Balcony Haven
I’m happy to report that for the most part the girls, Andy and I are settled into the apartment. I still feel the Chaotic pull of the storage units, but we can work on those “poco-a-poco” (little by little) over time. My favorite space in the apartment is the little balcony off the main living area. We are located on the third floor so that means no one is above us and the balcony is open to the great outdoors with our views being of the sky and the tops of trees. The latter is nice because I can hear the birds when I sit out there.
I had Andy hang our bird feeder with the hope that we can entice the birds to visit us. I also had him hang my wind chimes so that when the wind blows and the (very old) air conditioner is off we can hear them as they merge with the sounds of the wind. We still need to get some lights so that everyone can enjoy the balcony when the sun goes down. There are no outdoor plugs, so Andy has been researching solar bistro lights.
Tess purchased a small wood bistro table and two chairs and as a housewarming gift Andy and I bought the girls artificial turf squares from IKEA that snap together for the floor of the balcony. It looks great and is surprisingly comfortable on the bare feet! I brought some of my empty pots and planters over from the house so that the girls (and truth be told… me) could create a mini garden. Bella wants to plant herbs for her tea next year so this is a great opportunity for me to show her what can be created in a small space. I brought Tessa’s strawberry plant from the old house. Luckily, I had the forethought to buy her a Strawberry plant that was in a hanging pot. So, to accompany her strawberries I picked up a Rosemary bush for the larger of my terra cotta pots and some ‘purple sun’ Osteospermum which looks like brightly painted daisies of purplish-pink and yellow, a hot pink petite variety of Dahlia and a couple of hot pink and white Geraniums. To not leave Andy out I also picked up a hot pepper plant for him since he didn’t get to grow any this summer. I planted the pepper plant and the daisy in the same pot as the lime green of the pepper plant complimented the Daisies pop of color.
My mom has been acting as my plan surrogate while we are in transition. I also picked up my Pineapple plant, both fig trees and the hanging basket of cherry tomatoes that I grew from seeds earlier this spring from mom’s house and brought them back to the apartment to add to our mini balcony paradise. So far, I’m the only one who has enjoyed the space, Molly and Daisy too but hopefully the rest of the family will find their way out and experience the tranquility of this tiny third floor balcony oasis!
