Our gardenshed has green thoughts – so clearly you can even see it from a distance. When that happened for the first time, people passing by looked rather surprised, but that happens rather seldom now. The neighborhood became used to it, that our garden differs from the usual. And that the garden-owners also differ – “green people they are!” – that’s what they think, and shed their heads in disbelief, as those city-people even seem to be glad with all those weeds.
Our gardenshed is solid – it has to be, as green thoughts can be heavy.
So we build it ourselves, because you cannot find such thing in the prefabricated-gardenshed-shops. One can park an elephant on that, my father said as it was ready. And he knows, as he is as well architect as constructor of the shed. But I thought an elephant would be way out of line, it would be quite notable. But solid it is. A good fundament, a low wall made from building blocks, filled with concrete – because it could never be made too firm, because yes,– green thoughts could be heavier than suspected. And then a wooden construction on top of it, totally as wished.
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| In fact I wanted someting Hobbitish, but the slope was not steep enough ... |
Our gardenshed stands out. Especially the day we spreaded on top of the roofing, pond-foil. That was special! And why those wooden planks across the rooftop? And those stainless wires across it all? As those curiosity-generating activities culminated, our old-neighbor walked quasi-uninterested in our direction, stopped at the yard and looked up from beneath those bristle-like brows. What was the use of it all? Where we going to insulate it? “No …” I answered hesitatingly.
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| Trondheim |
In fact … his remark was not so far from the truth, because high up in Scandinavia houses were insulated using green roofs. But we were not going to live in our garden-shed, so we planned a green roof just for fun and decoration. But how can you explain that to a member of a family which lived here in the outback for generations. For fun and decoration – that’s like his housewife’s flowers in pots – Pure foolish women’s stuff: you cannot eat them, so they’re not useful.
Our gardenshed became then an attraction. After the weekend that we’ve put thick grassy sods of loam on the roof, we never saw so many visitors at neighbor’s house again. They came and went in small groups, looking rather skittish and amazed over the hedge. Rumours spread like running fires through the whole village.
But, as said, one gets used to anything. Even to the green thoughts of my roof.
They can change, those thoughts, and then dare to change color. Succulents feel comfortable and make my gardenshed dream it’s a mountain cabin up North. Stonecrop paints dots in pink and white then. Sometimes the roof colors yellow through biting and blue spruce stonecrop and thinks it’s at the coast. And in springtime It awakens in a hippie mood with multicolor dwarf tulips in it’s hair and in summer the grass makes it straw-colored and jumpy, dry and swishy by the summersun.
And on an early-summerday, when the gardenshed was thinking lilac-purple thoughts, and it’s hair was smelling like thousand garlic chives, Old-neighbor’s wife gave suddenly and quit spontaneously an opinion: That it was in fact very nice and so, with all those little flowers on that roof. For a brief moment I was in shock, such a revelation! But luckily it was no foolish women’s talk – cause they’re edible ;-)
