Spring in Conn.

Although the deck project is far from finished, I ended up going with antique white for the deck. The color is Valspar's Woodrow Wilson Cream, from the Historic Preservation series. It looks very white in photo below, but in reality it is not as bright.

Normally it is not a good idea to paint a deck. This is because paint doesn't expand and contract with wood as much as stain does. The result is possible peeling and rot occurring earlier than intended. My deck was already painted so don't worry this is not making it any worse! Anyways I will replace the entire deck with a new larger one sometime. The bright paint sure seems to highlight the low-quality stairs and I may make a nicer starcase/railing sooner.

I got home from NJ today in time for some afternoon sun. In the background, in the next picture, you can see the hole in the stone wall, between the two big trees, that I made to drive the tractor through.

I do not tire from this view in the side yard.

Late afternoon sunlight through sugar maples

Sunflowers, circled, if you can see them at all in this image: