Fall is harvest time. What's yours? Pumpkins and gourds? Corn and soybeans? Heart wishes come true?
Mine? Since 2006 Pop and I have partnered on "Harvesting: Heritage and Lineage." This project continues as I trot along after him in Daddy Trailer fashion. Aunt Mim's (Amelia's) music from the 1890s to 1920s found a home at Alton's Hayner Library's Illinois Room. We're exploring Berea College as a place for Pop's sheet music collection for the songs from his youth. Pop's commissioned me to make cover art for his photo-documentation books How the River Road Was Made, The Bluffline Railroad, Glad Acres, and A Man Before His Time. Western Illinois University is starting a Thompson collection. And on and on.
As I work on harvesting the wealth of my father's experience and wisdom, I turn to harvesting my own. Papers and journals are strewn across the floors of my apartment. One day I'll combine my wheat field and store my crop in silos. It'll take awhile