The Very Early Years

I was born in the very late 50’s and the world was a much different place than the one we know today. Those early years are mostly just a vague memory now.

My father earned a very respectable salary as an engineer for Westinghouse. This allowed my mother to stay home and take care of the house and my brother and me. Shortly before I was born, my parents bought a small rancher in a quiet subdivision just outside of Baltimore. The property was about a quarter acre, so the little bit of garden area we had lay in the back yard. I don’t remember if Dad actually raised any vegetables while living there, but I do remember that he gathered a bunch of neighborhood kids and showed us all how to start flowers in little Dixie cups of soil. He also built a hothouse in the basement to create an environment in which to grow specimen orchids. In the basement, my father devoted an area to raising house plants under grow lights.

I don’t actually remember very much about our time in that little rancher since I was so young when we lived there. Most of my memories of that time are triggered by old photographs. Far more active memories of my childhood would come from the next property, that I’ll just call the Big House.