Here in Ottawa, it’s the coldest day of the winter so far, and the mercury has clawed its way up to -24C. But the sun is brilliant, and it’s making me twitchy. Now that the days are starting to get incrementally longer, I can feel summer calling my name. Unfortunately, it’s still a long-distance call!
I’m especially excited about this spring because we’re in the new house. With the giant front porch and a patio that stretches the length of the back of the house and a full half acre of land, the house was made for celebrating the outdoors.
I’ve got big plans for that big patch of land, too. Here’s five things that I can’t wait to do come spring thaw:
1. A clothesline. I am ridiculously excited about the idea of stringing a line from one of our towering trees back to the house for laundry. A small part of my mind wonders if I my enthusiasm for an outdoor line won’t wither up and die after the first time I forget to bring things in before a shower, or the first time I find a bug in my underwear drawer, but for now I am delighted by the idea of having a clothesline.
2. A vegetable garden. There’s so much room, it’s just a matter of where to cut into the lawn to create a little hobby garden. I know myself well enough to restrain my impulse to make a 10m2 plot which will require hours of intensive maintenance and which will undoubtedly be neglected to death by mid-June. But I have been chatting the boys up about a tidy corner spot to grow some tomatoes, and cucumbers, and peppers, and sugar peas. Those are my big four for this year, and we’ll see where the rest takes us.
3. A new BBQ. I think we’re on our fourth or fifth cheapo BBQ in the last dozen years or so, and it’s rusting to pieces. The handle is askance and the element, which I replaced last summer, is looking a little sketchy again. I’ve got my eye (and my sale alert!) on a mid-level one at Crappy Tire. It’s *shiny*. 🙂 We haven’t BBQ’d anything since we moved in mid-October and I’m going through withdrawal!
4. A patio set. Our old deck wasn’t really big enough to support a full patio set, and Beloved isn’t overly keen about the idea of eating outside. However, now that we have so much more space (do you see a theme here?) I’m looking forward to creating a little outdoor living space. I’m thinking this year we might have to settle for a second-hand or garage-sale special this year, and maybe get a nice one in a couple of years’ time.
5. A fire pit. One of the first pictures I saw of the house and yard, on the real estate website, included a view of the back yard where you could see one of those little backyard firepits, and I’d love to pick one up. I’m not sure if we’re far enough out of downtown to have one legally, but I’ve heard that as long as you put a grill on them and have a pack of hotdogs nearby, you can get away with calling it a cooking fire. I love the idea of a backyard fire pit for summer nights almost as much as I love our fireplace for winter nights! And mmmmm, the marshmallows!
So that’s what’s warming my cockles this cold January day. When you dream of the summer to come, what do you hope to do?
May I suggest basil in the garden? It grows quickly and abundantly, and pesto freezes nicely, giving you a taste of summer in the dead of winter.
I LOOVED having a clothesline! I never tired of it. I’ve been bugging Michael to put one in at this house since we moved in. (Five years ago.)
Maybe THIS summer. 🙂
I am simply looking forward to wearing flip flops again. I love those things!
I love the photo. I am definitely craving BBQ now.
I look forward to playing with my son in the pool and feeling my toes between the sand.
So happy to find people who share the same feeling than I do on the clothesline. I am *totally* with you on that one. It give me a homey, satisfied, relaxing feeling to see laundry hanging out. I’ve always wondered it it’s because I have the feeling that I am as good a housewife as my Mom and Grandma, I don’t know but I love it.
Me? I’m looking forward to coming to *your* house! 😉 And “sweet million” tomatoes right out of the garden are like candy. Yum! I love stepping barefoot onto the big stone steps of the back patio first thing in the morning and just sipping my tea and casting an eye around the gardens to see what’s changed overnight … Lovely, lovely.
I am looking forward to hours of outdoor play. Instead of 45 minutes of playing in the snow before we’ve all frozen and need to head back inside!
I’m looking forward to going camping and watching my husband do some triathlons or marathons. He says he’s running the Ottawa Marathon in May along with his kid brother.
We got our BBQ at CDN Tire last spring before the new season’s ones had come in. We got it for %50 off, and it was one of those big shiny silver ones! Great deal! So keep your eyes open in the next month or so!