One Idea in Detail: Volunteer at a Community Theater

As someone once said (Irving Berlin actually), "There's no business like show business ... and no people like show people." I've acted in a couple of community theater productions over the years - and my immediate family members played roles in many more - and I can confirm the sentiment notably belted out by Ethel Merman. There's a particular kind of "high" that comes with performing before an audience, whether in the local high school gym or on Broadway - and, although I've never had the latter experience, I'm guessing that the quality of the "high" is not that different.

Happily, you can experience a similar adrenaline rush even if you are invisible to the audience. There are lots of opportunities to participate in the experience, to become engrossed in the often frantic preparations for opening night, to listen intently to the audience reactions, to laugh and drink at the cast parties (especially drink), and experience the relief and let-down when it's all over.

Many volunteer jobs don't even require special skills or unusual talents. And these theaters need lots of help, so time, energy and dedication will take you very far indeed. If you're new to a community, it's also a great way to meet friendly, committed folks who will welcome you warmly - and pile on as many assignments as you're willing to shoulder.

The good news continues - no matter where you live, there's almost certainly a community theater in your town or within easy commuting distance. According to the American Association of Community Theatre, 7,000 are spread across the country, annually involving 1.5 million volunteers with 46,000 productions performed in front of 86 million audience members. With statistics like these, anyone with a hankering to get involved can surely find an opportunity.

What roles might you play (using the word "roles" in the broadest sense)? Acting, directing, choreographing and producing are obvious ones but there are many others. In fact, for every person in front of the footlights, there are probably several more behind the scenes, literally and figuratively. (Isn't it interesting how many figures of speech we use that originated in the theater. I guess "all the world is a stage" is as true now as in Shakespeare's time.)

Here's a list of opportunities you'll find in most community theaters:

• Box office - besides staffing the box office on performance nights, there's mailing of tickets, ticket exchanges, and maintaining the database of ticket buyers.


• Costumes - virtually all shows require some sort of costuming other than the performers showing up in their street clothes (or in no clothes, but I would guess that's a rarety for community theater). This could involve anything from ransacking your own closets, combing the racks at thrift shops for period numbers, renting or borrowing costumes from other theaters, up to designing and creating custom-made costumes for your show.


• Stage manager - the job description could go on for pages, but the AACT mentions these specifically: scheduling and running rehearsals, communicating the director's wishes to designers and crafts people, coordinating the work of the stage crew, calling cues and possibly actors' entrances during performance, and overseeing the entire show each time it is performed.


• House manager - duties include assigning and supervising the ushers, coordinating with the backstage crew and the box office, resolving customer complaints regarding seating, accounting for all tickets, overseeing press passes or other special tickets and providing a count of attendees, among other duties.


• Lighting - this could include designing the lighting for the show as well as setting lighting instruments and operating the light board during performances. The ability to walk on elevated, narrow catwalks without taking a plunge to the stage or house is a definite asset.


• Sound - as with lighting, someone needs to design the sound and run the sound system during performances.


• Sets - designing the sets in consultation with the producer and director (and within a too-small budget) could be a great HarvilleQuarter activity. If you're not quite that creative but can hammer nails, paint, or paper, your skills will be most appreciated.


• Props - the shear number of props (short for "properties") required by a show can be daunting. Finding just the right props, almost certainly within a Scrooge-like budget, can be time-consuming but very rewarding when, for example, you find the perfect 1930's lamp for You Can't Take It With You at an estate sale for $2.50.


• Stagehands - During the show's run, there is a whole backstage crew who sets the stage before every performance, changes scenery and props quickly and quietly between acts, and makes any fixes required from one night to the next.

I could go on. There are always things to do and never enough people to do them. If you're multi-talented, you may end up taking on tasks you didn't expect, and if you're not multi-talented, you probably will be by the end of the show.

The photograph was lifted from the AACT Website and shows a scene from the Tacoma Musical Playhouse's production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat." (Wouldn't you love to be the costume designer for that show?)

One Idea in Detail: Visit a Major Museum Every Day

The great gift of retirement is time - unstructured time you can choose to populate however you wish. If you're married or have a significant other, there are the wishes of the other person to consider, of course, but is he or she is also retired, one can hope the two of you find many HarvilleQuarters to do as a couple. As well as some to enjoy independently.

But getting back to time.... I've visited a few major museums in my life but never spent more than a day at a time in one. A few years ago my friend Doug and I toured Spain for ten days, a few of them in Madrid. We arrived one morning at the Prado, one of the world's greatest museums, just as it opened and managed to get in about ten hours there. Yet I felt I spent the last hour practically racing from room to room to get a glimpse of a few Goyas and El Grecos I'd somehow missed up to that point.

Like many museum visitors, I tend to gravitate toward the big names and well-known pieces, barely glancing at whole sections as I travel through en route to the next blockbuster. I must have overlooked a host of gems because I've been consciously allocating my limited resource - time - to the must-see art, generally defined as what other people, such as guidebook writers, tell me I should see.

I'm really looking forward to spending a whole HarvilleQuarter making daily visits to one major museum and taking time to absorb each room in its entirety. I promise to include those forms of art I perceive as less interesting or impressive - pre-Columbian pottery, native American art, tapestries, furniture and other "decorative arts," Chinese porcelains, and I could go on. I'm afraid I've been too much the typical art tourist - focusing on representational European and American paintings from about 1600 to 1900.

I'm planning to change that.

Here's my approach: I'll pick a museum with a broad collection, arrive five days a week and devote four hours daily to a different room. That could be anywhere from 10 to 40 pieces I'm going to get to know really well. I'll look at each one - really look at it, even if I don't initially find it attractive or interesting - and consider all the variables that make up the piece - its form, composition, texture, materials, color, size, subject matter, history and historical context, patterns, light - anything I can notice.

In addition, I'll think about why this item was selected for exhibit by this museum. What did the curator find compelling about it? Why is it placed in this position in this room surrounded by these particular pieces?

I will start my HarvilleQuarter by familiarizing myself with the museum in total. On the first day, I'll rent a self-guided audio tour to orient myself to the space and hear what the museum staff think about the pieces. I'll also take a guided tour with a docent to get her point of view and engage her in a conversation about her favorite rooms and works, especially those not part of the standard tour.

