Time to Step Outside

As I wrote in a comment on someone else’s blog today, I suspect quite a few of us bloggers in the northern hemisphere go through a period of slight confusion this time of year, as Nature is beginning to call for renewed attention after a long winter. On the one hand there is MORE to blog about and on the other hand LESS time to do the actual blogging…

Spring is making some progress here at last, even if still at unusually slow pace, considering that we’ve actually had quite a lot of sunshine. But the winds are still chilly. There’s still not a whole lot of greenery around yet except for the bravest of spring flowers, and those that are now being planted around town from the greenhouses. The trees are still holding back…

For my own part at least, I’ve been spending less time on the computer the last week or so, while instead dealing more with other “spring things”… Like making my balcony “habitable” again for the summer season (during winter I keep the floor mats and furniture in storage in the basement).

My old sun lounger (bottom middle and right) needed a new cushion cover. I managed to make one from a duvet cover I’d not been using much; and I got a couple of matching pillow-cases out of it too.

I only take the cushions for the chair(s) out on sunny days when I’m actually sitting there, and always take them in at night. There is another balconcy above mine providing a roof, but the rain nearly always comes with wind, and the sides are open. Besides carrying the rain, the wind loves playing havoc with anything on my balcony not secured with stong tape or heavy weights or whatever solutions can be invented…

The very first thing that happed this season was that I had washed a plastic cloth I’d used as protection cover on a wooden bench which I keep on the balcony all year round (I move the bench close to the wall beneath the window in winter and keep some flower boxes under it). Anyway after washing the cloth I wrapped it around the balcony rail to dry, and as it was a windy day, I took care to fasten it properly (or so I thought) with some clothes-pegs on both sides. It flapped a bit but did not look as if it could go anywhere. Next time I looked out the window, however, only 10-15 min or so later… There was no sign of it! I went downstairs and went all around the house twice to look for it. I had expected to find it in some bush, but no. I spied upwards to see if it had landed on some other balcony, but not that I could see. And it wasn’t to be seen on the football field either. That was a couple of weeks ago. Wherever you live in the world… If you happen to see a greenish plastic cloth come flapping by your house in the next storm – it could be mine… :D

(I gave up on ever finding it, and put out a blue one instead. Fastened with several clothes pegs etc of course, but remains to be seen how long it stays…)