Our new dining area

Yes. It's a nightime shot and so it's difficult to see everything. We've been busy, though. We finished building the trellis on the old frames from the second carport roof. We put more dirt and other material out onto the space where we removed the gravel stones -- the old driveway. And we managed to move the compost and put it behind a vanity fence, which you can just barely see in the far left corner. Maxim likes it. She says it makes the yard look nice. The grass is also coming in some more as we have had a little bit more rain (although still far less than what is expected this time of year). Friday we completed installing the ceiling straw panels (as you can see) and a ceiling fan and so we had a small deck-opening party to celebrate. We moved the dining room table out to accommodate everyone, but now that it's out there, we haven't moved it back. We have to move it in on Tuesday when we leave for New England. But we intend to move it right back out there when we return.

I did not get the stump burned out, although we are down to the very last remnants. One more burn (perhaps even tonight) and it will be ready. We intend to set up a small "primitive area" with log seating and a fire pit out under the eucalyptus tree. You can see in the last shot that new facing is on as well. I installed the new joists and put on the facing during the week. I intended to paint it, but I could not find my paint chip sample when I arrived at the hardware store and I didn't want to guess. I'll get to that in August. We have more landscaping to complete and a couple of blue planter boxes to fill. But we're closing in on the final stages of our summer renovation of the back yard.