The shed.
The shed again
And again with the shed (hey there's Vita)
And once more with feeling: the shed!When we bought our house almost 6 years ago it had been terribly neglected, it looked very dark and gloomy even on a sunny day. The shed in the garden was no better and has been an eyesore for quite some time. Unfortunately I didn't have the time to do anything about it, until now. It's amazing what a lick of paint, a bit of elbow grease and some styling can do, don't you think? There, all better now, or is it? Because uh oh
there's more painting to do.Oh nooooooo!!!! Best get on with it then, while the weather is still good.
And the weather has been good, extremely good in fact. In April we would expect an average temperature of 11 to 14 degrees Celsius during the day. This April, temperatures have been ranging from 18 to almost 30 degrees Celsius. I think that this April will be another record breaking month. Last year we had the hottest July ever (in 300 years) followed by the wettest August ever. This April will probably be the warmest and driest ever.
Here's Madame Alfred Carriere, already flowering in April, unheard of in this neck of the woods.Gardening baffles me. I can do houses but not gardens. Houses are obedient dogs, waiting patiently to know their master's bidding. Gardens are feline, nature and nurture in constant argument. Leave them alone for a minute and they will strive after some state of nature. They are second cousins to chaos.
Simon Jenkins, The Guardian, 3 February 2006
34 comments:
Nice job there, dear Yolanda.
The shed is looking much more exciting and vibrant after being painted white and yellow.
Bright colours always make you feel better and optimistic about things.
Love the sunshine yellow, Yolanda! Quite state of the art now, I'd say...and oooh! those adorable cats down the side of your blog! Bliss indeed.
I have serious shed envy right now. I would love to have a garden shed, but my neighborhood's rules don't allow for them. The paint does make a big difference, not get going and finish jt!!
Hello dear ladies,
Green Thumb: colours brighten our days and our moods, I quite agree.
WG: yellow has always been one of my favorite colours. We have mostly grey skies here, so yellow makes you feel like the sun is shining, even when it isn't!
The kitties are utter bliss of course, I don't have to tell you that. ;-) Sam is the eldest with 16 years and 8 months, Kadootje my youngest, she's approx. 1 1/2 years.
Carol: what a pity you are not allowed to build a shed in your garden. I hope you have a big garage for all those hoes and stuff! giggle
I'm going, I'm going! :-D
Wow... wat je al niet kunt doen met een likje (!) verf en een leuk rieten bankje!!!Èn wat geel-witte toetsjes- ziet er vrolijk en erg gezellig uit!
Ennne- veel te warm om te verven nu ;-)
Dat Bliss Team ziet eruit als een "Dreamteam"...
( en de namen: Sambucus :-D en Pippa is toch niet naar Greenwood???)
Hi Yolanda, you're doing a nice paint job.It's getting a scandinavian style jazz up.
I wonder what it looks like when you'r ready.
Very nic e those early flowering roses. The weather is quite confused. Ciao!!
I love your shed. It looks like one we helped my brother-in-law build at their house in the country in England a few years ago. I wish I had space for one!
And we're to be in Germany and the Czech Republic this July and August (trying to escape the Texas heat) so we're hoping for a cooler European summer than last year!
— Susan from South of the River
Your new paint job looks great. I wish I could get going on the fence painting I need to do, but I can't find the motivation. Did I mention I hate painting fences?
I have a Texas-style facelift in mind for my own purple shed/greenhouse. Not paint. Something different. Your post reminds me to get going with it.
Cute shed! I love that quote. Perhaps that's why I prefer gardening to working on the house--I prefer the personality of cats to that of dogs.
Oh, love the pictures of the kitties. I've been wondering how many you had. I have 7 cats and 1 pug. The pug is as much like a cat as a dog can get, I sometimes think. Probably why I like him.
By the way, we have a lot of favorite authors in common (Jane Austen, P.D. James, Diana Wynne Jones, among others), so I thought I'd mention a good children's fantasy I just read: The Amulet of Samarkind by Jonathan Stroud. Very funny, well done, with a good ending. (I tend to be disappointed in Diana Wynne Jones's endings.)
Hello all and welcome!
Marleen: tuurlijk naar Pippa (ik kan de r niet uitspreken)Gweenwood, wat dacht je dan? ;-)
Net zoals Vita naar die mevroi van Sissinghurst is genoemd.
BTW dat bankje heb ik onlangs ook in de verf gezet, was eerst naturel.
Bert: I wonder what it will look like too. :-)
Susan: what fun that you're coming to Europe. I hope you'll have a lovely time. Can't make any promises about the weather though. Like Bert said: it's rather confused.
Pam: it's not the painting that I mind but the sanding! Grrrrrrr!
