Now that I'm retired, I've started garden improvements

I have a strong desire to improve my surroundings. Always have.

I once shared a room with my oldest brother when I was 18 and I bought some cheap blue carpeting for my half of the room and vacuumed it religiously. I carefully measured and divided the room using my dresser as a 'separator' because I was a neatnik and my brother was another kind of person. To his credit, my brother didn't seem to mind looking at the backside of my dresser for years. That room was not large so we shared a small end table (for keys, change, etc.) and I kept it spotless. I used a small ashtray to hold his small change and constantly rearranged his stuff at the end of each day so the table always looked tidy. I even bought a new bedspread for his bed because it improved the overall look of the room and his bed was the first thing I saw each time I entered our room. That was back in the days when I still attended college and my oldest brother had already been in the workplace for a number of years. We're talking early 60's.

My brother and I were opposites in other ways as well. He is a musician (guitar player) and all I cared to play were the radio and reel-to-reel tape player. I hated accordion lessons and was finally relieved of that weekly chore when the music teacher suggested to my mother that my other brother could better benefit from his time. Mom was disappointed, I know, because music ran in her blood. She was an accomplished pianist and could read music as well as play by ear. "Just hum a few bars," she'd say and within minutes could play a song we'd just heard brand-new on the rock 'n roll radio station. As a non-musical parent, my children were never forced to take music lessons. Instead, they all learned to swim--some quite well.

But that has nothing to do with today's topic, "garden improvement." I'm trying to create a haven in my backyard and I've lots of ideas and a few completed projects that I'll share in future postings.