After a week of struggling with computer issues (now corrected) and not being particularly active, I was very happy to work outside, yesterday. I used to work outside every single day. I don’t know what in me has changed. What keeps me inside so often?

Anyway, I remembered to take a stiff brush out with me and I cleaned a load of bricks. Now … The patio is laid! I also moved my bench and my potted clematis, and repotted the tree that had sprung up in the clematis pot. I have some plants for the little pots I put where the bricks don’t fit. I still need to finish paving the area next to the spa, scrape away some excess dirt under a few bricks, scrape moss off the sidewalk, and generally tidy up.

And fix the bench! It needs cleaning, sanding and oiling. And I plan to polyurethane it as well, because we’re just not good at keeping on top of bare wood maintenance.

This photo was taken from the living room balcony. (Looks like I need to add painting the wrought iron to my to-do list.) The area behind the spa is just dirt now, but will have bark mulch, as will the mound to the right. All in all a nice little (half) back yard.