‘Spring time’ - ‘time for new cushions! …
Spring is here & we always like to do something new in the courtyard this year is no different. The beautiful little tree, pictured above, Acer palmatum sango kaku bought for me for Valentine’s day by my husband, to tell you the truth I know nothing about plants but my husband does, I just told him that I had seen a beautiful pink stemmed tree in a nearby courtyard that I liked & ‘Hey Presto’ he bought it for me! I am a lucky girl, well I say that!! - Once I spotted through the window a cute loopy eared grey rabbit in a pet shop, in passing I said to him that I thought it beautiful - ‘Hey Presto’ again! I came home from work & in the back garden there was said rabbit with all associated rabbit paraphernalia. Unlike the stunning little tree, the rabbit I named Buster had a pathological hated of me, if we were all sitting in the garden it would circle me getting closer and closer to me until I was in kicking distance then it would jump in the air spin its body & try & scratch me with his powerful back legs in the hope of tearing my skin with his razor sharp claws, or it would charge me & head ‘butt’ my wine glass or tea cup, never touching anyone else’s drink. Buster was kind & loving to the children when they came alone too.. He adored my husband & would nestle into his arms always keeping a beady eye on where I was, if I ventured too close he would make a low grunting/growling noise to warn me off. The other male creature that Buster had an interest in was my beautiful colour point Persian cat called Guilty, also a gift from my husband. Buster would chase Guilty around his open air pen until he caught him & then he would do unspeakable things to him, Guilty would naturally loudly protest at this violation of his personal being & we would have to rescue him from Busters clutches, Buster’s yearnings for my husband & Guilty were usually worst in spring time…
Last year, at this time we decided to upgrade the courtyard again, but with a more major overhaul. My husband was not as keen on this idea as I was, as he was practically thinking about taking on a project in lockdown, but I saw it as something to entertain the family. The ghastly decking put in the courtyard by the previous owners had become even more slippery & had started to break down & collapse, hastened in its demise by the children & their friends partying. There is nothing more entertaining for three young men bored of the lockdown than given the task of smashing & tearing up the boarding. Once this was done we were allowed under lockdown rules to buy sacks of stone chippings, which seemed the quickest & brightest way to deal with the courtyard, the existing York stone was used to make a pathway & a small retaining wall was built using the old bricks we had found under the decking, ‘waste not want not’! The result was that the garden looked bigger, brighter & fresher, it made sense out of this town house courtyard. To be honest it was a quick fix to a summer time solution… As lockdown lifted we got on with other projects…
So time was limited to getting it fully finished, not to mention refurbishment works to the house which prohibited us from completing the works, as they would have been spoiled by the building works overhead…
So this year my dear husband that is what I wish for the courtyard to be completed… I have also see a smoking/barbeque that has quite taken my fancy … I will let you know how I get on on this new wish list - Although I have to tell you that my family do not usually read my blogs!
I will keep you briefed!
The start of the re-building of the courtyard, above…. Below the new cushion fabric .. I like to change the fabric every year.. A great way to get a new look!
Last year sig-zags this year stripes! A quick & easy way to ‘Upgrade the look’!
