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: Create a Local TED Event

If you're not familiar with the TED Conference, go immediately to its Web site, www.ted.com, and watch a few videos to get the flavor of it. Of course, I'm risking that you will become hooked and never come back to my blog, but it's a chance I'll have to take.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, although since its founding in 1984, the subject matter has spread well beyond those categories. TED's tag line is "Ideas Worth Spreading" and that pretty much sums up the requirements to be considered as a TED presenter - having an inspired idea and an energetic delivery style. The ideas involved can cover just about anything and probably have in the 25 years since its inception.

The TED Conference takes place once a year over a four-day period in which dozens of thought leaders - some famous, many not - give 18-minute or less presentations on an intriguing idea. Some use technologically-advanced graphics, some basic PowerPoint slides, and some simply stand on stage and talk (or more likely, pace back and forth and talk). When they finish, the next one steps on stage without audience Q&A.

I've never attended a TED Conference but I can imagine that one's brain is both exhilarated and exhausted by the end of a day. If you followed my suggestion in the first paragraph and checked out its Website, you very likely watched a few of the videos while you were there, so you know what I mean.

How does this relate to a HarvilleQuarter? Clearly, we can't all troop off to California for the annual conference, but why not create a local version? I think there's an audience almost anywhere for TED-type presentations and you can probably find a few people who would make outstanding presenters.

I wouldn't suggest trying to set up a four-day conference. But how about series of once-a-week TED evenings for, say, four weeks in a row. Each evening might feature three speakers, and, unlike TED, I would allow for ten minutes of Q&A after each one, so the evening in total would last about an hour and a half, with some refreshments and informal audience member interactions with presenters and each other afterwards.

Where could you find presenters? A local college or university would be a good starting point - it may already have a Speakers Bureau established with a list of faculty members and topics. Organizations that have regular programs, such as Rotary Clubs, could provide names of their best speakers. Not-for-profit organizations and newspaper feature editors and columnists could be another source, as well as music schools or live music venues. And just plain word of mouth.

You're going to want a venue that is the right size, already has or can accommodate decent technology to display presentation materials, is cheap and has sufficient parking. Churches are an option, as well as high school or college auditoriums, senior citizen centers (some retirement communities have small auditoriums), meeting halls, hotel ballrooms, convention centers, or even bars. (I'm intrigued by the thought that a bar could attract an off-night patronage by offering TED speakers.)

I'd find a few friends to help with all the arrangements, including locating and signing up presenters, securing the venue, publicizing the series and creating buzz, rehearsing the speakers, setting up the room and AV equipment, organizing refreshments and performing the myriad other tasks that go into an event like this.

You may be able to find a business to sponsor each evening, allowing for free admittance for audience members. If not, it should be possible to make the cost very nominal. TED does not pay its speakers and you shouldn't either.

Rehearsing speakers will be a key to success. It's important that they understand the time limitation (18 minutes), are well-organized, easily audible (especially if your venue is a senior center) and that the AV works flawlessly. You may or may not feel comfortable giving more substantive feedback during rehearsals, and speakers may or may not be appreciative of constructive criticism. Ideally, you have vetted speakers sufficiently before issuing an invitation to be confident of their audience appeal.

And, if an occasional presenter is less than riveting, the beauty of a TED evening is that the audience is stuck for only 18 minutes at most and can then turn their attention to the next speaker. Who, one hopes, will be both dazzlingly brilliant and falling-down-and-rolling-in-the-aisles hilarious.

Besides the three 18-minutes speakers plus Q&A, I'd consider short entertaining interludes between the speakers - five minutes or so - sort of a palate-cleanser, you might say. A deftly executed Chopin etude or Bach prelude and fugue, an aria, a theatrical monologue, a juggling act - all would be candidates. If there's a music school in your community, a faculty member or advanced student could fill the bill nicely.

That's about as far as I've got in my thinking on a local TED event, but I'm hoping to receive lots of comments and suggestions from all of you. See that "comments" link right under this posting?

One Idea in Detail: Grow Vegetables in a Community Garden

Over the last few years, I've watched a community garden develop in a corner of the playing field of Midvale Elementary School a few blocks from my house. Initially, some plots were tilled up for use by the school kids as part of learning projects as well as for use by local residents. Last fall a communal orchard was added with 70 fruiting trees and bushes. It continues to develop each year and the progress has been quite remarkable. A local retiree built a wonderful tool shed this spring and an artist/welder created a set of beautiful and imaginative metal gates.

Gardening has traditionally been viewed as a fine activity for seniors - it gets us outdoors in the fresh air and sunlight, provides physical activity without being terribly taxing, boosts our spirits (except when the slugs and aphids strike), and furnishes a variety of low-cost, nutritious fruits and vegetables for our dinner tables. On the downside, it tends to be a solitary activity - and many seniors live in apartments or condos where land for gardening is not available.

