Stay at Home - Day 23 - It Was a Nice Weekend

Saturday was a beautiful, warm, and sunny day with some wind, but that was OK. DH had been watching the weather carefully and decided Saturday would be a great day to bring the grill out of the storage shed and grill some steaks for dinner. Yummy! I thought that was a great idea. 

Here, we've cleaned off the patio, pressure washed the umbrella,
and washed the table and chairs. We bought the patio set
when we moved into the house in the 1980's, so we've had it
a long time. We spend a lot of time in the summers sipping
drinks on the patio, protected from the sun by the umbrella
(and a nice, wide-brimmed hat that I always wear). 

To do that, though, we had to do some spring cleaning on the patio and the backyard that we really spend most of our time in. I pulled the pressure washer out of the storage shed and attacked the patio table umbrella - dirty and with some patches of mildew from years of neglect (we love the umbrella and are always looking for a replacement, but we really like our stripes, the colors, etc, and haven't found a good replacement after years of looking). So, I attacked the umbrella with the pressure washer and then with a stiff brush. It looks great - happy and drying in the sunshine while we swept and raked away the last leaves of the autumn season. 

A small patch of snow in my front yard, in a shady
space that usually has a mountain of snow in the
height of the winter season, is all that remains of
the cold season. We're into Spring now, and this
probably has melted away by today. 

While driving out to the Post Office on Saturday morning, I noticed a single patch of snow still in my front yard, so I took a picture to celebrate the last of the 2019-2020 season of snow. We're finally into warmer temperatures and it's time to truly celebrate Spring. When coupled with our enforced Stay-at-home regulations (until May 4th), I'm settling in quite well and I'm really happy. I'm enjoying sleeping later, being less rushed and less stressed, and I'm relaxing more than I have in years. COVID-19 may be a disaster worldwide, but I'm enjoying some aspects of it. 

From the East towards the West, looking across the patio to the table
nestled in the curve of the wall. DH spent a very hard year working
on making the walls and the staircase to the right (not visible in
this photo). We hired a firm to grade the rest of the backyard and
set the patio for us, although we purchased all of the bricks and sand
necessary. They actually did a decent job - not fabulous, but I really
can't complain. It's a nice herringbone pattern. The stacked logs
will be put into the woodshed after DH has built that. It's high
on his list for this summer. 

So, on that note, I have given two views of our patio area - facing to the west where we have our rounded walls that DH built several years ago, and facing to the east where we will build the wood shed on the far left this summer, and maybe, someday, a pergola at the far edge of the grassy area. But that's for the future, and right now, we're concentrating on making it day-by-day. I hope all of you are healthy. Stay safe, stay home, stay well. I'll be back tomorrow.