I'll purchase an annual membership to get free admission and access to the museum library, special exhibits, lectures and other amenities. This museum is going to be my home for three months and I want to end up feeling as "at home" here as in my own living quarters.

Each day, I'll take with me some relevant reading material. Four hours is a long time to spend on one's feet contemplating art. Most galleries have a bench or two for taking breaks. I'll read up on the artist, or genre, or historical period while surrounded by the actual art I'm reading about. After a while, I'll take another look while my new-found knowledge is fresh in my mind. I'll have a journal along for writing down my impressions, both initial and after reconsideration. Which items drew my attention on first entering the gallery? Are they the ones that I'll remember most vividly after spending an afternoon with them? Which will I return to later in the HarvilleQuarter because I've felt a strong connection with them? Which will I include in my farewell tour on the last day of the quarter?

I'll observe my fellow patrons as they walk through, noting the items that draw their interest, perhaps eavesdropping a bit on their remarks. I may even strike up a conversation with one of them who seems particularly drawn to a work to understand the source of their fascination.

By the end of three months, I'm confident I'll be looking at art - all kinds of art - with new eyes. I do believe the only way to acquire a true appreciation for art is to look at it, over and over and over. Reading about it, knowing the historical context, picking up anecdotes from the artist's life - all this color commentary will enhance the experience - but personal growth will come from simply standing and looking, and looking some more, and then looking a third time.

I'm confident I won't get bored. I anticipate that saying a farewell to "my museum" after three months will be sweet sorrow indeed.

The photograph is the St. Louis Art Museum, taken from its Website, slam.org.

One Idea in Detail: Make Mobiles

I didn't realize until I started to research mobiles that one individual is generally acknowledged as the inventor of the art form: Alexander Calder. I was certainly aware that Calder's fame rested largely on mobiles and I've seen a number of them, but I'd assumed that the mobile's origin as an art form was hidden in the misty recesses of time.

Turns out that's not really true, although one can make the argument that the common American weathervane, responding to air currents by pointing into the wind, has the necessary elements to comprise a mobile. Including, in some cases, a certain artistic sensibility. (By the way, Belarus also lays claim to pre-Calder mobiles.) But Calder not only transported the concept embodied by the folk-art weather vane into the abstract art movement and, thus, the museum, but even gave it its name: mobile. He also invented "stabile" to describe those boring inanimate sculptures which, by the way, was the medium of choice for both his father and grandfather. He had quite an artistic pedigree and one of his earliest experiences with sculpture was modeling in the nude for his father at age 4. I have a feeling that might be frowned on today.

Regardless of origin, the fact is that mobiles can be fascinating pieces of art. Unlike most other forms, they're three-dimensional rather than two, and unlike all other forms, they're built to move in response to air currents. This makes a mobile with even a few independent parts an object of infinite views, and to me can elicit the same fascination and infinite musings as watching a real log fire on a cold winter night. No matter how long you look, you never want to look away for fear that you will miss whatever unique composition will appear next.

Many of us fall into the trap of thinking that all mobiles are either installed in museums, chiming in vaguely Oriental scales on back porches, or hanging over baby's cribs. This would seem to leave a tremendous gap that is begging to be filled. I suggest that you use a HarvilleQuarter to make a beginning.

Mobiles have many aspects to recommend them, including the possibility of making one entirely out of found objects, i.e., you can build a mobile without spending a cent. Even if you're a bit more fastidious about your raw materials, you can create a mobile for a few bucks. In addition, mobiles can be sized to fit a corner of your desktop or a corner of your backyard. You can create quite a spectacle --- neighbors will watch your progress with interest, and possibly awe.

It also appears that an interesting, even artistic, mobile can be designed and constructed by those without the ability to draw a decent stickman. A mobile can comprise a few abstract shapes hung on a few wires from horizontal struts to stay roughly balanced, with perhaps an interesting texture, color, gloss or timbre to catch the light or create a few pleasant musical riffs. Your library or bookseller can certainly locate a few books (some more oriented for children, but who cares --- you're in your second childhood) that will explain the basics, suggest some materials, and include some designs that you can copy. Of course, the Web is another resource, where you can even procure kits for making mobiles.

No one else has to know that you didn't design your particular mobile in a burst of artistic creativity as you teetered on the border between genius and madness.

If you do decide to create your own mobiles to hang over a baby's crib - say your grandchild's or a favorite neighbor's - please do exercise caution to ensure there is no chance of parts falling into the crib where baby will choke on them or gash himself. Common sense paired with an abundance of caution is definitely called for. Also bear in mind that the baby will be gazing at the mobile on his or her back, from underneath, so make sure that there are interesting things to see from that vantage point.

The Calder mobile at the top of this post is titled National Gallery III [maquette], 1972 and hangs in the Washington National Gallery. The image was taken from calder.org, the Web site of the Calder Foundation. The birds mobile is included, with detailed instructions for its construction, in the book Magnificent Mobiles by Melanie Williams, (c) 1994, Quintet Publishing Limited.

One Idea in Detail: Learn to Play the Harmonica

I don't use the word "evocative" often, maybe once a year at most, but it comes to mind when I think about a harmonica. It just plain evokes some sort of nostalgia for a time and place where I've never been in real life - around a campfire on the Great Plains after the horses have been bedded down for the night, in a Southern blues bar on a dusty side road, in a hobo encampment alongside the railroad tracks with the sounds of train whistles in the background.

My one real-life association with the harmonica was attending a concert by Jerry Murad and the Harmonicats when I was a delegate to the National 4-H Club Congress in Chicago as a high schooler. The Harmonicats' hit song, Peg o' My Heart, had recently scored big on the charts so we farm kids were pretty impressed to have them as our entertainment after one of our banquets.

Having never learned to play the plastic harmonica I owned as a child, I recently started wondering whether it was something I could pick up as an adult. A trip to the local library uncovered a couple of slim instruction books with lots of photographs and songs and only a few pages here and there of actual instruction. Which gave me hope --- if playing the harmonica, including several styles and variations, can be described in such few words, it ought to be something I can learn in a HarvilleQuarter.

How well I could learn the instrument in three months remains to be seen, but I'm really tempted to start now, well before my official retirement. Perusing these books raised my awareness of the many possibilities the "lowly" harmonica offers. A quick search of the Internet revealed that perfectly respectable, quality harmonicas can be purchased for under $50, in fact under $25. And an absolute beginner's model (not necessarily recommended, but an option for the truly cash-strapped) can be found for $10 or less.

