Welcome to the weekend in my backyard. Where I plan to sit. And enjoy. And relax. I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to I'm going to.
O.K. I think I typed that enough that I can't take it back. No take backs on the relaxing pledge. Only it's kind of a lie because there's a big project I have to finish in the backyard. But once I do that on Saturday morning it's going to be relax, relax, relax.
A few years ago I ditched the idea of using a patio umbrella in my backyard since it's shady anyway and got the black table, chairs and bench you see from Ikea. Not having the umbrella makes it feel much more like a real room. That has bugs. At least more bugs than the inside.
It's the first long weekend of the summer in Canada and for the first time ever my backyard is cleaned up and ready to go. Plants and everything.
K.
I'm bored with it now, is it too early for snowpants?
Just kidding. I won't get bored with the backyard until at least the second long weekend of the summer when I decide watering plants is for chumps and dedicate all my spare time to hoping they'll die instead.
The fake wicker love seat on the left in the photo above is from Walmart and used to be brown. I painted it the same way I painted my shed, with a sprayer. The chairs were some kind of a deal at Costco a few years ago. But what I'd REALLY like to do in this area is to create some built in furniture in the same conversational shape.
If you read my blog regularly you probably know I built a pizza oven because I live very far away from the nearest pizza place. At least a block and a half.
Summertime hasn't been the same since building it. People come here. They flock to my backyard and they sit and relax and wait for pizza to come out of the oven so they can shove it in their mouth. They get to relax while I get to sweat and slave over a hot oven making pizza. It's a win/win really.
If you're thinking of building a pizza oven, you should get the Bible of books for such a thing, Build Your Own Earth Oven. I used it and you should too.
But this year I'm vowing to do something I haven't done before in my backyard. No. Not drink 14 cream sodas in a row. I've done that.
I'm going to relax.
See I've said it again so I really can't go back on it now.
Hold up! Where did you get those wire cloches, Karen??? Well, I got them at a discount store in town but I found similar ones in case you can't live without them. You know, like you'll cry an' blubber and stuff.
Here's a handy little tip in case you didn't think of it. Even if plastic furniture is clearly meant for inside, you can still use it outside. Like these Panton S Chairs (copies because I can't afford real Panton S chairs and even if I could I'd rather spend that money on a dancing troupe of Dachshunds who wear multicoloured tutus). So, yeah.
(I'm not sure why the patio looks like it's covered in a layer of dirt in the photo. It doesn't look like that in real life. It's all splotchy and stuff in real life, but at least it doesn't look like it's covered in dirt. )
I painted the potting shed black last year with my Wagner Spray gun. It took all of an hour or so to do the whole thing 3 coats.
The three white balls you see have old Christmas lights in them so they glow at night. Which is so stunning it's enough to make me stop and stare every time I see them. Which counts as relaxing. You can read more about my spectacularly famous Glowing Outdoor Orbs here.
Most of the major things are done in the backyard, I just have a few things to get done.
Like what? Like this ...
That's just for that one corner. Ditto that kind of stuff for all the corners of the yard.
Except I can only do it if I also relax. Because that is now the rule. I wrote it in my notebook too so I've got it written down on paper. Like The Bible.
I have a big rope hanging on my fence. There is absolutely no reason for it other than the odd time I practice my lassoing technique on the ferns. Just kidding. I practice on the chickens.
The rug(s) at the pizza oven area are from a big box store. I can't remember if they're from Home Depot or Lowes or Rona but they're available just about pretty much everywhere now. I butted two of them up against each other to make a big rug instead of 2 smaller ones.
Someone who can't relax in this backyard has something seriously wrong with them. It's not like my goal is to relax alllll summer. Just 10 minutes a day even. Or 5. Or the length of your typical tween attention span. Hardly anything at all really. I can have my morning coffees outside for instance. In the backyard, without my laptop or my iPhone. No technology at all other than my iPad.
I know, right? Weird plant. It's a Boston Fern. Oh. You meant the other one. That's a Chenille Plant.
Those are a bunch of forks and knives on some plates. I put them there because you're supposed to do that if you're a blogger. Pretend you're constantly getting ready for some big party.
My smoker. Because I smoke. I even made bacon from scratch in it once.
This thing is for real, not just a blog prop. I keep many pots of herbs that I use for my pizzas right by my pizza oven so they're always ready to go when I'm making pizza. I said pizza a lot in that sentence. Pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza pizza. O.K. I'm done.
