Memories of Months Gone By....Part 4

Spring has finally arrived and although it is bright and sunny, it is still very windy and cold.

 There is quite a bit of deep snow on the ground but that didn't stop my son Tim and I from a nice walk around the meadow.

This is what it looked like yesterday as we walked toward the meadow. 

As we strolled along on the snow trail looking up toward the house, Tim reminded me of the white post our friends had painted next to the new deck. A feeder and a bird house had once been hanging on the post. In August, after my daughter and girl friends finished the stone wall, I had the idea of digging up that post and moving it to the front of the house.  

Here you can see the post after it was painted during the July "Friendship Work Day". In this picture you can also see some of the new deck. Honeysuckles grew at the bottom of the post.

 I knew we should have a lighted path at night but also knew that I could not afford to hire someone to install electrical wires in the post. Thinking more about it, I realized that there was an easy solution!  I would just buy a simple solar-light and the problem would be solved!  

Here is what it looked like just after my daughter Bekah and friends helped finish the front stone walls. 

 I talked about the front post with Tim and he immediately offered to help me. After measuring, we decided where the best post place should be. We then cut and dug up the post from the back yard and drove it to the front yard in our orange rider mower.

This is where Tim began digging a deep hole for the post in the front. You can also see the post in the back of the rider mower.

After we leveled, cemented and filled the deep hole, Tim and I then removed the sticks and bird houses on the post. We patched holes, sanded the wood and then repainted the entire post.   

This is Tim patching holes on the new front post.

When my Uncle Henry and Auntie Ann were alive, they lived in a small house in Warwick, Rhode Island. For over fifty years, a metal name sign hung from their front steps. I always wondered if my Uncle made that sign when he worked as a bridge builder in the early 1940s! The sign was given to me a few years ago and I was finally able to hang it at my home this past summer. I think of my Aunt and Uncle often and cherish their sign.  The Day After...Remembering Relatives, Roosters and Rome

Here is the sign after we hung it onto the post. 

From the Mathews sign, we hung a basket of pretty, pink flowers. Next, we screwed a black iron hook onto the front of the post and hung a solar-light from that. A humming bird feeder was then added to the back of the post. Although I love watching humming birds, my favorite feathered friend has always been a heron. For my birthday years ago, I received a copper "weathervane" heron. Finally able to have a place to put him, Tim and I installed the heron on the top of the post. This spring we will add a  pointed wood cap beneath the weathervane! 

Once the post was finished and set, I dug up several variations of hostas around the yard and planted them at the base of the post. I also dug up the honeysuckle that was in the backyard and planted it in the front. 

You can see all the hostas and honeysuckle at the bottom of the post. 

A few days after finishing the post and its new garden, I dug up the grass from the area behind the little stone wall by the house. I also filled in the front path with more gravel.

Here you can see the grass still on the right side behind the little wall. The new gravel can be seen on the path that we filled and raked. 

Here is the garden completely dug up and filled with more plants from around the yard. There is also a matching solar-light that hangs from a metal hook stand. Now there is plenty of light at night!

It was so much fun to create a front post without spending very much money! We are looking forward to what it will look like this summer after all the plants have grown into the garden.

My boy Tim is a perfect son! Not only is he handsome and kind, he is also hard worker and always ready to help me in anyway he can. He is loving, gentle and a true joy to have in my life. I have been truly blessed to have both of my wonderful children.

 Here we are after we finished building the front post. It's hard to believe that I had a brain operation just 4 months before this photo was taken. It just goes to show you how cared for and happy I am because of my wonderful children, family and friends! (Photo by Patrisha McLean)