Not only that, but instruction is available - including free instruction - on the Web, with harmonica enthusiasts, eager to share their knowledge, demonstrating how to get started in home videos that are short on production values, but long on sincerity. Of course, "how to play the harmonica" manuals, DVDs and subscription Web sites can be easily located as well.

I recommend taking a look at these sites yourself and picking one that seems to call to your inner "harmonicat", or harp player, as some term it. Buy a harmonica if you don't already own one (a diatonic harmonica in the key of C seems to be the universal recommendation) and get going.

I have no idea how proficient one can become in three months, but considering the starting point, the progress should be exponential. And how cool would it be to play the harmonica for your grandkids, sitting out on the front porch on a sultry summer night, the sound of your blues wafting out amongst the fireflies and honeysuckle, accompanied by the distant, mournful wail of a freight and the much closer baying of hounds. It positively sends chills up one's spine. Before long, you could be one of the guys on YouTube demonstrating your technique for the next crop of beginners.

I'll finish this post by quoting none other than John Steinbeck (The Grapes of Wrath, Viking Press):

A harmonica is easy to carry. Take it out of your hip pocket, knock it against your palm to shake out the dirt and pocket fuzz and bits of tobacco. Now it's ready. You can do anything with a harmonica: thin reedy single tones, or chords, or melody with rhythm chords. You can mold the music with curved hands, making it wail and cry like bagpipes, making it full and round like an organ, making it as sharp and bitter as the reed pipes of the hills. And you can play and put it back in your pocket. And as you play, you learn new tricks, new ways to mold the tone with your hands, to pinch the tone with your lips, and no one teaches you. You feel around --- sometimes alone in the shade at noon, sometimes in the tent door after supper when the women are washing up. Your foot taps gently on the ground. Your eyebrows rise and fall in rhythm. And if you lose or break it, why it's no great loss. You can buy another for a quarter.

The photograph was located at flickr.com/photos/thanland/322740247/.

One Idea in Detail: Learn to Rosemal

I'll understand if you find the title of this posting a bit confusing. Did I misspell "Rosemal?" (No.) Does that word have two syllables or three? (Two.) Shouldn't there be an umlaut over one of the vowels or a diagonal line through the "o"? (No.) You're not Norwegian, are you?

Neither am I. I remember distinctly the first time I encountered this word. I was a first-year teacher in a small school district in Wisconsin and Marge, a fourth-grade teacher, mentioned one afternoon that she was leaving for her rosemaling class. I envisioned Marge and her Nordic compatriots running amok in a local greenhouse, grinning maniacally as they wielded sledgehammers.

In fact, I may have audibly chortled.

Marge did not understand my amusement, even after I described the image I had conjured based on the word "rosemaling." In a tone similar, I'm sure, to the one she employed with her slower fourth-graders, she explained that rosemaling was a Norwegian decorative art with a long and distinguished history. She also spelled the word for me so I could stop seeing "rose-mauling" in my head.

After that not-so-auspicious introduction to the concept of rosemaling, I began to notice rosemaled pieces in Scandinavian-themed stores and the homes of friends. We even received a rosemaled plate as a wedding present. And, although I have yet to personally pick up a rosemaling brush, it recently struck me that it could make a fine HarvilleQuarter.

To validate this impression, I ordered all the books on rosemaling available through our regional library system - at least, all those written in English. (There were actually a half dozen or so available in Norwegian.) Interestingly, these books do not all offer the same translation for the word - I've seen "rose painting," "flower painting," "rose designing," and "decoration painting," the latter source declaring that the "rose" part of "rosemal" does NOT mean "rose" in Norwegian.

Several books, including one geared to children, show step-by-step instructions. (Please raise your hand if your children have been begging for rosemaling lessons. . . . I thought so.) On the other hand, one source warns, and I quote, "...one usually has to be born with the talent for it. It most definitely is not acquired." Although I hesitate to continue, I should note the same source says, "The art of rosemaling is tedious and it is difficult to find those who will take the time the intricate work demands."

Have I discouraged you yet? Maybe the idea of building a tree house doesn't sound so bad now, does it? Well, I'm going to go out on a limb, not to build a tree house, but to suggest that basic rosemaling is not that difficult and it can be learned. In fact, one expert explains that rosemaling consists of combinations of only 6 brush strokes: a C, a Reverse C, an S (which is really a combination of a C and a Reverse C), plus circles, dots, curved lines and straight lines. Now really, how hard can this be? It sounds like a good HarvilleQuarter activity to me. I'm guessing most of us can turn out rosemaled wall plaques, wooden trays and jewelry boxes that will elicit much oohing and aahing when our families unwrap them on Christmas morning.

In addition to several how-to books with lots of photographs, there are of course DVD's - beginning, intermediate and advanced rosemaling, along with kits, paints, brushes, patterns and everything else one might need to get started, all available on the Internet. There are even a surprising number of hands-on classes for the aspiring rosemaler, not all of them in Wisconsin, Minnesota or Norway. So your options are many.

I will warn you that there is a well-defined color palette for rosemaling and it is not a cheery one. Although it includes yellows, reds and blues, the old Norwegians seemed to have found only the most subdued and darkest shades. This probably stems from a national Seasonal Affective Disorder brought about by months of 20-hour nights. However, I will admit that rosemaled objects can be quite lovely and, even after all my snide remarks, I'm ready to sign up for a class to see what this artistically challenged guy can do. How hard can C strokes and Reverse C strokes be, after all?

And this comes from a guy who finds nothing more terrifying than being confronted with a blank sheet of paper and commanded to draw something. I break out in a cold sweat at the very thought of Pictionary. But, rosemaling - that doesn't scare me.

(Note: the photograph of the rosemaled dish at the beginning of this post is from the Website www.verktoyas.no. It was created by the artist Unni Marie Lien. Hopefully, including this attribution will prevent me from getting sued for unauthorized use. Unni Marie appears to be a perfectly lovely woman in her photograph and I'm sure she would never consider taking me to court.)

One Idea in Detail: Take a Blue Highway Tour

Who among us hasn't daydreamed about taking off and just driving wherever we felt like at the moment - no itinerary, no schedule, no list of must-see sites or must-visit relatives, no rushing from one to the next.