Pizza.
The plant on the left? It's baby tears. The plant on the right? Some type of succulent that I nearly but didn't totally kill over the winter.
And finally my friend Buddha who may or may not help me relax. I may stare at Buddha hoping to relax and then realize Buddha needs cleaning at which point a very non-relaxing rampage of some sort will ensue. That's how it all starts. With a dirty little Buddha.
It looks like relaxing is a huge goal for most of you who took my 2 question survey last week (thanks to the thousands who took the time!), so I'm not alone. We doers of stuff sometimes need to be forced to relax whether we want to or not because believe it or not relaxing is important.
Have a great long weekend my fellow Canadians, get your backyards cleaned up, fire up the BBQ and relaxxxxxxx.
I love your backyard Karen..I would love to sit there and relax with a book or magazine and wait for you to finish cooking the pizza...Then I would burp a few times, yawn and stretch and lie down on that fake wicker loveseat and have a nap..Could you get me a hammock..it would be much more comfy...You could sit there too..maybe relax like I've told you many times that you need to do...if not I could always glue your ass to a chair...after you make the pizza that is...
Your yard begs to sit awhile with one of your books. Simply beautiful and calming. It looks shady quiet and cool. A house and yard like yours with room for the goats and horse would be perfect. Would love it somewhere with seasons other than hot and dusty. Lol.
ya gotta nice yeard der lady....
Karen, don't you love it when all your hard work turns out so well. Sometimes satisfaction is just as good as relaxing!
I think the Buddha looks good exactly the way it is. The dark spots give it character and age, as a Buddha should have. You'll probably clean it, anyway, since it's your Buddha and you get to do what you want with it, but if it were mine, I'd leave it alone and appreciate the artistic look it now has.
Now I really wish I was your neighbour you could help me make my yard a more relaxing place to be and you would not get bored and we could drink wine and eat pizza. Just sayin Karen. Love your yard!
Your smoker is the big green egg. It is from the states and they cost a lot lot more than my 40 dollar piece of crap. Sure is purty though!
Hi Anne. No, my smoker isn't a Big Green Egg. :) I'm very familiar with those. They have a similar shape but a different finish and interior than my smoker. ~ karen!
I am so unwilling to relax (do things! do all the things! all the time! - that's me) that the idea of relaxing never occurred to me while filling out the survey. I will admit that I do spend 15 to 20 minutes drinking coffee in the morning and another 15 to 20 minutes drinking wine in the evening, all in my garden. That's plenty of relaxing for me.
Your space is gorgeous, btw.
Looks great and low maintenance!Zen.
I think I have too many beds of perennials now.I know all your gardens are in the front:) And elsewhere..Your ferns are gorgeous..that kills me when I either give them away or put in the huge pile in the secret garden..come Oct..Karen I am coveting your baby's tears..I have had some in the past and love the way they grow..I can't find them anywhere..I know I live in QC..but where in Ontario did you find them.
I have trouble relaxing too..I alwys spy something that needs attention:)
So much energy and talent in one petite person!Every space must be filled up:)
Hi Monique! I got the baby tears (the biggest container I've ever seen of them!) at a local nursery called Holland Park Garden Gallery. It was $12.99 I believe and was a hanging basket. ~ karen!
Love them..and as you see I agree w/ you re bringing in the ferns..what a mess.
I don't have a Holland Park:(
Thanks!
Hi, Karen. Here in the UK, the other name for Baby's tears (Helxine soleirolii) is Mind-your-own-business.
Who says we brits are polite!
Also, I have to ask, what's that odd board with the metal rings, hanging on the fence near the conversation area?
And do you overwinter all those Boston ferns indoors or do you just buy then new each season?
Hi Cred, That's a piece of barn board that I turned into a wall light by drilling holes into it and inserting deck lights. It comes on at dusk and lights up that area a bit. I used to try to overwinter at least a couple of my ferns but they always ended up dead by February or March so I gave up. They're a mess to deal with inside and take up a LOT of room. So I buy new every year and they're really almost the only outdoor plants/flowers I buy now. ~ karen!
I'm with you Karen, tried keeping 5 ferns overwinter. Husband built a bench in the basement with lights from Lee Valley and it worked but it was a helluva a mess. So I've given up and buy them every spring. Costco has gorgeous ones for $13.99! Anybody need/want a nice potting bench?
Who makes your smoker? It looks so much better than my piece of crap 40 dollar electric smoker I use a ton. I'd love something that looks so nice in my backyard.
