At some point my grandfather, a man who I had never known but love dearly, had been a builder I think and he had fashioned the most incredibly magical place that I have ever known.
He had concealed his creation deep in the back of their yard, this special area appeared more like a discarded portion of forest from outside its high walls, so abstractly in contrast to the rest of the pretty yard.
It was a very large backyard even though it had been made smaller, chopped almost in half by a rather long line of tall hedges. The lawn and edged flower beds of the open yard were manicured to perfected detail. "Clean and smart", Gamma would say to describe 'her' part of the backyard.
My Grandfather's portion however will forever hold strong memories for me, about adventure and play and very much more.
There was a small brook that snaked its way all the way through the length of the property, smooth round stones lined both sides of the running water, ideal for sailing paper boats which I happened to have done on more than one occasion. It appeared on Gammas side to be popping out from under the hedge wall making the tiny stream much more mysterious than it actually was.
There was a very fancy portion of the patio with even fancier chairs and a table. This is where Gamma liked to sit and read in the mornings and where she would entertain her lady friends on summer evenings.
A large covered area of the patio where, even though there was a couch, chairs and a swing, it was still big enough for me to ride my trike around on. Gammas trimmed lawn was perfect for playing airplane or spinning until I was too dizzy to stand.
But to me the most important part of the whole yard was hidden behind the tall blossoming barricade of shrubbery in a thick growth of trees behind a fence.
The only entrance into this magical place was through a small break in the foliage where a short gate made of twisted and tied branches locked the rest of the yard away from intruders. Still it beckoned to me with its simple carved wooden sign above the flower covered arched gateway that simply stated, 'imagine'.
In this part of the yard things grew wild and free as nature had intended. No one came here to prune, trim and polish, nobody would dare change a thing in the paradise that my grandfather had etched out from his own imagination.
The earth was just about as uneven as comfortably possible and flowers of every size and color bloomed simply everywhere. I had no idea whom this place was built for and at first I was terrified to be discovered within the walls that surrounded this place, because something so wondrous to a small boy must surely mean that an adult would deem it off limits and it would be taken away.