One guy who actually did this was William Least Heat Moon. About 30 years ago, having lost both his job and his marriage, he set out in his van to just drive around America. In three months, he covered 13,000 miles, starting from and returning to Columbia, Missouri. His trip took him from coast to coast, as far south as the Louisiana Gulf Coast and as far north as Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota, just shy of the Canadian border.

He documented his trip, and the many conversations and personal musings that occurred as he traveled, in a best-selling 1982 book entitled Blue Highways - A Journey into America. I recall reading the book when it had just appeared in paperback and it is sitting next to me on the desk as I type this.

The "Blue Highways" of the title refers to the maps and atlases of the day that frequently used the color blue to denote secondary roads, while the "important roads" were black or red. In his trip, Mr. Moon (or should it be Mr. Least Heat Moon?) decided to stick to the blue roads, those minor state highways and county trunks that wound through the scenic parts of America and were populated with colorful characters.

Mr. Moon was clearly not a shrinking violet kind of guy. He sought out the country stores and small-town cafes and became adept at striking up conversations with the waitresses (who I'm betting were never referred to as "wait staff"), their patrons and various other hangers-on. Needless to say, there were no fast food chain restaurants on his agenda.

The book is a striking narrative of a personal journey on America's side roads. There have been a lot of changes in the U.S. since 1982, but I'm sure we can still create a blue highways tour in the age of Mapquest, GPS and Garmin and enjoy experiences not too different from the author's.

There is still plenty of American countryside best seen from winding two-lane highways and plenty of small towns with locally-run cafes and bars. There are still folks who gather at the same time every morning for coffee to share the local gossip and opine on the events of the last 24 hours, folks who have known each other for 60, 70 or 80 years and can all recall the day the furniture store burned down or the new highway bypass opened.

Even if they are now meeting in a fast food restaurant. A few years ago, I was driving to meet with a prospective client in Peshtigo, Wisconsin, about four hours from my home. Having allowed plenty of time, I was driving into Oconto, the last burg before Peshtigo and realized that I had about a half hour to spare before my 10 AM meeting at the paper mill. I noticed a Hardee's restaurant ahead on the main drag and decided to stop for a cup of coffee.

As I ordered at the counter, I was vaguely aware that a couple dozen people - all of retirement age - were scattered about the restaurant, but thought nothing of it until after I'd selected a table roughly in the geographical center of the room. Within minutes, I became acutely aware that all the other patrons knew each other, met there every day at the same time, and, although seated in a seemingly random arrangement, were in fact conducting one conversation. The one stranger in the room had just taken a seat right in the middle of this conversation, the news of the day ricocheting past his head from one corner of the restaurant to another.

It was an uncomfortable 15 minutes as I downed my coffee and biscuit a bit faster than anticipated. But it was also a glimpse of local culture - since these people all knew each other, there was no point in crowding around the same table - everything they had to say was meant to be shared with everyone in the room anyway. Each probably had his or her favorite table and wasn't about to move just to get closer to the next-door neighbor seated across the restaurant. I imagined as I drove away the next conversational topic - "Who was that guy wearing a suit and tie who sat right smack-dab in the middle of our group? Didn't his mother teach him any manners?!"

I envision my blue highways trip being full of experiences like that one, although I would first seek out a local cafe instead of a Hardee's and I might even join in the conversation. If the cafe had a counter, I would sit there and engage the owner or waitress in a dialogue, ask them what to see in town, what's unique about the place, how did they come to live here. I'd be sure to visit the local museum - even small towns these days seem to have some sort of public building housing some sort of collection - whose proprietor is also sure to have some interesting stories to tell. (By the way, to illustrate this point, there's a Fire Museum in Peshtigo dedicated to the Great Peshtigo Fire of 1871, the deadliest fire in U.S. history. It is largely unknown because it occurred on the same day as the Chicago Fire, which got all the press.)

If you're into camping, as William Least Heat Moon was, that would certainly enhance the experience as well as reduce your expenses. Otherwise, I'd recommend trying the local hotels, motels and B&B's. I'd also recommend keeping a diary and having a camera at the ready. You could retrace Moon's journey or simply go wherever you feel like each day.

You may not create a best seller like Mr. Moon, but your words and photographs will be documents you'll enjoy reviewing for the rest of your life - and will, of course, qualify as the required "deliverable" for this particular HarvilleQuarter.

Note: The photograph shows the Oconto, Wisconsin, Christian Science Church, the oldest structure built as a Christian Science Church in the world. Weekly services have been held there since the building was completed in 1884.

Welcome, South Korea and Abu Dhabi

This probably won't come as a surprise, but HarvilleQuarters is my first foray into blogging. It began on January 1, 2009 and initially I told just a few relatives and friends about it. (And, I must say, they've been remarkably restrained about reading it regularly, much less posting actual comments.)

I subscribe to a Web service that tracks "hits" on the site and gives me a weekly report. Whole days went by with no hits, or with only one - me. And the hits other than my own almost always came from a city where I have a friend or relative who's aware of my blog.

That was OK - I was getting my bearings about this whole blogging thing as well as taking my time before adding a new post.

This changed about a week ago when I posted a comment on National Public Radio's Website in a section soliciting questions about retirement for a series they are planning. I made the point, as I have in this blog, that considering how we will spend our retirement years should be as important as accumulating the financial wherewithal to support our plans. I included the link to HarvilleQuarters.

Apparently, a few people read my comment and were motivated to take a look. I've been getting up to 15 visitors a day, still a small number by blogging standards (I'm sure the Huffington Post is not nervously checking its rearview mirror), but an exponential increase from the prior week. It's been fun to check my stats each day to see where the hits are coming from.

Although I'm far from having a visitor from every state, I have added quite a few new ones - Oregon, New York, Michigan, Missouri, Colorado, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, DC. It was even more exciting to see two foreign countries represented - South Korea and Abu Dhabi.

So --- welcome to all of you, and especially those of you reading from half way around the globe. Please don't hesitate to add a comment to this post telling me how you got here, along with any ideas you'd like to offer for great retirement activities. Your idea may show up in my next list of Another Dozen Examples, and if you include your name and city, I'll give you credit for it.

Warm regards,
Bruce Harville

One Idea in Detail: Build a Tree House

If you’ve been reading this blog from the earliest entry forward (and who hasn’t?), then you may recall my view of retirement as a time to experience your “second childhood,” using that term in the best possible sense. What better than a tree house to evoke memories of those halcyon days from your original childhood?