I'm looking forward to see how you're going to make over your shed/greenhouse. ;-)
Molly: you and I are on the same page. Cats and gardens: chaos rules!!! giggle
Jen: 7 cats and 1 doggie? Sounds wonderful! Thanks for the heads up about The Amulet of Samarkind, I'll be sure to check that one out.
I love the photos of your shed. I'm going to have to come back and read more entries when I have a minute's peace.
BR~working to help women reclaim their dignity www.pinktruth.com
:-D :-D Pippa Greenwood- hoe kom je erop- altijd maar over die "pests & diseases"... Maar dat katje kijkt wel heel pienter uit haar oogjes..Heb even naar de diertjes zitten loeren( doen zij ook) en ze hebben allemaal zo'n verschillende uitstraling (katten hè)...Sam kijkt wijs en Vita...wil laarsjes ;-)
Ga ze nog vaker beloeren...
Hallo Yolanda,
ich dachte Du hast schon bei Mouse Trowel gewonnen, obwohl, wenn ich genau überlege, dauert es ja noch etwas bis zur Entscheidung. Aber das ist heute eine wunderschöne Überraschung für uns. Das Bliss-Team ist perfekt! Aber, dass uns Surprise, Kadootje und die Russen besonders begeistern, ist bei uns ja wohl verständlich. Gibt es in den Niederlanden perfektere Zuchtlinien für Russen oder haben die drei etwas mit Zvizda zu tun? Wir sehen eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit mit Allegra und ihrer Mutter Zvizda's Shiva. Denn damals in Gladbeck bzw. im Internet sind wir erstaunt wie breit gefächert die Rasse ist und in Deutschland haben wir bis jetzt wenige so schöne "Exemplare" gesehen. Wir selbst haben mit Allegra - zu hell, und Maus - zu dunkel und kein Doppelfell aber mit Langhaar-Gen ja reichlich Russen-Bandbreite. Aber trotz aller Rasse-Standards sehen natürlich alle aus dem Bliss-Team zauberhaft aus und sind bestimmt interessante Katzenpersönlichkeiten! Auch wenn wir sehr gern Deine Posts zum Garten sehen, ein Katzenblog von Euch würde uns bestimmt auch begeistern!
Liebe Grüße Silke & Wolfgang
Hi Yolanda,
Good to see your shed get a make-over. Mine - there is no hope for! After many years of talking about it, this year, ours must be replaced. Now what kind would I like?
I too loved the quote - do you keep a notebook?
The shed just gets better and better! I love the hugging cats, Tweedledee and Merlijntije although there is no way I can pronounce that name!
My eyes kept bouncing back and forth. I didn't know if I should look at the beautiful shed, or the beautiful cats!
Hi all and welcome to Bliss!
Anon: I hope you'll find the time to have another look at Bliss and enjoy yourself.
Marleen: Pippa vond ik altijd al een leuke naam en toen de kleine Pipje een grote belangstelling voor beestjes aan de dag legde, was de naam niet meer zo moeilijk.hihi Daarnaast is onze Pippa zelf af en toe ook een pest want ze kan ontzettend ondeugend zijn. ;-)
Shirl: will there be pics of your new shed? Yes, I keep a notebook and I have a book of quotations.
Layanee: the shed is becoming better and better, I'm glad to say. Merlijn is Dutch for Merlin. The letters *tje* stand for little so the literal translation would be little Merlin. I think you will have no problems pronouncing that. :-)
Anna Maria:for me the cats would always win that contest. :-)
Bei dir blüht schon eine Rose? Ich fasse es nicht! Ich habe gestern an einigen auch schon Knospen entdeckt, aber auch jede Menge Läuse und Raupen, grrrr!
Eure Hütte ist sehr hübsch, zeigst du sie auch mal wie sie von innen aussieht?
LG Lis
At first thank you for visiting my blog and for your comment.
You havent say the true!!! You have 9!!! cats. And there is one lovely as the other.
Sorry for my horribel english!
I wish you a nice day!
Michi and the Coonies
Hallo liebe(r) freunden,
Silke und Wolfgang, how sweet of you to think of that, but that's something that's not up to me but up to the people who cast their votes. BTW I've heard that people are allowed to vote more than once, so if anyone feels the need to vote for Bliss (again), please feel free to do so. :-)
The Russian Blues from Bliss are all bred by me. My catteryname is Camelot and I used to be a hobby breeder on a very small scale.
Sam is the father of Pippa, Pippa is the mother of Delia, Delia is the mother of Merlin, and Willow is a sort of cousin. The Russians I used to breed are more the English type. There's also the American type Ruskie and even a Swedish type.
As a young male, Sam has won every prize a cat can win at a catshow. He was thought to be the almost perfect Russian Blue by many. He's the proud daddy of many healthy, sweet tempered and also beautiful Russian Blues. For me the most important thing has always been his loving disposition. Sam is the sweetest cat you can imagine. :-)
LG
Hallo Lis und Michi,
Meine Rosen blühen schon zeit 10 Tagen.
