Backyard Hideaway: An At-Home Retreat

My husband and I tried to plant Bermuda grass about a month or two ago. Well...with 110-degree temperatures and water-rationing out the whazoo—stage 4 to be exact—our attempt was unsuccessful. So now, as I look out my window and watch my 2-year-old play atop cracked soil and sharp, hay-like blades of dead grass, I can't help but imagine a backyard oasis.


I empathize with Clark Griswold's pool obsession in Christmas Vacation. As he looks out into his stale backyard on Christmas Eve, he envisions a grand pool, where his kids play, his brother-in-law overserves himself and his wife sunbathes in a wide-brimmed hat. Supermodel Nicolette Scorsese beckons him from the diving board. He then becomes glued to the window while she taunts him ... that is until he is interrupted by his wire-haired niece-in-law. The booger-nosed interruption to my mirage is the scorching pain in the {bleep} better known as the Texas heat wave. What's a girl to do? Continue to dream, I suppose. Join me!