It is never too late to start gardening:  I am sixty-one and trying to find activities I enjoy and that in the process will keep me in shape.  I am gradually doing more gardening.  My wife can not physically do as much any more.

tomatoes2I love flowers and raising tomatoes.  Growing up we had a small but wonderful garden.  I always loved viewing other peoples gardens and observing the fruits of their labor.

I was really out of shape.  The first thing I did was get a personal trainer:  his rates are really cheap and “Tilla” as we call him never refuses a walk.  It is amazing to me what a little exercise can do.  I am also playing basketball in the park.  I am taking my time about getting my wind back.

In my youth I played a lot of basketball and tennis and ping pong which I loved.  I found out it was getting increasingly hard to find activities I enjoyed.  Finally I started walking my dog.  It is .8 miles around my block.  I also started mowing my lawn again (I usually hired someone to do that).  All of a sudden my sleep became solid.

Gardening is just another activity I enjoy.  The more exercise I can do the better.  I have always hated exercise for exercise sake but believed in finding activities I enjoyed and in the process got into shape.  Gardening is another activity I have just taken up.

I absolutely loved the many flowers my wife has planted on our property.  And I also love eating vine-ripened tomatoes.  Thus my incentive to garden.  It is never too late to start a new activity even at my age.  So gardening is the latest activity I have started.
vegetables

I have a new personal trainer and he is one tough disciplinarian.  He pushes me all the time.  He want me to go faster and faster.  Sometimes he gets waylaid.  He would do anything to run after a rabbit.

He is sixty-six pounds and is black and would take umpteen walks if he had his way.  He is cheap.  All he wants is to have a bowl of food and water and be petted periodically.

He keeps wanting me to go faster and faster.  We just came back from a predawn walk; he walked at the fastest clip yet.  My wind is getting better and better.

If I am not careful, he will fire me and get another trainee.  He wants walks all the time.  All you have to do is rattle the metal leash and within five seconds he is at my feet or say the word “walk” and his ears immediately perk up.

I am grateful for him and I make sure every time he rolls over on his back he gets his belly rubbed.  I do not want to take any chances he will be hired by any one else.  He is the best trainer I ever had.

Tilla