FROM MORNING DRIVE JOURNAL AUGUST 2, 1999

Friday was the hottest day thus

far all summer. A real steam cooker. Saturday cooled considerably; Sunday was nearly 25 degrees cooler than Friday. I am not one to complain - our summer has been good. I know the farmers in New Jersey are starting to succumb to drought conditions there. I am sorry to hear that. Much of that farming, I presume, is truck gardening and the fields are much more susceptible to drought than a field of corn, which declines considerably before it actually fails. There are animals dying in the heat. There are humans dying in the heat - more than 180 nation-wide so far attributed to the heat.

Does this help us recognize that we are not in charge?

The pick-up is in the shadow of the neighbor's house. There is a layer of dew on the windshield. Algae covers most of the Fairwater pond once again. A massive blue sky above. A very cool morning, shining and bright.

The canning company is spraying its waste water on the east side of Highway E is this morning, in the field just north of the village.

Half the field of rye straw has been taken.

You never know what will be important, what someday will be telling of what you tell. Record what strikes you. It shall create its own context.

There is sweet corn for sale along my route this morning. Imagine that! sweet corn in this country. (I am trying to be funny here, help me out.

Which way did you come in?)