the sadest porch light

Months ago, when we were still stumbling over heaps of rubble piled along the front walk, L. and I decided what we need is a porch light. Being eco-minded, we thought we'd go for something solar powered. Being good neighbours, we didn't want it to be too bright. And, being a suspicious bugger, L. wanted something we could bolt to the house.

I'm a bit ashamed to report that with one thing and another, it wasn't until last week that we finally put it up.

The porch light, finally in place:

From Briar Crescent

However, it seems that with all of our requirements, we've ended up with a decorative, rather than illuminating porch light:

From Briar Crescent

Indeed, last night, it wasn't until we were nearly at the door that, squinting, we said, 'Ah, look! there's our new light':

From Briar Crescent

So, until we get around to buying a more powerful one, we'll have to rely on the light provided by the street light, our neighbour's much more impressive porch light, and, on occasion, the moon:

From Briar Crescent

Leafy progress

We are nearing the end of the second week of straight sunshine, which is lovely, but also slightly stressful - what if we're using up all of our allocated sunny days now and there will be none left for summer? Also, I'm now having to think about what needs watering - I'm not used to this!

The plants, of course, are very happy:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

We're rather worried about the apple, which doesn't seem to be doing anything:

From Briar Crescent

However, the pear is blooming:

From Briar Crescent

And the black current seems to be gearing up for an impressive harvest:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Our herbs also seem to be doing well:

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And, thanks to L.'s efforts, we now have a clean porch and a table to enjoy the garden in comfort and style:

From Briar Crescent

Also worth mentioning is L.'s brave work patching up and decluttering the lean-to:

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A chair, recovered

Once upon a time, when the ink was still drying on the mortgage, all L. and I owned was a mattress, a bookcase, and two chairs. Ever since L. brought these electric blue chairs home from work, I have been dreaming of recovering them. Well, one of them found a new home at the recycling centre. But, over the weekend, my plans were finally enacted upon the remaining chair.

Chair before:

From Briar Crescent

The chair, unarmed (plan was to leave them off, but sadly, stability was an issue):

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Chair, armed:

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And finally, chair in situ:

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Sculptures in the garden & cleaning the pond

We have been a bit worried about the health of the pond as the plant matter has slowly been expanding its domain and the nearby bushes keep dropping their leaves into it. So, out of concern for the poor fish, L. spent the afternoon hacking off half of the plant mass, pulling out slimy bits of half-decomposed leaves, and sieving out the sludge.

[I was attempting to help with the first matter on the agenda, so I'm afraid I didn't get a picture of it - but I can assure you, watching L. hack at a cluster of roots with an old, dull knife was not without a considerable amount of entertainment]

Pulling out the leaves:

From Briar Crescent

Battling with the sludge (note the plant-hacking knife):

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During the process, we finally got to see the frog....and she was not amused, to say the least, with our efforts.

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And, the final result:

From Briar Crescent

On a related note, as has been mentioned before, this house came with many bizarre things. The garden, for instance, along with being extremely well electrified, also hosts maaaaaaaany garden ornaments, which I plan on gleefully taking to the recycling centre next weekend.

First, on the tour, we have not one, but three old-people-on-a-bench surveying the pond:

From Briar Crescent

Next, a creepy anthropomorphised hedgehog:

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A boot, that doubles as a planter:

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A watermill:

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Overly jolly man with a fish and child:

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The wall of faces:

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Commemorative plaque:

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Perpetually hungry birds (and fairy in the upper right):

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And, the crowning jewel of the tour, concrete 'art' plus electrics:

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And today, what should L. dredge from the depths of the pond? Why the fishes' very own garden ornament:

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***********

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The guest chairs

L. and I have been brimming with excitement all week in anticipation of L.'s parents' short visit for the weekend. In preparation for the event, I decided two of our Recycling Centre chairs could use a paint job to look more welcoming.

Original condition - handy, but ugly

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

And then, with the primer:

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And now, black and shiny:

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent

Those of you who have read the news today will know that this story, unfortunately, does not have a happy ending. We have the guests' chairs ready, but very sadly, no guests!

Yet more on beds, also, the garden and windows

Time again for yet another post on our bed (we like our sleep, what can we say?). Last week, the lovely man from Homebase finally delivered the bed frame to match our new mattress, so it was out with the old and in with the new.

Our only complaint (but mind you, a big one) with the old frame was its incredible, constant squeakiness. In an effort to keep the otherwise good frame, we resorted to a number of measures:

From Briar Crescent

Duct tape on the joints to reduce rattling, cork and foam to keep the slats from banging up against the metal, bubble wrap to reduce slat-on-support clanging. These efforts worked....for three nights. And then the base started to pull away from the headboard and everything was back to its night time clamber.

As you can see, the new bed frame is all wood and very simple, and I am happy to report, noise free.

From Briar Crescent

Gloriousness!

Besides putting the new bed together (quite a feat, I can assure you), I've scrubbed from the living room windows their deep layer of mud, dust, plaster-splatters, and sawdust, which has meant: a) we can see the beauty of the front garden better and b) I no longer feel guilty every time by Czech book wants me to talk about 'moje ciste okno'.

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And in the garden, we've really enjoyed watching the camelia suddenly turn pink.

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But, the most exciting spring development has been the small signs of life on the rhodadendron:

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Hopefully more little leaves will follow soon...

Another projected completed

Thanks to a nice, long Easter break, we got a couple jobs finally done around the house. The most exciting, in my view, was the wall in the hallway.

Once upon a time, the hallway hosted this handy cupboard:

From Briar Crescent

However, we decided that we'd like to have the carpet underneath it, which, as it turned out, required dissasembling the whole thing.

We were left with this:

From Briar Crescent

Much to our dismay, much of that crumbled off once the wallpaper was removed, necessitating that L. replaster much of the wall. Finally, this weekend, the new plaster was ready to be painted, and we now have ourselves a completed upstairs hallway. We are very pleased (although, now I find myself trying to figure out the best use for that unused space.....a convenient storage cupboard springs to mind....)

From Briar Crescent

From Briar Crescent