And it's a heat-sink

One of my favourite spots in our house isn't even in the house.
The courtyard in front of our front door gets the evening sun and, thanks to the 'privacy wall' that Kim tied in to the house's foundations, has just the right amount of distance from the busy road in front.
We're on a bus route and have a bike lane so there's always a lot going on: cyclists, dog-walkers, stroller-pushers, roller-bladers, skate- and long-boarders, commuters hopping on & off the bus and people on their way to or from the corner pub.
So, even though we're on a main 'arterial' road, on warm summer evenings there's a great neighbourhood feeling.
We've barely started setting it up the way we'd like but I think it's pretty comfortable aready. All that's missing from this picture is a couple of tall frosty drinks.
The bench Kim literally scooped up on a quick run through Ikea's as-is section (the as-is part is that it was already put together - we got it cheap because we were denied the fun of assembling it ourselves) and the wood stumps are chunks of trees being cut down at the rental house - figures they would decide to spruce the place up just when we're moving out. At least we have a couple of nice mementos of our time in 'the crack house'.

I envision the courtyard overflowing with plants but this is as far as I've got.
Collecting plants & pots I like & plunking them by the front door.
So far the poor plants are still in the plastic pots they came in, stuffed into or sitting on top of planters that I bought a while ago. I think the problem is that I'm looking forward to potting the plants, and view it as a relaxing pastime so it keeps getting pushed down the list, after all the more important 'work' that needs to be done.

One of my favourite recent purchases: purple oxalis, (can't remember the proper name) looking a little limp in the heat. I also have a weakness for black foliage so we may have a theme starting here.