Nesting on the Balcony

I've been busy setting up my nature connection on the balcony of my new apartment. I have the good fortune to have access to this corner space, which gives me a wide open view of the western sky. That means no direct sun until about 1:30 in the afternoon (this month, anyway), and then hotter than blazes on the days the thermometer tops 85 degrees or more. The best news for me is the robin who perches on the railing and sings to me in the morning.

(Left to right):  Claire's birdhouse, roof slates, sempervivum, and a vintage candle pot. I doubt any new residents will find the birdhouse on the table - I would probably need to move it to the railing to attract any interest. The black slates are from the Shepherd Street house; the red ones from a dearly beloved house on Allen Terrace back in our old neighborhood. This turreted house with the red slate roof was a particular favorite of mine, and I would have jumped at the chance to own it. But when it finally went on the market, it was purchased and demolished shortly thereafter. Reportedly the new owner (a developer, as I recall) didn't want to make necessary repairs to the foundation. So down came that beautiful home. The candle pot at right was hanging from a hook on the outside of our sunroom on Shepherd Street.

My new potting shed:  the old faithful lobster pot, which was our cat food container for many years.

Yes, those rocks are from our old garden. I had to take some with me. How many did I dig up over the nine years we lived there? I'll bet there were nearly a thousand. I collected all of them and made a rock/rain garden in front of the shed in the very back of the garden. Since this was the lowest point in our yard, all of the water drained down there, and the hundreds of rocks helped to contain the washout. The pot in the back, the concrete planter and the white pot all contain perennials from the old place.

New plants. Zinnias, basil and peppermint along with some others.

Difficult to see, but the rusty wrench on the left was another find in the old backyard. I found the frog at a shop in Chevy Chase, DC. He sat in our backyard for a few years before moving to his more recent perch near the front door.

Roma tomato, Italian parsley, thyme and oregano. Hoping to have a couple jars of sauce from these by the end of summer.

More Hens and Chicks.

View of Idaho Terrace apartments and Glover Park in the background.

The tops of many Glover Park tulip poplars in front of my old nemesis, the Towers Condominiums on the left, and Sutton Place on the right.

A peek into the living room. 

Unadorned

Last Sunday was the last day. We cleared out the final belongings, bits of trash and swept up. In the late afternoon, I had one last opportunity to record the rooms on the first floor; the ones where we entertained, ate, read, and worked. We did nearly everything ourselves, from the design to construction, painting and decorating. I think it all turned out pretty well. To see the rooms unfurnished was bittersweet, but it did allow me to appreciate them in their entirety. 

The flow from room to room worked well from the beginning. We never changed the basic floor plan, except for removing one exterior door from the kitchen (where the stove now stands). The beauty and utility were already there. We just enhanced them.

These are the first photos I've managed to publish of the kitchen. I'm especially happy with the way this room worked out. I spent three years thinking about the design of this room, which we gutted and renovated in 2003. We did the sunroom at the same time. The beadboard wainscoting flowed from the entry foyer to the kitchen and into the dining room. We also continued the beadboard from the entry up the stairs and to the second floor landing. This feature united all the fairly small rooms and gave a certain visual logic to the whole. And I think we succeeded in making the rooms feel more spacious as a result. I'll miss that stove.

The sunroom is where I spent many hours looking over the back garden. This year, my oakleaf hydrangea finally filled out and achieved some kind of flowering glory. The dappled shade highlighted the many hedges of holly and boxwood, and played across the beds of perennials. In our final spring here on Shepherd Street, I finally settled the selection and position of flowering plants.

A tiny selection of plants from my back garden now sits on my new balcony, still struggling from being uprooted and trying to adjust to the new climate. 

Much like me.