Over lunch today, my children and I discussed our travel plans for the Fourth of July holiday. We usually try to set out for a travel adventure for a few days around our favorite summer holiday.

Lifelines. Who do you call when…? Besides the obvious answer: (Ghost Busters), who do you call when you need help? On a picture perfect day in the summer of 2006, my then 6-year-old daughter was picking flowers in our yard. She was simultaneously stung by seven bees. Who did I call?

Experienced observer. I write this column not as a gardening expert or guru, but as one who has extensive experience observing gardening and landscaping successes and failures. As only a brother can, my brother Jim pointed out years ago that I garden by pointing.