I do recognize that not everyone had the opportunity to have a tree house your first time through childhood. For one thing, you may not have grown up with a large tree in the backyard, or perhaps you had no backyard period. But – if you have a backyard now, and, if it has a large tree – this is your chance to make up for that big empty spot in your youth.

My brothers and I did have a tree house - of a sort. Basically, it was a roughly 4-foot square platform made from old lumber sitting on a couple of low branches in a wide-spreading Yellow Transparent apple tree behind our house. I think we nailed a couple of boards into the trunk so we could get up there. Frankly, I never spent much time there because it was pretty uncomfortable and there wasn’t a whole lot you could do except wait for small, hard, green apples to fall on your head when the wind blew – sort of like being pelted with golf balls by an unseen duffer.

This time I’m going to do the whole tree house thing much better. I’ve been reading all the tree house design books in our local library system (and there is a surprisingly large number of them) for ideas. These books are nothing if not inventive. There are tree houses of all shapes, sizes, architectural styles, materials, amenities and price ranges. A few literally have electricity and serve as actual homes for adventurous sorts. Some are veritable villages of tree houses spread throughout a grove of trees with suspended walkways between them.

The tree house I’m planning is unlikely to be featured in any of these glossy books. I’d just like a simple deck-like structure at least slightly above the roofline of my ranch-style house.

I think I may have a pretty good candidate for a host tree – a large honey locust with dappled shade and widely spaced branches. It seems healthy and strong, the trunk is pretty straight, and there’s a spot about 15 feet above the ground that would seem to offer some solid attachment points. I live in a fairly high area of Madison, and I’m hoping from my tree house I can see Lake Wingra about a mile away and, if I’m really lucky and other trees aren’t in the way, catch a glimpse of our state capitol dome.

I don’t need anything big or fancy – I’d just like a little deck with a railing that can accommodate a couple of comfortable chairs. I am willing to allow one friend to join me, but I’m not looking to throw any parties up there. I’ve found a simple design that is basically a wedge attached to both sides of the main trunk that flares out to a width of about six feet. Because the entire deck is attached to the same part of the trunk, I won’t have to worry about different branches swaying wildly during a gusty windstorm and pulling my deck apart – or ripping a supporting branch off my tree.

I envision many summer mornings sitting on my tree deck with my thermos of coffee, enjoying the dappled shade while reading the paper. Afternoons will be equally leisurely, relaxing with a good book and a cool beverage, or just napping in my chair, or enjoying the view from my aerie. The tree is very open in the interior, a feature that, along with the not-too-dense shade and a slight breeze will, I hope, discourage mosquitoes. And since my backyard is surrounded by a six-foot-tall stockade style fence, I shouldn’t need to worry about my tree deck becoming an “attractive nuisance” to neighborhood kids who might take an unplanned plunge from 15 feet in the air.

Needless to say, I would also prefer to avoid plunges, unplanned or not, from my tree deck. The railing will need to be good and sturdy and I may have to limit my cool beverages on summer afternoons. I’ll need a strong ladder as well, since that’s a bit of climb and, to be honest, I’m not terribly fond of heights. I think I’ll be fine once I’m sitting on my tree deck, but I can imagine my heart will be pounding the first few times I make the trip up and down the ladder.

You may decide not to build a tree house for yourself, but for your grandkids or some other extremely fortunate young people whose undying love you will earn by so doing. In that case, I’ll send you back to the many tree house design books available through the library, online, at your local bookseller or a big box home supply store. The variety really is incredible and they don’t need to be high in a tree, or even attached to a tree at all. Many are supported entirely or partially on posts and are just high enough off the ground to give the kids a fun sense of elevation. I’d let the kids help pick the design and the only limits are your collective imagination, carpentry skills and budget – and some designs in these books could clearly start to run into real money.

One final piece of advice – it would probably be smart to consult with your local authorities to determine whether there are any building codes that must be observed or permits acquired. I was surprised, pleasantly, to find upon calling city hall that my tree deck could be built free of bureaucratic oversight, but that may not be true for you. Also, depending on its placement and visibility, it would be wise to let the neighbors know what you’re planning just in case they might have some heartburn over it. Especially if you’re planning to borrow their tools.

Or at least let them know that they or their kids will be welcome guests occasionally. Maybe they’ll even offer to donate some construction labor.

Just remember, according to one of the books I read, most falls out of tree houses occur during the construction period. Be careful and don't be afraid to get some professional help if you're looking at a house as high as mine.

Note: Photo is from www.treehouseworkshop.com.

One Idea in Detail: Create a Family Website

If your family, like most, has become far-flung geographically and hard-pressed for time to communicate, building a Website just for your family members makes a great HarvilleQuarter for you and great tool for your family members to keep in touch with each other. If you're lucky, even the college students will take an occasional peek and use it to update you on their lives.

Creating a Website for your family's exclusive use is surprisingly cheap and easy, with a number of pre-formatted sites available to choose from. (Just Google "family website" and you'll see at least half a dozen on the first page.) Depending on how many family members use the site, how many features you want, and the number and size of videos, photographs and files you upload, the cost can range from zero to $5.00 to more than $10.00 a month. In other words, even with a pretty full-featured site and a good bit of storage, it will make for a pretty cheap HarvilleQuarter.

Needless to say, this is one project that should outlive your HarvilleQuarter, so plan on spending some ongoing time keeping it up to date and feeding PayPal's virtual meter every month or so.

Another option is to build a customized Website from scratch. This would obviously be more time-consuming but you'll learn a heckofa lot more in the process and you'll be able to make many more choices about design and functionality. It's up to you.

What can you do on a family Website? Each one I've looked at is a little different, but there are some pretty common features:

Calendar/events schedule: You can post all the recurring events - birthdays, anniversaries, holidays - as well as one-time happenings - the family reunion, a graduation, first communion, operation, visits, and more. (I guess I'll no longer have an excuse for missing my brother's birthdays....)

Photos: Family members can post the most recent pictures of their vacations, birthday parties, holiday celebrations, or just hanging out. You can also upload old photographs of family members and memorable events. Photographs can be grouped into slide shows with narration.

Videos: These can be a space hog but short videos of baby's first steps, the T-ball home run, or the star turn in the ballet recital are sure to receive many viewings by grandparents and aunts and uncles.

