Possibility and Promise

Everything that needs to be planted in my main garden is in, as of yesterday. It's a good feeling, although there are weeds in another garden and a perennial or two that still need to be split. The fields around us are greening up, and close inspection says we have corn growing on both sides of the road. Come tasseling time, it will be gorgeous, the golden strands reflecting the long rays of sunrise and sunset in amazing ways.
It reminds me of lyrics from a Stan Rogers song: "Watch the field behind the plow turn to straight dark rows. Put another season's promise in the ground." ("The Field Behind the Plow," Home in Halifax, recorded 1982.) I can't listen to the song without weeping; partly it's the melody, partly it's because I've pastored so many farmers here in western Wisconsin and I can see each one of them in my mind's eye, turning around on the tractor seat to watch their progress. And partly because one-of-a-kind Stan Rogers died in a plane crash in 1983.

When I put in my two tomato plants, I set the tomato cages around them right away. It's easier to contain them that way. My son saw them and wanted to know what kind of animal I thought I was keeping away from them using those fences. We both had a good laugh. But the tomato cages are already in the garden, signs of possibility and hope - for large, tasty, home grown summer tomatoes.

Still no word from Outskirts about when I'll see the galley proofs of Eddie's Wake. But when I finally see them, you'll be the first to know!
Give thanks for veterans today.