It’s a very project-y kind of week. Here’s another one — replacing the garden bench in the front with something more stable (the one I had never screwed together solidly, and I didn’t love having it in the parkway where I want neighbors to be able to sit with confidence). Also, this one is a peacock. 
Easy to assemble, very happy with the result. There’s also a coordinating chair / plant stand which I didn’t get. $190 currently, but it seems to go on sale sometimes — I got it for more like $150, and the chair is currently on sale.
https://www.windandweather.com/p/FN9437
I still want to re-do the base that it sits on — I just threw some flagstones in the soil, and really, it should be dug out with sand to stabilize, and then either the flagstones or maybe some mosaic pavers (yes, another project), maybe with gravel between the stones?
Advice welcome on how to best handle that — my main goal is to make the area very stable and easy for neighbors to sit down if they want to sit and look at the roses for a bit. I might wait until the temperatures drop a bit before I start actually digging and hauling sand and gravel around, though.