Family tree: One of the Websites ties directly to any family trees documented in Ancestry.com. For others, a family tree can be created in the site - or uploaded as a document - so everyone can remember exactly how they're related to cousin Agnes who lived with Grandma's family as a girl.

News items: Post news tidbits and announcements from daily life that you'd like your relatives to know about - winning the first job or promotion, earning a driver's license, painting the living room, the record-breaking (and back-breaking) snowfall, the great movie you saw, your day volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, results of your mid-terms - whatever you and yours have done that you'd like to share. Some of these can be further documented through photos or videos.

Family documents: Documents both historical and recent can be shared. Consider old newspaper clippings, Grandpa's love letters to Grandma when they were courting, wedding announcements, school programs, favorite poems, children's stories, Christmas letters and many others. You may also have a separate section for favorite family recipes or new recipes that someone has tried and would like to share.

Polls: At least one site has an automated mechanism for taking a poll. You may, for example, want to solicit opinions on the best time and place for a family reunion, or whether to draw names for Christmas presents.

Discussion: Most sites allow for blog-like posts and threaded discussions - so you can ask a question for others to respond, or simply post news and observations.

Contact Information: You can have a central source for current addresses, phone numbers and email addresses for all family members.

As the "site administrator," you will have certain responsibilities, besides getting the site going and paying the period maintenance if you go beyond a free site's limits. You'll determine who has the access rights to upload new documents or photos - or to delete old ones. You may also want to set a few ground rules, so that one person doesn't start dominating the site while others are rolling their eyes at daily updates on young Joshua's toilet-training tribulations and triumphs.

It seems to me that there is a danger of a family Website getting entirely out of control and morphing into the Christmas letter on steroids - and the last thing you want is for family members to stop enjoying it because of information overload. Part of your job is to encourage participation by the reluctant and to gently suggest moderation on the part of your family's irrepressible know-it-alls and show-offs. And you already know who they'll be.

Good luck with that.

One Idea in Detail: Form a Play-reading Group

This idea definitely incorporates playfulness (sorry, bad pun) as well as a chance to involve other people; in fact, it really can’t be done without collaborating with at least a few others. This idea is to spend a HarvilleQuarter reading plays with a small group of other folks who have the enthusiasm, time and lack of self-consciousness to take this project on and enjoy it

My vision is that the group would first select a set of plays they would like to read out loud. Leadership for each play would be assigned at an advance planning meeting, with the leader being responsible for locating copies, assigning parts and doing some research on the play and playwright to help guide the playreading process. Participants would be expected to read the play in advance, concentrating on the assigned role(s), and be ready to throw themselves into their parts when the group reconvenes. The enjoyment of the group will be greatly reduced if even one person is stumbling over lines or has to be reminded of which characters he is playing. Ideally, plays would be selected that offer at least one meaty role for each member of the playreading group.

I would suggest reading two plays per week, which should give ample time for preparation for all concerned. Members can take turns hosting. Assuming that most plays will take at least two hours to read (although one-act plays can certainly be considered as well), this leaves time for some introductory exposition by the play’s leader to set the context and an intermission or two. After the reading, the leader can encourage discussion of the plot, characters, historical context, writing and members’ personal reactions to the play, perhaps over beer, wine or mixed drinks (the selection of beverage may be influenced by the particular play).

I’ve been thinking about the plays I would contribute to a list for my group, and I realize (sadly) how few plays I know well enough to make a recommendation. I hope that other members of my group would be more knowledgeable. At a minimum, the group should talk about a mix of plays that all would enjoy.

Is everyone enthusiastic about the classics, with heavy weighting on the works of Shakespeare, Moliere, Ibsen, Chekhov and Calderon - not to mention Aristophanes and Euripides? Or would they prefer to concentrate on 20th Century American playwrights, such as Williams, O’Neill, Miller, Wilson and Mamet?

Is there a preference for comedies vs. dramas, regardless of time period or country of origin? One-act plays? Radio or early television plays? Plays that were controversial or even banned when originally produced? The possibilities really are endless and suddenly twelve weeks seems like a pitifully short time to cover even a smattering of the truly great options.

Depending on the nature of the group and how well they know each other, they may decide to forgo some highly-regarded plays. Do they really want to take on Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, just to name one? Is anyone bothered by continual swearing and “adult situations?” Will someone prefer to avoid plays so depressing the group will be making a suicide pact by the end? It’s best to find these things out in advance – and let everyone know that they won’t be viewed as over-the-hill fuddy-duddies if they’re not comfortable when every other line contains coarse language.

On the other hand, this should be an opportunity for all the readers to stretch themselves a bit and read plays that are unfamiliar and challenging. Remember, besides playfulness, one of the criteria for a HarvilleQuarter is a little riskiness. You Can’t Take it With You, The Man Who Came to Dinner and The Odd Couple can be great fun, and I wouldn’t avoid them, but also consider plays that no one in the group has read or seen.

Of course, there is one practical concern - can the leader find sufficient copies of the play (in the same edition, if that's important) for each reader to have one without spending a lot of money?

Whether or not you allow for an audience is up to the group.

One Idea in Detail: One Event per Day for a Quarter

One of the ideas on my first dozen list is to spend a HarvilleQuarter attending some sort of event in my home town (in my case, Madison, Wisconsin) every day, focusing primarily on those I most likely would not have attended without this incentive. In other words, besides the opportunities for learning, growth and playfulness, there could be some riskiness as well - not physical risk, but the risk that I won't enjoy them, or understand them, or may be surrounded by people who don't seem very much like me. Which means - it ought to make for a great HarvilleQuarter.

To visualize what this might be like, I’ve taken the last three Madison weekly newspapers (the Isthmus) and sketched out three weeks of daily events that I might actually enjoy. These particular events are listed in order, one per day, starting Thursday, January 22, 2009.

