I received an email this morning from a friend that contained a gentle nudge. “Haven’t seen a post in awhile – are you in the garden?” Well, yes, indeed I am. T’is the season, fa la la la la. Power shopping in the garden centers, planting, potting, spreading compost, mulching, trimming and watching as it all unfolds, delighting in the new shoots, buds and leaves and signs of life as the garden wakes up.

One major outdoor project has now been completed and is ready for the big reveal. The new pergola. Ta da!

Our little ranch house was originally blessed with what I thought was an enormous parking lot – huge slabs of cracked concrete, big enough for 5 cars to park. We decided to “unpave paradise” and create more garden living space by reclaiming the area on the side of the house. Then followed months of prowling the neighborhood with camera in hand checking out other people’s garden structures as well as endless hours on the intertube looking at gate and pergola images. Once the design was created, then came the issue of finding the contractor which, as I’ve said before, around here often means seeing who will show up. We lucked out and found just the right person.

We had the existing horrible concrete slab removed, which turned out to be at least a foot deep and contained some very interesting buried wires – definitely not to code. The concrete was replaced by paver stones to match the backyard patio we had installed the first year we were here. The latter picture above is now my view from my desk in The Bunkie where I spend the winter months fooling around, most recently painting. Soon the area will be filled with hanging fuchsias and other potted plants as well as a newly planted garden bed along the side. This is also our personal entrance to the house as we always go through the mudroom at the back door – the front door being reserved for honored guests and Jehovah Witnesses.

Thrilled.

Two of my neighbors came over for a peak as it was nearing completion. One looked around and said, “You could still fit a car in here” (actually, no). The other said “No, no, this is a place for dancing” and started to twirl around under the filtered sunshine. The latter reaction is closer to my point of view. I’ve been known to do some twirling of my own.

Outside the garden – we spent the week before Easter in Victoria visiting friends, shopping, gallery hopping and eating. In a few weeks we’re off to Vancouver again for an appointment and more eating. (Have I mentioned the sorry state of restaurants in our idyllic little town – although that has recently brightened up a bit with the arrival of an ace Vietnamese chef in a new restaurant down near the beach). Number 2 son arrives in June for a visit and early July will find Bonnie Raitt as one of the headliners at the Vancouver Island Music Festival in Courtenay, a 40 minute drive up the coast. The minute I heard about it I bought a weekend pass and found to my sheer delight that Angelique Kidjo, another fave rave, is performing on the Friday night. Next week we start to clean up the boat for the season, which hopefully will go well this year, unlike the last two seasons when a sail replacement and bad back benched us.

Spring has arrived and life is seriously grand.