All the King's Horses and all the King's Men...

... couldn't put the birdhouse together again. 

But we did!!!

When planning our little backyard garden, I wanted the three gravel paths to lead to a focal point; in this case, a decorative birdhouse on a pole.

And although we had a fairy mild winter here in New England,

we had one particularly windy storm that blew the birdhouse off the pole.

This is what we were left with in the center of the garden.

Not a pretty sight.

And when the old, distressed wood birdhouse hit the rock solid frozen ground below,

it broke in almost every place it could, and then some. It looked like a goner.

I salvaged what I could of the pieces and after staring at the bare pole for six months, 

hubby and I finally decided to tackle this project last weekend.

Now this was a VERY inexpensive birdhouse to start with, but I just loved the look of it

with the windows and door on all four sides and the decorative cupola.

Hubby wasn't so sure it was worth saving, but I assured him that the rustic,

distressed look would be just fine with me!

And so here it is, in all its weathered glory.

With L brackets, screws, a nail gun and glue holding it together from the inside.

Once again standing proud in the center of the garden, just in time for the blooming salvia that I planted around its base several years ago. I also tucked a little vinca vine pot inside each window and door. By summer's end, it will be touching the ground for sure.

Maybe next year we'll have a bit of extra money for the additional bark mulch

the garden sorely needs!

But that minor detail isn't stopping us from enjoying our little garden!

Hubby and I enjoyed feeding our little Chips last week and I'll share photos 

and a short video of that very soon!

 Summer 2007

 I still can't get over the transformation in our little backyard over the past 5 years. Our above ground pool once sat in this section of the yard, right off the deck so I could easily watch the girls when they were young. But by 2007 they had outgrown the pool. It was hardly ever used, so we took it down. It was at that point that I dubbed our backyard "Roswell" because it looked like a flying saucer had paid us a visit!

Summer 2012

Fast forward five years, and here's a pic of old Roswell as it looks now, taken from the same vantage point up on the deck. What a difference!

I hope you're all enjoying summer in your neck of the woods!

This week I'm linking up to:
 White Wednesday at Faded Charm
Cottage Garden Party at Fishtail Cottage

Donna