1. Lululemonade, deep relaxation class
2. Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra
3. Duck Soup Cinema
4. Cook for the homeless at Lutheran Campus Center
5. Russian National Ballet
6. University of Wisconsin Men's Tennis against Marquette
7. Wild Ones Wildflower Photo Tour at Sequoya Branch Library (just 3 blocks from my house)
8. Stand-up Comedy at the Comedy Club
9. Madison Rep production of "Bus Stop"
10. Sexy Ester and the Pretty Mama Sisters at Frequency
11. Madison Gay Hockey Association
12. Michael Hanson Jazz Group at the Samba
13. Lunch lecture "Milton House and the Underground Railroad," Wisconsin Historical Society
14. Bruce Bengtson organ concert, Luther Memorial
15. Javier Calderon, guitarist
16. Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, talk by exhibit curator
17. Live simulcast of "Lucia di Lammermoor" by the Metropolitan Opera
18. Ben Taylor, Schuyler Fisk at the High Noon Saloon
19. Master class with Karen Caballero, soprano, and David Collins, pianist
20. Lecture by Chrystia Freeland, Financial Times U.S. managing editor
21. Lecture by Biddy Martin, UW chancellor
22. UW Women's Basketball vs. Penn State

About half of these events are free or have no cover charge. I figured out that, buying the cheapest ticket when there are multiple prices, the three weeks would run me $137, or about $6.50 per day or less than a movie, which doesn't seem too bad for 22 days of entertainment.

I'm also struck by whole categories of events that I could have included, such as meetings of government organizations (and in a state capital, there are plenty of those), judicial bodies (a morning listening to arguments at the state supreme court, for example), religious ceremonies, high school athletics and musical or dramatic productions, poetry readings, volunteer opportunities and more. Over the course of three months, I can be exposed to an amazing array of new experiences.

One Idea in Detail: Create Your Dream Room

By this time in our lives, if we haven't already acquired our dream house, we probably won't. But a "dream room" is very achievable and well worth the investment in time and money.

You may have been saying to yourself and/or your significant other for years: I wish I could have the perfect room for . . . . (pick one) writing, entertaining, cooking, sewing, crafting, reading, building, music making, movie watching, exercising, meditating, massaging, taking afternoon naps, having (ahem) sensual encounters . . . . or any number of others you might think of.

Now is the perfect time. Chances are good that you're an empty-nester and have a spare bedroom, garage stall, or basement corner that will work nicely. It's also likely you'll be spending a lot more time at home than during your working years, so why not invest in one room that you can't wait to spend time in. Conceptualizing, planning and creating that room makes a good HarvilleQuarter. Some ideas:

Gourmet kitchen: This could be expensive, but if you love to cook and bake and entertain, the complete kitchen do-over is worth the money while increasing your home's market value. It might also be possible to create a kitchen you love (which may not be a "gourmet" kitchen, but works perfectly for you) without spending bucks by the tens of thousands. Your kitchen may have just a few shortcomings that, when corrected, will convert it from a place that's strictly utilitarian to one that's a pleasure to work in. New countertops, improved lighting (which I know from experience can make a huge difference), more electrical outlets, a couple of high-end countertop appliances, better storage, new paint, some bright artwork, an undercabinet TV/DVD player, a skylight, new flooring - changes like these may be enough. Of course, ripping out walls and replacing all the cabinets and appliances are an option as well.

Library: If you love to read and write, make a spare bedroom into a library. Build in floor-to-ceiling bookcases. Acquire a great desk or some modular office furniture (used options are available). Buy an antique oriental rug (or a new one - genuine or fake) for the floor. Get a nice leather armchair with ottoman and a floor lamp that gives great light for reading. A ceiling fan would be nice as would some indirect lighting on your book collection. Paint the remaining walls with a library-like color (deep maroon-red, perhaps), hang some tasteful etchings or photographs nicely framed, add wood blinds for the windows, and if you're a booklover or writer, you'll have a room you'll want to live in.

Workshop: If you enjoy building things and plan to do more of it in retirement, it is time to get past the makeshift workbench you have in the corner of your garage or basement. Use a HarvilleQuarter to plan and create the perfect workshop that exactly matches your hobbies and crafts. Storage, work surfaces, tools, lighting, electrical outlets, noise and dust control, ease of clean-up, safety - consider all of these in your design.

Outdoor entertaining: If you love to entertain and especially if you live in a warm climate, think about your outdoor entertaining space. This is an opportunity to build something really spectacular where friends will want to gather and linger and you'll have everything you need close at hand to enjoy the experience as well.

Greenhouse: If you have a green thumb and love to grow things - and especially if you live in a cold climate - build a greenhouse as a separate structure or add one to the south side of your house. You'll be able to putter among your plants all winter long, experiment with new varieties, have cut flowers year-round, grow seedlings for spring planting, and generally bask in the sun, humidity, bright colors and fragrances of your greenhouse. On sunny days, you may also be able to move some warm air from an attached greenhouse into the rest of your house.

Exercise room: If you have the motivation to exercise by yourself or with your significant other and prefer working out at home to the gym, plan and create an exercise room. Again, an extra bedroom or basement space will work. Decide what equipment you need as well as amenities - video, music, towel racks, storage, ceiling fan, mini-fridge, mirrors (or not) - and start planning. Consider used equipment (it seems some people over-estimate their enthusiasm for exercising and over-invest in high-end equipment) to help control costs.

Sunroom: As of now (in the middle of a Wisconsin winter), this is my dream room. I live in a modest 50's ranch but it does have a small (about 10X11) screened porch on the southeast corner. The porch is enjoyable on breezy, warm summer nights, but I think I'd sacrifice it for a cozy little sunroom/den. I'm thinking mostly glass on the south side, which looks out onto the backyard and is shaded by a honey locust in the summer but gets full sun in the winter. I'd like a tiny gas fireplace for both atmosphere and extra heat and/or radiant heating in the floor for sunless days and evenings. It would have a skylight or two, a ceiling fan to help distribute the heat, a few small bookshelves, a really comfy chair for reading and TV viewing (I'm thinking Ekornes recliner), a small flat screen TV/DVD, wireless Internet, and a sofa just long enough for those Sunday afternoon naps.

One Idea in Detail: Create a Set of Children's Books

A few of you may have the creative and artistic skills to become the next Dr. Seuss, J. K. Rowling or Raold Dahl. If that's your goal, by all means, go for it!

For the rest of us, a more realistic but very satisfying HarvilleQuarter could be planned around creating and "publishing" - at least for your own grandchildren - books created specifically for them, such as a children's ABC book. ABC books require no plots, character development or graphical arts skills, although those aren't forbidden either.

