The Refinement of the Polynesian Back Yard Motif - June 1973
The little girl was the daughter of my former babysitter, Kitty Holland. We'd have her and her mom over to swim occasionally. The Fisher-Price tugboat she's holding was left out for her use, and was a minor part of the backyard decor.
In 1972 one of my major home improvement efforts was the erection of the white aluminum awning you see in this picture. From this angle it looks like the supports are slightly crooked and not quite in line. They were not.
By this time we had obtained some better quality patio furniture, which you see under the awning. You can also see the shelf Mom put up for our Polynesian gee-gaw collection, and the framed paintings of island scenes (purchased at a garage sale). The hanging party lights lent a festive look to the scene. Of course, we still never entertained more than a few people at a time. (These people mostly entertained themselves by swimming in the pool.)
You can see the chemical drum that we had painted a nice pastel blue and green. I don't know what kind of chemical it contained - toxic or otherwise - but it was made of heavy gauge steel and lasted us a lifetime. We used it as a trash can - it was a lot of fun to empty.