Beach House Ready for Season!!

I've been at the beach in Corolla, NC getting my house ready for the rental season!!  I had two days of yard work...ugh....next year I may have to hire someone to do this backbreaking work.  Not getting any younger.  The front grove between my house and the house in front of it is full of Crape Myrtle and Oleander.  I am very familiar with Crape Myrtle but know absolutely nothing about Oleander, except that it can be poisonous.  It is extremely difficult to prune and a lot of work. The jury is still out on whether they are worth it or not.

I still have trouble centering my pictures.....maybe I will get the hang of it eventually.  So.....before pruning on the left and after pruning and hauling on the right!

The swimming pool area had not officially been landscaped.  I decided to do it myself because of cost.  I researched online what plants are attractive around a pool and also are fairly drought tolerant.  Since I won't be there to monitor the landscaping, I need it to be fairly self-sufficient.  The plants I chose are:  ornamental fountain grass, hosta, lavender, lariope and Elijah blue fescue.

I added a little topsoil and mulch to mix with the sand.  When I am there in June, I want to put a border with Mexican black stones around it to keep the soil, sand and mulch from getting in the pool.  It is definitely a work in progress!  My renters will just have to be patient.   I'm not sure if I mentioned that the beach house is rented from the middle of May until the first of September.  Wow...I am so excited for my first year to be so successful.  I had a cancellation for the middle of July and I thought, ok, if I don't get it rented, I will just go down for the week.....it was rented in 24 hours.  I have underestimated the attraction of OBX!

After the beach, I have been in Virginia with Janie, Marcelo, Mary and Paolo and it has been very nice to see them all again.  Mary and Paolo are homeschooling and Janie is doing an awesome job with this as is Lauren with Baylor in West Palm Beach.  The kids are very motivated and work independently very well. 

I had to catch up on all my doctor's appointments from being gone most of the year...get my teeth cleaned, etc.  Now I am packing and getting ready for my trip to England.  I leave this Monday, the 20th and will be gone until May 24th.  My sister-in-law, Sharon Massey, is going to fly to London to meet me for about 10 days.  It will be so much fun to do things with her...she is a sweetie.  I'm going to try to blog each week to show where I've been and what I've seen.  I can't wait....I'm so excited......