Dad's Bench

It's been a lovely day today so whilst Tony was at the allotment trying to remove a very large and stubborn holly stump, I needed lots of reasons to stay outside. I've never been any good at sitting in the sun, even with a good book. I need to be doing things. So after the mowing and the washing and lunch al fresco, I took a walk to the garden centre and picked up some garden paint.

We brought dad's bench over to our house after mum died and it was in need of some attention then which is several years ago. I've spent quite a special afternoon trying hard to take it to bits, sanding it down and cleaning it before painting it. Dad died in 2002 after a long fight with cancer and he had time to 'organise things' for mum and us. He was a great DIYer and was meticulous in his preparation. I'm not a religious person but I like to think he was watching me at work today. Certainly if he had been here he would have been tutting at my slapdash approach and would probably have taken over the job pretty smartish. Painting his bench brought back lots of good memories and it made me smile to see how he had hammered his postcode into the bench with nails just in case it was ever stolen! I reckon it will do us a few more years yet!