More things to do when I have time....

The list just continues.....

Re-learn how to play the piano. Ah yes, twelve years of piano lessons and I barely remember a damn thing. My teacher and I were constantly at odds. She wanted to teach classical; I wanted to learn current music. She wanted me to learn how to read music; I would write in the note names, memorize, then erase before the next lesson. My mother, who does not play, used to point out to me how my father continued to play as an adult and that I would regret someday not being able to play at a party with friends. At 15, I thought I knew better, but sure enough over the past few years, I've found myself wishing I had paid more attention. Tom bought me an amazing keyboard for my birthday last summer; now I need to make some time to re-teach myself!

Figure out all those bells and whistles on our cameras. I used to love taking pictures and was the back-up photographer for our yearbook in college. One of the first things we did when we got married was to invest in both a digital and regular camera. We've since upgraded to yet a newer digital, and I'm embarrassed to say, I don't know how either works beyond "push here dummy." Tom's much more knowledgeable than I, but we could both use a remedial class.

Garden with success. So when we lived in Somerville, we had what I jokingly referred to as a "city boy garden." Tom bought huge pails, cut holes in the bottom, and planted tomatoes and peppers. Our deck boxes were filled with easy-to-grow flowers and a few herbs. We actually did pretty well. Fast forward to buying a house: one would think that with plenty of land, we'd do even better. Well, our garden last year was a disaster. Tom tried to start plants inside, and we both lost interest fairly quickly. Few survived. Lesson #1: just buy the starter plants, don't bother with growing from seed. Then, we did a half-assed job digging an expansive garden. Result: weeds everywhere. Halfway through the summer, I dug everything up, lost a few less hardy plants in the process, but refilled the plot with garden soil and replanted what I could. Lesson #2: Invest in a timer for your spigot and water daily. The sun was so strong and our days commuting so long, we pretty much lost everything. Sigh.....I think we should revert to container gardening!