Well-oiled furniture in the back yard
The official date for spring came and went in March. It’s now April 12, which is when Easter Sunday is celebrated this year. The sun is shining brightly today but there’s a bit of a nip in the air, as if winter’s not quite ready yet to hand over the reins.
However, disputes between seasons notwithstanding, it’s a good day to get outside and do some of the chores that go hand-in-hand with being a home-owner. One of the things I like doing most is pottering around outside in the yard, front or back, preparing it for the warmer weather I know (I hope!) will be coming at some point in the next month or two.
Yesterday, I swept the deck clean of last year’s deluge of leaves from the many trees in the neighbourhood, as well as an unwelcome amount of litter blown in by the wind. Chocolate bar wrappers, old newspapers, tissues and a few feathers could be found amongst the piles of decomposing leaves in the back yard. All this was raked in, swept up and thrown into a bag ready for pick-up on garbage day.
So now the deck in our small back yard is nice and clean, clear of debris from the previous autumn and winter months. A spring cleaning. It feels good.
But I’m in the mood for more, so I traipse downstairs to the basement and haul up the garden furniture, which has now been over-wintering in the cool, dark area under the staircase since, oh, September I’d say.
Well, no more hiding away down there. I bring it all upstairs; table, chairs, lanterns, parasol, and after reassembling the table I rummage around for a bottle of tung and teak oil and have at it with an old rag and a fair amount of elbow grease!
I’m pleased with the results. The wood furniture looks nice and shiny and the parasol is open to the elements, as dust and cobwebs are blown away by the still-chill April wind. I feel like I’ve thumbed my nose at winter and I’m now laying the ‘welcome mat’ of our garden furniture in the back yard, in preparation for the arrival of summer.
This way, please – come along, now!
No related posts.
I was born in England, spent 
2 comments
Katrina
April 15, 2009 at 3:03 pm (UTC -5)
Looks very inviting! Are you actually inviting the summer or us too?
Gary Roberts
April 17, 2009 at 3:50 pm (UTC -5)
I guess that depends on who (and how many) you mean by “us”!