LOL my shed looks horrible on the inside at the moment because it's being used for storage. Not a pretty sight. ;-)
Michi, welcome to Bliss and you can write in Deutsch if you want, as I can understand that very well. And your English is not so bad because I understood everything you wrote. :-)
LG
Yolanda to tell you the truth this hot weather makes me fear, it's the climate change and I'm not sure if we will have enough water for our gardens when it's not raining enough anymore *sigh*
I really like your garden sheed much better now with the fresh paint and that white wicker bench is lovely too! Carol xox
So true in your comparison being a cat owner!
Your shed looks wonderful painted! LoVe your choice of paint! Natureboy looks over my shoulder with Ohhh...Ahhhh,,now that's a garden shed! I agree! Still in Arizona the blossoms in desert unbelievable..temps 90F !!
hugs NG
Your shed is wonderful. I have serious shed envy. My shed needs more than paint. The door fell off a couple of weeks ago!
Yolanda Elizabet, I want to live in your shed, please. It looks so inviting and cozy!
Russian Blues...I saw several at a cat show in Toledo (Ohio) last year and I immediately wished we'd known about this breed years ago. My husband is severely allergic to cats, but he loves them too much to be without them. He gets an allergy injection each week and is in the third year of it. Hopefully soon he'll be able to go longer in between the injections.
Anyway, ALL of your cats are beautiful!!
Hallo Yolanda, danke für die ausführlichen Informationen.
Wir hoffen ja, dass uns Maus & Allegra noch lange erhalten bleiben, aber falls wir irgendwann noch einmal ein "graues Kätzchen" haben möchten, werden wir bestimmt zuerst bei Dir fragen. Ich kann mich an Deinen Bildern garnicht satt sehen!
Liebe Grüße Silke
Your shed looks like a ray of sunshine hit it, what a difference! I think I'd quit calling it a shed and rename it the "garden house." Very charming!
The garden shed is now a little cottage. Great job with the painting! I love your color choices. It brings cheer to the garden.
I really wonder what our summer will have in store for us? Everyone is enjoying the weather since we have a long weekend coming up but I wonder how long this will go on. We really do need to have a good few days of rain here in Holland. I, for one, would not be sad to see a typical Dutch week of rain now. Rain makes our flowers grow.
Hi all and thanks for commenting!
Carola: I worry about it too, it's far too dry at the moment. Perhaps next week will bring us rain?
Nature girl& boy: what is it with men and sheds? ;-) It's pretty warm in Arizona!
Oldroses: you cracked me up with your comment. Thanks for the visual! ;-)
Kylee: are you sure about that, because there's bicycles in there and garden furniture and tools and the odd spider or two. ;-)
Silke: thanks for stopping by.
Lostroses: what an excellent idea, the garden house it is!
Heidi: yes, the white and yellow does brighten up the place, doesn't it?
I'd never thought I would say this, but I also long for a few days with lots of rain. The earth is parched and so are the plants.
When I first saw the cute shed, I thought it was a cottage ... it is adorable and looks so much better with new paint. Your garden is pure bliss, Yolanda Elizabet!
Liebe Yolanda, ja wir haben eigentlich nur noch Wetterrekorde in den letzten Jahren. Hat das etwa etwas mit dem Klimawandel zu tun?!
Euer kleines Häuschen hat enorm gewonnen durch die Farbe. Es sieht nun heller und freundlicher aus. Vor allem mit dem schönen weißen Sofa davor. Du hast den Eingangsbereich überhaupt sehr freundlich und hübsch gestaltet mit den Blumen. War also eine sehr gute Idee. Hier hat es sich jetzt endlich etwas abgekühlt. Aber Regen ist noch keiner in Sicht in der kommenden Woche. Liebe Grüße, Birgit
Oh, I love all the kitty pictures, too! Your garden looks marvelous...one would never know it is dry...everything looks lush! And, the roses!!! I'm getting a few buds but the aphids have found them, too...where are those ladybugs??
I keep meaning to try a container with some veggies...seeing your radishes and all is a good reminder! I need to get on it!
You're right, YE, your garden is bliss!
Welcome to Bliss!
Kate: the shed is now a cute little cottage and I'm very happy with it.
Birgit: lots of weather records have been broken these last few years and it has probably to do with the Klimawandel. And all though I love the wonderful sunny and warm weather we are having, I'm a bit worried about the fact that it has not rained for such a long time now. Hopefully there will be rain in Germany and the Netherlands soon!!!!
GG: the ladybugs are at Bliss. ;-) There are loads of them. I do not winter clean my garden so they have lots of places to hide when it's cold.
Sounds like a plan you should carry out. Just think of it: lovely fresh veggies!!! Mmmmm, scrumptious. ;-)
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