To create an ABC book, you simply need to think of at least one word beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Since it's a children's book, you will also need one or more illustrations for each word. You can get out your watercolors and paint your own, or use photographs, pictures copied from books and magazines, or clip art available on the Web.

I think the best ABC book may be one that you customize for your own grandchild or grandchildren. Take a camera and shoot pictures from their own environment to illustrate the book. For example, if "D is for Door", take a photo of the doors in their lives, such as their bedroom door, garage door, car door, your front door, daycare door, church door, or any other door they'll recognize. Transfer the photos to your computer, crop, enlarge and adjust their colors and brightness as needed, paste them in an attractive arrangement on the page, add some large text as basic as "D is for Door" and you're on your way. When the alphabet is done, print the pages on glossy, heavy paper (or take them to one of the quick copy shops for printing and sturdy binding) and you have an ABC book that your grandchildren are going to love.

Besides familiar inanimate objects, try people they know, such as Aunt Zelda, cousin Quentin and their friend Xavier. Another idea is to use body parts - smiles, noses, hands - so you could have a page of "H is for Hands" - with photos of Mommy's hands, Daddy's hands, big sister's hands, Grandpa's hands, etc.

You can also use a coloring book format, either for the ABC book or a completely separate book. There is software available on the Web now that facilitates converting photographs or art into line drawings that a child can color.

And, as long as we're talking ideas for personalized books for a special child in your life, here's an idea for a somewhat older child who's outgrown alphabet books - a book about people who share his or her first name. For example, my only grandchild so far is named Charles. In a few years, perhaps I could spend at least part of a HarvilleQuarter creating a book about famous Charleses - Darwin, Lindbergh, Chaplin, de Gaulle, Schulz, Parker, Ives and others. Biographical information and photographs are readily available on the Web - Wikipedia is a good starting point. You might even have a page for the child's biography (so far) or for them to create a biography for themselves as they imagine their life will be.

And let me propose one more fun and customized book for a child you know. We've all seen the books that show full length pictures of people or animals where each page is divided into three sections. The child can mix and match the head from one person with the torso of another and the legs and feet of a third. Why not make a book like this populated with people and characters that your child knows and loves. Take full-length photographs of favorite people in the child's life, enlarge the photos on the computer to fit one page, include some favorite characters like Big Bird or Spongebob Squarepants, print them on heavy stock, cut them into three section, use a spiral binding, and your child will have his or her own book to love.

And - if I can add one more idea - I'm reminded of Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote The Little House on the Prairie and other books based on her actual childhood experiences. Our lives may not have been so filled with excitement and drama as young Laura's, but I'm betting our grandkids would be fascinated by a book with chapters describing some of our experiences when we were their age. The 50's and 60's may seem just as exotic to them as frontier life was to us. A description of your most memorable birthday party, school play, Christmas pageant, baseball game, favorite teacher, a trip with your grandparents, a facedown with the school bully, your remembrances of major news events like the Kennedy assassination or moon landing - all could be the raw material for your "memoir." Add some appropriate photographs or drawings and you could have a book they'll want to read over and over. Is absolute accuracy in every detail a requirement? I'll let you answer that question for yourself.

One thing's for sure - no other child in the world will have a set of books just like theirs.

Another Dozen Examples

13. Learn to give a great massage and give a massage a day to a partner or friend.
14. Perform volunteer work in a political campaign for a cause or candidate you really believe in.
15. Learn how to create a Website and build one on a topic that interests you.
16. Write a set of Christmas carols.
17. Do a complete makeover of your backyard.
18. Visit a major museum every day for three months, focusing on one or two rooms per day.
19. Take on a project for a not-for-profit organization that it does not have staff to do and cannot afford to hire someone to do.
20. Get into the best physical condition of your life, or as close as you can get.
21. Experiment with a new recipe every day. Share extra food with others. Create your own recipe book with the successful recipes from the HarvilleQuarter and your other favorites and give it to your friends and family.
22. See a baseball game in every major league park (could also be hockey, football, basketball or cultural events - for example, attend a concert in every major hall).
23. Build a cabin for your personal retreat.
24. Sign up for a community garden space and create a great vegetable garden. Give away the produce you can't use yourself.

HarvilleQuarters - One Dozen Examples

If you've read the preceding posts, you now understand the whole HarvilleQuarter concept. But if you're like me, a few examples always help. Since I'm not retired yet, I haven't actually done a HarvilleQuarter, but I have thought about some that appeal to me. I've listed them below.

I've included a range of ideas from no-cost to low-cost to expensive, and from the physically demanding to some that can be done sitting at home in your most comfortable chair.

1. Live in a city you've never lived in, exploring both its daily life and its cultural treasures.
2. Go to yoga, tai chi, meditation and other similar classes daily.
3. Visit all your living relatives down to second cousins and record their remembrances.
4. Learn to create crossword puzzles and submit some for publication.
5. Help an elderly or disabled person with a significant household task each day - painting, cleaning, repairs, upholstering, gardening, setting up a used computer - whatever you have the skills to do, and they can't do for themselves or afford to hire someone to do.
6. Memorize a new poem every day.
7. Attend an event in your town every day - from sporting events, to visiting a museum, attending a concert or a jazz club, a poetry or book reading, a high school theater production, a civic meeting, a religious service - the possibilities are endless but you must get out of the house every day and many of them should be events you would not otherwise have attended.
8. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture, including the director's comments.
9. Research and write your family's history and distribute it to all your relatives.
10. Spend three months with one of your children immediately after they've purchased a house, and remodel or redecorate it for them.
11. Take a writing class and write at least one short story a week.
12. Walk or bicycle (depending on the distance) every block in your town. Take a camera and record interesting buildings, landscapes and people. Create a photograph album with detailed captions to document your experience.

Well, that's my first list of a dozen. Anyone like to add his or her own list?

Why the Name "HarvilleQuarters?"

Why not?!

The short answer is - it's the best I could come up. "Quarters" by itself has too many different meanings and only us financial guys would think of it as the equivalent of three months. But I couldn't think of another word that means "three months." Appending other possibly appropriate words (RetirementQuarters, LivingQuarters, etc.) made me think of a place to stay while you're traveling.

So, as long as Quarters seemed to require a modifier, I figured I may as well use my own name. Since no one will have preconceived ideas of what it means, I can define it exactly as I want it to be.

And, who knows, maybe it will stick and I'll finally get my 15 minutes of fame.