins to find the concrete edge of the driveway. it's gunna look rather bare for a bit until some fresh leaves come in.

Kids have been watching videos, from the video shop and the library, during their hols. All the classics, Mad Max and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and stuff. Can't say this holds my interest for long. I've been enjoying the uncluttered dining table to do a few jigsaws. The Arthur Boyd tapestry one was too hard on the eyes, at least until I get new glasses, but I finished a 1000 piece Dinotopia scene, which was a lot of fun, and one of the Bismarck under aerial attack which wasn't. At least it's complete, and I'll put it up on eBay soon.

Comments

[tzurriz.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a patio to me.