How My Garden Grows

             Rain not snow....exposed to the elements: Tomato, peppers, broccoli, kale, peas and so forth. Warm days and good eatin' ahead. So, here it is...I'm predicting a long, hot Summer. This means many trips to the lake,  more bicycle rides around the lake and up the Quiet Volcano. I have to warn you in advance, I may be hard to corral this Summer...my 62nd.  A season of hiking into remote pools, stripping down to the suit God gave me, immersing in cold water hoping that it's enough to keep the mosquitos from drinking me dry before I pull on the bike shorts and race home to my quiet cabin in the woods.
                  This is the future I envisioned while sitting in William Everwine's Writer's Workshop in 1972. His assignment: Imagine your life as a professional writer forty years from now....Well, I didn't know I would be a small business owner, wrenching on bicycles and encouraging small town folks to go out and use them, but I did see the quiet cabin in the woods and me skinny dipping to keep the mosquitos at bay. I didn't imagine that I'd be such great friends with a black Labrador who loves to accompany me on so many lake and woods outings, but I did imagine that I would be partners with a precious woman who is adventurous, amorous and fair about all things we share.
                     I didn't know that I would have published five small titles that have brought me the smallest level of fame or,  that I would no longer own a typewriter, even though I hand-lettered all of my books. I did see me as loving the reading of books, while struggling to be a better writer, but I didn't foresee me needing cheater glasses to perform either task. Predictions are funny things...you are going to be wrong...much of the time, in fact.     I am still amazed when I'm right. However, I have not given up the prediction business...yes, I see hard times ahead for Western Civilization and I see the Detroit Tigers playing the San Francisco Giants in the 2012 World Series.