The Glass Pavilion

Do you remember the rickety stairs to the dock? Well, every year they get worse... after all they are over 25 years old. This year they are literally falling apart and wasps seem to make nests under one of the railway ties every year. (This year I got stung on my ankle - I think everyone on the lake could hear me screaming; the stings really hurt).

David asked me if I wanted new stairs this year and I didn't hesitate. "Yes." A resounding yes.  David and our oldest son, Phil, went up to the lot the 2nd weekend in July with aim of building a new staircase.

On Sunday night they returned home, tired and a little sheepish. Instead of building me a staircase, they had built me a deck.  Admitedly, it was on the rock where David and I would take our breakfast in the morning, which is a great place, with uninterupted views of the lake and always warm from the early morning sun, but a 10 foot by 12 foot deck is extremely visible.

Here's the bench where we would sit, have our breakfast and survey the lake



The next few pictures show what you can see from the bench. A little to the right is this small pine tree, which we have watched grow from a seedling.

towards the centre is the rickety dock. It is as old as the stairs (probably, that's an asumption) and also falling apart.

A little to the right and you can see an oak that on the shore line that defies the odds and survives.

To the right you can see all the way to end of our lot, which is basically at the end of the bay which you can just see. Hard to spot if you don't know what you are looking for, but I'll try to mark up a photo and add it later.

And this is directly behind the bench. I'm hoping to be able to grow a few hostas and other deer delights here as I think we might be able to make it deer proof.

And now for the deck.

The deck before the rails were put up. It was quite fun sitting on the edge with our feet dangling over the edge. The old stairs were to the right of this big rock.

A view of the deck from the side. As you can see the post is a little crooked. We are having a contractor add a saddle and fasten the post to the rock, so there won't be an accident!

The deck wasn't quite finished. The boys had run short of deck screws and of course the hardware store which had the screws wasn't open on Sundays and there was also the railing to put up. So David and I researched railing options for our next visit to the Lake.

David starts to put up the posts for the rails. Look at the view.

We ended up choosing glass, as we wanted to maintain that uninterrupted view of the lake, and we picked the white rails. In hindsight, I would have chosen black rather than white rails, so the deck would blend in more with the landscape.

The finished deck. Nice view with the dock below!

And from the front. I think we're going to put some lattice across the front and try to grow something up to soften the lines.  And of course pots, or window boxes. The possibilities are endless!

I still don't have stairs, but I do have a lovely place to sit and relax (when I can) and survey the lake.  Stairs will be for next year.