Just as I was ready to breath a sigh of relief by the end of January for getting through that endless month without major snowfall, winter struck a wicked blow. A slow-moving storm covered our area and it snowed on and off for two days straight. We slowly dug out and as February rolled by it snowed, again and again. Temperatures remained below or at freezing and the snow just did not disappear. Enough already, I am tired of looking at this snow in varying shades of white to grey. I want to see my garden with skeletal shrubs poking out and bare earth hiding those wonderful perennials snoozing underground.

When I was a little kid my father built me a dollhouse. Three stories tall, with a “crawl space” for a basement, just tall enough to store stuff in. The top floor had a flat roof so I could also put out my little store with tiny little boxes and jars. There were no stairs connecting the floors, but my little dolls still managed to go from floor to floor with my help. Each room had wallpaper and there was a dining room, living room, bathrooms, kitchen, bedrooms and playrooms. For years I played with this dollhouse until one day in my mid-teens it was loved to death and then it was gone.

The first time I came across a she shed, it reminded me of my dollhouse. A cozy little place, just big enough for a chair, maybe two, a place for plants, a desk, maybe a potting bench. In my old garden there was no room for a she shed, but the thought was always there. One day I might just get one. Then we moved to Pennsylvania and we needed to get a pond built pronto so my fish could come home. It became the center piece of the garden and soon enough I started gardening around the edges of the pond and working my way out to the fence line. Because of the sloping backyard, there didn’t seem room for a she shed and soon enough I had landscaped so much there wasn’t room for one anywhere, even if I had found some level ground.

Then, I started landscaping outside of the fence; hesitantly at first. I planted some shrubs only to pull them out the following year. I replanted others and after three years I liked what I saw. Then I realized I had level ground right outside the fence where a she shed would fit like a glove. I needed to move a few plants, but nothing stood in the way of this little miniature playground. Approval from the HOA was received, permits applied for and received from the township and plans for the perfect shed were drawn up. Windows on three sides, a dormer for more light, electrical, a loft on either side for storage and a fancy door with glass inserts. I found the perfect lighting fixture and while the wait for my she shed to be build seemed endless, eventually it was delivered. The electrician came to run electrical out from the house to the shed and "then there was light". The contractor came to finish the inside, shiplap on the walls and ceiling, pale green paint on the walls and a cheery yellow above. Two Ikea cd shelves were repurposed as display shelves for my frog collection, started as a teenager in the Netherlands. I painted these shelves to match the wall and they were mounted horizontally, one below the others. While my frog collection spent nearly 40 years in a box, now they take a place of pride in the she shed. Once the linoleum was put down, it was time to move in the chairs. Now I have the perfect spot to relax when it is still too cold to sit outside. A place to read a book, to sit with The Spouse or with a friend. My little doll house, just big enough to sit and dream as I wait for the garden to come back to life.