The View in Back

One of the things that attracted me to this house the first time we saw it was the back patio. The flag stonework and wood deck and mature shrubs and look of the narrow fenced yard were all pleasant and private.

The back courtyard is narrow and completely enclosed, and very private.

I could imagine sitting there on breezy afternoons or having my coffee out there in the mornings. Plus there was a gardener's big wood potting bench in the far back corner under the shady aspens! How nice, and the fact that a house came with it was a bonus.

Tucked in a corner behind the aspens is a great potting bench
left by the former owners (who were not gardeners).

And it has come to pass. The back patio is a nice place to be. With multiple sitting areas, I move from spot to spot to vary the view.

This step down to a lower flagstone patio is where a hot tub used to be.
It was gone before we bought the house, thank goodness.

Actually, that's the one thing missing -- no long view. No mountain vista, no sunset tapestry, no swept landscape in front of us, no Big Sky. We see the top edges of the neighbor's house and our garage wall.

From 2018 on the left  <--- to 2019 on the right --->,  but a long way to go before it bulks up!

But I have gardens now (they're coming along, check back in another year) and they are a delight to look at and it feels private and secluded even with neighbors so close by. The bit of sky above us is blue and endlessly fascinating as puffy white plane contrails criss-cross on their east-west routes.

The wood deck is in dappled shade in late afternoon
so that's where we have wine before dinner.

At our old house back east we had a stone patio but could not sit outside at night -- the mosquitoes and humidity were uncomfortable. Here the sun beats down on the patio in the afternoons, but the evenings are cool and pleasant and we are often found in the back of the house, outside.

No bugs. No damp. No mountain vista  either, but it doesn't matter at night. It's nice out back.

This nook off the living room is shady in the mornings,
so coffee is served here.