I wish I could remember the name of it Anne. It was a gift from my ex-fella and he bought it off of a competitive BBQer who had won it in a competition. It's from the States somewhere and I feel like it might have the word dragon in the name? Actually if you click through to my post on making bacon, I might have mentioned the name of it in there. But I'm not sure. :( Sorry! ~ karen
Hi Anne. I actually just emailed the BBQer I got the smoker from. It's a Bayou Classic Classic Cypress smoker which retails for around $850 US! He told me he misses it, lol. ~ karen
We call it the "big green egg". It takes a lot of muscle to move it according to my neighbor! Trying to talk my daughter into helping me build a cob oven... wish me luck!
Good luck!! ~ karen
Your backyard looks amazing! Enjoy :)
Simply beautiful. I'm inspired (again) by your glowing orbs (sorry, that kinda sounded dirty). I made two of them for my dresser and I'd moved one into my Xmas planter but now they need to go outside for the summer and I must get a ginormous one to make a trio. I love them.
Good luck with the relaxing. Happy may 2-4.
You're right about ditching the ladder. I have the perfect spot for it in my back yard
and would be pleased to take it off your hands.
Oh, I was about to say that she's wrong about ditching the ladder . . . I like it there. Sorry Mickey, I don't want to mess up your nefarious plan so I won't mention it.
You're smokin, girl! I looked at the rope and thought what is that for and instantly you answered my question. I spent $95 last fall on a rope lasso, a huge black (plastic) steer head, and a bale of hay. My intentions were totally that of a 70 year old out of touch woman, planning to have a fun activity ready for two teen boys, a teen girl, a six year old and their two extremely competitive dads. Well, just to be nice each one threw it once, missed, and went back inside to their little black isolation devices. I was the only one (and my sweet six yo granddaughter) that lassoed more than once. The hay got used as mulch, the lasso is hung on a wall, the head is out under a bush. So much for my backyard. The deer ate my beautiful new peach tree, basil and dill. They stomped my strawberries. The cats chased butterflies around my tall flowers which destroyed the flowers. And my daughter wonders why I don't garden anymore. When I look at my backyard, all I see are projects, problems, and I used to see produce, plants, and petunias. It is too sad so that is why I spend my garden time on my personal isolation device and enjoy your wonderful efforts. The big difference between you and me is when I see dust on a ceramic piece, I think, interesting texture! On gorgeous black floor block? I see wonderful depth of rich color, not dirt. My life is full - I can dream and I subscribe to you. LOL
Giggling and trying to drink my coffee...love the post Karen.
I hope your Buddha is facing East...it's almost Sacrilegious if he's not? :O
So miss having a family member who had a pizza oven...drool...PIZZA!
Now, go relax...
Beautiful! Going through the photos I felt I was really there relaxing with you. I like the rope and the ladder just being there with no purpose, btw. lol
So I have a few questions,
1. What is the square footage of your back yard?
2. Did you install the pavers yourself (I'm assuming you did)? And if so, do you have a post on how to do it?
Hi Jillian. I have no idea what the square footage of my backyard is, lol. I'd have to go out and measure. I did install the flagstone, but I did it a couple of years before I started this blog so there aren't any step by steps. If you click on the link to me redoing my backyard there are plenty of photos though. Since these are natural stone they're different from laying pavers. Much harder, because each stone is a different thickness so they all have to be laid individually. As opposed to manufactured pavers which are all the exact same thickness and size. ~ karen!
It doesnt look that big and about the size of my back yard. You did a wonderful job cramming things in without looking like you crammed things in!
Darn! Was hoping you had step by step for flagstone. I want to do a flagstone patio where my backyard is. In fact, I just received 150 square foot of it for free off of Craigslist! Had a feeling you were going to say each had to be laid individually because of thickness.....sigh, was hoping for an easier job but will still enjoy the project.
Thank you, again, Karen. Enjoy your relaxing Spring/Summer lol
You have a classy yard! I could not manage a classy yard, I have an "eclectic" yard... (crazy lady yard)
With a hammock. I love my hammock, and have no problem, when I'm sweaty and panting from some crazy lady exertion, dropping everything and relaxing in my hammock. It's gawdamn ZEN I tell you!
Back yard envy here! Yours is simply beautiful.
Oh I love your pizza oven and your sitting corner. It is so nice. I can almost smell the bacon with the smoker going.