One of the things I like about the new house is the wide front porch. I spent a while yesterday reading out there (McKillip's
Bards of Bone Plain, v. good per usual), and it actually felt vacation-y. Nice. And during Wednesday's thunderstorms, I was able to leave the front room windows open, because the deep overhang of the porch roof kept rain from coming in. Nice. I LOVE thunderstorms.
Ellie and I enjoyed watching the rain pound down. Today's supposed to be severe thunderstorm warnings -- I'm not sure if that means the rain will be coming sideways, which even my porch might not be proof against. But I'm going to at least try leaving the windows open for a bit. I am awfully fond of storms. Me and Emily Dickinson.
Wild nights! Wild nights!
Were I with thee,
Wild nights should be
Our luxury!
The back yard is still a barren desolation for the most part, and when it pours, it turns into a slightly scary lake.
But this week half of our fence went in -- the north side and the little arbor gate from front yard to back. The other half is waiting until the painting is done and the back yard gets its replacement soil and sod, because a) it'll be much easier for the truck to bring in soil if the back is open and b) the neighbors are going to have some work done on their garage soon, and it'll be easier for them if the back is open. But even as much as been done is a consolation. And I was amazed at how fast the guys worked -- three guys, two days, and a pile of boards turned into this lovely fence:
Jim, the next door neighbor (owner of the apartment building with its ugly parking lot) agreed to let us take the fence up to 7 ft. between our yards, which was very nice of him. It still doesn't block off all the car-view from the deck (as you can see!), but from the yard itself, we feel nicely insulated now. We did six solid feet of what I think is called a shadowbox fence, which is supposed to be a neighbor-friendly design, since it looks good on both sides; I want to be friendly to my neighbors! Then one foot of lattice top to finish it. I might have done a diamond pattern lattice on my own, but the neighbors on the south side were planning on a rectangular lattice top when they redid their fence, and after a little thought, I decided the skinny rectangles actually suit my house at least as well; they match the porch railings. Our house isn't a foofy Victorian -- it's a clean-lined, slightly industrial Victorian. I really like the way the fence turned out.
We also added an arbor gate between the front and back yards -- we needed some sort of barrier to keep the dog / children from getting out, and an arbor will hopefully be covered in roses soon. Yesterday I replanted my white Darlow's Enigma roses in front of the arbor and it's just...very happy-making. Now I need to find a nice clematis to pair with them -- Jackmanii? Something dark and blue-purple.
That chain link fence on the right should be replaced by the end of the summer. Slowly, slowly, it's coming together. A little Victorian dream.
