In Which the Pirate Admires.

We’ve had some renovation excitement here at Up Mountain – after three years of struggling with the front door, we finally got to replace it! The old door was difficult to open or close, and its screen door was marvelous at letting bugs in while keeping air out. But now we have a brand new door that opens and closes with the greatest of ease (since it hasn’t got a doorknob yet, perhaps this is too easy) and a screen door which will allow air to pass through but not bugs. It even has a sliding screen so that we won’t have to swap it out for a storm door in the winter.

As is the way with home renovations, one thing leads to another: we discovered some rot in the sill below the door, which has been repaired… and our deck is now missing a board, which still needs to be replaced. But! New door! The screen door is a lovely green, but the door itself is currently white. We’re thinking of painting it red on the inside of the house, but in multiple colours on the outside like a stereotypical gypsy wagon.

While I was outside admiring the door and considering window replacement options, I took pictures of some of the flowers growing in our yard. These red flowers appeared at the edge of the fishpond. I’m not sure what they are, but I like them! I didn’t plant anything in the yard and so I’m surprised each spring by the colourful and often fragrant blooms that appear. I’d like to clean up the flowerbeds and plant my own herbs and flowers, but I’m not sure what I’ll be disturbing in each bed. Guess they’ll just have to grow up all intertangled!

The mountain laurel is beginning to open up. Some of them are more white and some of them are more pink. At first I thought it was a matter of how much sun each laurel was getting, but now I’m not so sure. They are everywhere on the mountain, and they are so pretty! If it weren’t for the mountain laurel, I might consider keeping bees – but honey made from mountain laurel nectar (and its cousin-plant the rhododendron) is toxic, so perhaps that would be a bad idea…