wooden structures

We may have lost the lapa ( I wrote about it here and here ) and the palm trees were cut down, but we have been left with a wonderful treasure trove of wood that Greg has been using to build all sorts of cool structures in our garden.

Next to the washing line is the beginning of a wall that Greg is building with the palm tree pieces. I love the way it curves around the avocado tree that I grew from a pip. I think it is important that you notice that tree. It is one of my biggest achievements ... my thumbs are decidedly not green but somehow this tree has survived a couple of transplants and a scorching Moorreesburg summer and is still growing.



Next are a screen that Greg built in front of the pool pump and the walls he built to hide the door of the outside toilet. It would have originally been the only toilet in the house, but thankfully we have one inside now. I'm always a bit wary of all the spiders who live out there, and I always hated it if the door was left open so that people driving past could see the actual toilet... I think sometimes I channel my Victorian grandmother. And as you can see, there are still lots of poles and latte (not coffee... thin poles) lying around, so I expect many more creative structures to be springing up in the future. 


And these are the screens Greg built so that the outside shower that we installed last year is not completely visible from the road.

The garden is a work in progress, and it is really exciting to see how it develops. It is such a change from the bare clay and millions of termites that we had when we moved here seven years ago. We are learning what works and what doesn't. We are discovering what plants will grow in our unforgiving climate and we are turning a house into a home.

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