Rainy Days and Tuesdays

Well we have started. Our planting schedule has had weather delays but we finally got started yesterday. Despite a gusting wind that looked as if it was going to remove all of the top soil and relocate it, I planted all the beans and started planting the corn. Today, I finished planting the corn before the heavy rain started . Burton and Wayne got all the squash in as well. So I find myself in my office this afternoon instead of in the garden. Yesterday I visited a classroom at Lakefield Elementary School. They had just finished reading Ten Thousand Truths and The Year Mrs. Montague Cried. It was a pleasure to spend an hour with them as they asked some wonderful questions and shared their feelings about the stories and life. Kids never cease to amaze me with their compassion and insights. They were very interested in hearing about the sequel of Ten Thousand Truths. Parker asked me what my next book was going to be about. I told him I wasn't exactly sure but that it would come to me as I planted and looked after the garden in the next couple of months. Sure enough as I began sowing the bean seeds yesterday afternoon the seeds of my next book began taking shape. I ran in the house and up to my office to jot my thoughts down. The book I began in January but put aside to get to Shame the Devil pushed its way into my thoughts again and took on a whole new turn. Now I await the quiet hours in the garden so that I can let the story unfold until I find myself back in my office in September. During the summer I will steal some rainy hours like this afternoon and take a bit of time to touch my writing. I will read Shame the Devil one more time before sending it off to be read by someone else. I will make some notes for the book I see ahead of me. I will give some thought to two picture books I have percolating. I will let the summer come. I'll watch the seeds grow in the garden and in my imagination.