THERE HE GOES WHERE HE STOPS NOBODY KNOWS

I'm not saying that I have a busy month

ahead of me, but I'll tell ya: I don't know if I'll make it til August 5th without a nap or two.

1. Tomorrow I leave for a week in Eaton, Ohio. Home on Friday, July 7th. Eaton, my focus community for the strip of Ohio which falls within the middlewest, is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its founding. I gotta be there for that.

2. On Saturday, July 8th, I head to West Bend, Iowa, for the big Montag reunion on Sunday, July 9. How big is it? I have 139 first cousins, if that gives you a clue. My dad is one of 17 children, and that's just the Henry Montag clan; the families of Henry's brothers and sisters will be there too and that was a big family even by the old Iowa standards.

3. After the family reunion, I'll head four hours west, to Sioux City, Iowa, to visit my friends Phil and Terry Hey. Phil is the author of How It Seems To Me, which my press, MWPH Books, published last year. He says he has three big bulbs of garlic for me. I said, "I'll be right there." Phil's garlic is worth the drive. It will also be nice to see Phil and Terry again, I might add, and to meet the one of their three horses I haven't already been introduced to. In a recent e-mail, Phil asked me what I wanted for breakfast on Monday morning before my return to Wisconsin. I said, "last paragraph, p. 13, Curlew: Home." He said, "I checked the citation. I can do it." I'll be home late on Monday night.

4. On Thursday, July 13, Mary and I will fly to Colorado to visit daughter Jessica and son-in-law Tait Brink in Ft. Collins. Jessica got a new position within the Forest Service, which required the transfer to Ft. Collins. They have bought a house, and we're going out to see the place, and them, and Ft. Collins. Home on July 17th.

5. I have an appointment at the dentist in Ripon to get my teeth cleaned at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 18th. Why in the world would I tell you that?

6. Because after I get my teeth cleaned on Tuesday, July 18th, I'll head to Dekalb, Illinois, to house-sit at daughter Jenifer's house while she is at a conference. Home on Friday night, July 21.

7. I will work all day Saturday and Sunday, July 22-23, at Fairwater's big community event, the Jim Town/Bill Town Celebration, sponsored by the Fairwater Historical Society, the Lions Club, the American Legion, the Fire Department, Zion Lutheran Church, etc. It's all day both days.

8. On Friday, July 28th, Mary and I will leave for a week of canoeing in the Boundary Waters on the Canadian side of the border. I'll be back home on August 5th... assuming I make it that far....

This evening, my friend Charlie Mescher and his wife Jane will be stopping here for supper and an overnight visit on their way home to Ohio from a vacation in Bayfield, Wisconsin. Mary has made jambalaya; we'll have cornbread to go with it, and a big green salad; strawberries and ice cream for dessert. We'll fix 'em breakfast in the morning, then when Charlie and Jane head for home, I'll head for Eaton, Ohio.

In the meantime, through the wonders of technology, you'll find "Lines" put up here every day, you'll find the usual "Morning Drive Journal" entries, sometimes you'll find Ivan Burgess's Echo Echo (if I've been home to type up the newest issues). There'll be Saturday Poems on at least some of the Saturdays. Who knows what else - perhaps an occasional post about my adventures on the rare occasions I touch down here?

Oh, and in my free time, I'll be plucking my new flat-top acoustic bass, just delivered yesterday. What's a guy who is most definitely not a musician doing with this new acoustic bass, two electric basses, a dobro, two electric lap steels, and part interest in a pedal steel? Oh, and part interest in the stand-up double-bass, Big Bertha? Well, that's the price you have to pay if you like to hang out with musicians.

And that whistling sound you hear in the distance? That's the rush of wind as I try to get through July. If you listen real careful you might hear me saying, "Tom, come on, just put your head down and GO."

"Tom, I mean it, come on, just put your head down now and GO!"

Comments

[Ross]

Wow are you busy! Reading that makes me feel like I'm not doing a thing this summer. It must be nice having everything planned out like that. 139 first cousins!?!

And you never told me you had THAT MANY instruments. I only knew about the basses! I'm going to have to look at all your stuff at some point.

I'll be checkin' up on you while you're out. Safe travels.

[Pica]

Wow. Slow down and listen to the wind, Tom...

[Fred Garber]

Tom,
What a month! While you are in Sioux City I would like to meet you in person. even if it is only for a cup of coffee.

Fred