Enter the community garden. Community gardens can take several forms, but many provide garden plots - from 8X10 feet to 20X20 or larger - for a small rental. For example, some in my home town of Madison charge $10 to $65 annually per plot based on the gardener's income. There may also be a requirement to donate a few hours of labor during the growing season if you are able.

Low-cost space, however, is just the beginning of the benefits. Plots may be tilled up for the gardener in spring, water and hoses provided on site, free compost delivered, and seeds and plants available at no or little cost. Many gardens also have tools and expert advice for sharing and garden sites accessible by those using wheelchairs. In a lot of ways, a nearby community garden plot is even better than having a garden in your own backyard.

Community gardening also provides an opportunity to interact with new friends. You will recall that one criteron for a great HarvilleQuarter is engagement with people you would not otherwise have met. While it would be possible to stay on your own 400 square feet without visiting with your neighboring gardeners, it's unlikely. Eventually, you are going to want to share suggestions and experiences and even produce ("I'll trade you some zucchini for an acorn squash.")

Madison's largest garden, Troy Community Gardens, has over 300 20 by 20 plots in an area of the city with a sizable H'mong population. At least half of the names on the plot assignments are clearly H'mong, who tend to group themselves together. However, at the margins, one can find some interesting juxtapositions - Diane Schmidt is next to Lee Thao and the Thomas family adjoins the Chavezes, who are across the walking path from Lamngern Paborriboon, who is next to the Williamses. These folks will probably start with the occasional "hi, neighbor" wave but by the end of the season will have progressed to more substantive interactions, even if their common vocabulary is limited.

So, if you have a green thumb, or even if you firmly believe you don't, check out the community garden scene in your town. If there is no community garden, consider dedicating a HarvilleQuarter to starting the first one in your area.

There are resources available on the Web like the one sponsored by the American Community Garden Association (ACGA). Gardens don't have to be large; in fact, some are created out of a vacant lot or the corner of a small park. As pointed out by the ACGA, a single community garden can bring many benefits to a neighborhood, including reduced crime, more interaction among neighbors and a more attractive community.

This could point you to one of my other HarvilleQuarters - spearheading the restoration of a habitat, vacant lot, or city park. That will be the subject of another "One Idea in Detail" posting.

By the way, the photograph is from my local community garden. You can find others on its Website, www.midvaleproject.net.

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.

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 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.

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?

So What Exactly is a HarvilleQuarter?

The short definition is: "A retirement activity that lasts about three months and produces learning, growth and satisfaction." I came to the idea as I was thinking about my own retirement which, I hope, will begin in about eight or ten years. I've always found it difficult to envision really attractive ways to spend my retirement, at least within any kind of reasonable budget.

This is not a minor issue for me. My Dad died just last spring at age 100, in amazingly good physical condition until the last nine months; if I follow in his footsteps, I will have several decades of retirement in which to do something (what?) or possible nothing. 30 years of "nothing" is not that attractive, so that leads to the question of what kind of "something" do I want this retirement thing to be.

Having read a few articles and blogs about retirement plans, most seem to assume a continual, indefinite timeline of one or more favorite hobbies or activities - traveling, volunteering, quilting, reading, wordworking, gardening or a host of others. It seems that you pick a few of these and keep doing them until you can't anymore. Frankly, I can't think of anything I want to do for 30 years. It really didn't seem to be much to look forward to - but neither did working for another 15 or 20 years.

Thinking back on career experiences that brought me the most satisfaction, I realized they were projects with clear goals and defined beginnings and ends. The best projects required me to work with new clients in new industries with new colleagues doing work with new elements that demanded creativity on my part.

I wondered - could I build a retirement around a set of "projects" with all or most of those elements? That's when the idea of creating distinct projects of roughly three months' duration struck me. Every three months, I'd get to make a new beginning on something that I found interesting (or, if it turned out to be disappointing, I would only be into it for three months). Retirement, rather than one long "petering out" doing a few things, would be populated by a host of planned, enjoyable and memorable events.

At age 65, assuming relatively good health until at least 85, I'll have the opportunity to engage in 80 different HarvilleQuarters. That sounds much more enjoyable and satisfying to me than 20 years of ongoing gardening, traveling and volunteering. (Of course, gardening, traveling and volunteering could all be candidates for one or more HarvilleQuarters.

My purpose in building this blog is to start my journey in clarifying, elaborating and recording my ideas for HarvilleQuarters. I hope that some of you will help me by adding your thoughts and suggestions to mine, as well as proposing entirely new ones that we can build on together. If there are in fact many people out there who feel as we do about retirement, this site could become a terrific resource for all of us to discover better HarvilleQuarters than the ones we'd thought of by ourselves.

Plus, 80 HarvilleQuarters are an awful lot to come up with on my own. I need help! I'll start by posting about a few that I've thought of and wait for you to add yours.