Forever On My Mind

Camp Serenity is coming along nicely.  After our first full night there, I realized I would need some change, such as an air mattress for comfort in hopes of a good night's sleep.  And so, we took our air mattress down and tried it in a spot that would work (the booth/table that pulls out into a bed).  I no sooner laid down on that newly blowed up mattress than a giant bee zoomed past me causing me to scream and run for cover... well... outside was my safe place at that point.  

Bees in a camper = not cool.

G is taking care of that for me.  For us.

So, when I was pretty sure all was safe inside I decided to sit on the sofa that pulls out into a bed (the hard one that I cannot sleep on) and check out the new TV/DVD player that G had purchased and hooked up.  As I was sitting there trying to figure out the remote, a tickling on my leg and then a spider siting on that same leg caused yet another blood curdling scream.  G thought it was another bee.  No, worse.  

A spider!!!!!

It got away.  It will be forever on my mind.

On our way home we noticed (compliments of G having left his car window's open) a plump and huge red ant crawling the inside windshield.  My seat belt prevented me from killing it, and it disappeared.  For a while.  In the corner of my eye I saw him.  This time, I unhooked the seat belt and got him!  RIP Mr. Huge RedAnt.

But that Spider.  He will be forever on my mind.  Him and his family and friends.  Forever.  On my mind.

But I will need to suck it up, buttercup if I wish to enjoy Camp Serenity in the future.  My only hope is that I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, NEVER see a snake inside that camper.   I don't want to have to change the name of our place to Little Camp of Horrors.  

Meanwhile, back at home my little Chicklets ready themselves for Bible School.  They are having a great week with lot's of fun learning about Jesus.  

And in other news!  The pool is now open!!

And me?  I'm busy these days chasing baby bunnies away from eating the clover in my yard.  One day soon I hope to catch one of those little critters and bring it inside.  Dad loves new toys.

My Twenty Insights To Overnight Camping

1.  Prepare to build a fire.  Camping is nothing without a fire.

2. Laugh a lot.

3.  Have plenty of places to rest.  R & R is what camping is all about.

4. Invite a friend.

5. Be still.

6. Savor the campfire smell.

7.  Thank God for beautifully orchestrating the bird/wildlife concert of chirps and tweets and other unusual but sweet sounds for your entertainment.

8.  Notice the tall trees.

 9.  Cook dinner above the campfire.

10.  Choose a heavy and bold patriotic table cloth and feel happy.

11.  Roast your hotdog, don't toast your hotdog!

12.  Enjoy it all.

13.  Savor, savor, savor!

14.  Hold marshmallow's close enough to the fire for a gentle melt with just a touch of outer crisp.

15.  Or, If you prefer burned and black, set that baby on fire!

16.  As night closes in, refrain from telling spooky stories and try to forget about the black of night that encompasses your lone camper out there in those secluded, bear infested, silent woods.

17.  Once locked inside the safety of your camper, ignore all outside sounds even if they resemble that of a hatchet murderer.  Just repeat over and over again,  Freddie Krueger... go away.

18.  Take lots and lots of pictures!  So that when your husband points out the hatchet hanging from the tree beside your snuffed out campfire the following morning,  you can go back and examine those photo's...  one by one...  blowing them up...  and finding that though the scene of the terrifying hatched-in-the-tree eluded you, it was indeed there the night before.

19.  On your way home, be sure and freeze the beauty of it all.  In your mind and on your camera disc if possible.

20.  And think of what comes next.  Amazon.  Research for a softer and more comfortable bed so that your next overnight camping experience will be with actual sleep.

Glad you didn't take the dog on that one.  Just sayin'  ...   no sleep for you means no sleep for me.  Not cool.

The Passing of Years

Through the tunnel of time my thought process has changed.  A lot. There are things I have learned while worming my way through that tunnel...  things that have changed my perspective.  I think differently than I did as a child.  Heck, I don't even think the same today as I did yesterday.  We learn as we go along.  Every day can teach you something to grow you as a person.  And if you examine yourself daily, you can learn from your own mistakes which can grow you even more!

Probably the hardest life lesson for me was the disappointment in people who blatantly, repeatedly, selfishly and coldly hurt others.  The world is filled with good and evil.  You will know them by their fruits (not their fake actions.  just sayin'  ... yes, I have become largely skeptical when it comes to people).  

But I was one of the lucky ones as a child and I experienced the love of both of my parents, many siblings, and a dirt poor day to day existence as Mom and Dad worked feverishly to make ends meet and to provide for all seven of us kids.  They were both hard workers and kind-hearted people.  I miss them terribly!  

Memorial Day, 2017 was a perfect day for me.  Eckhart Cemetery is just above the house where I grew up.   Memorial Day pasts haunt me (in a good way) each time I attend the services at that cemetery above our old house.  I reminisce of those warm spring days of old when cars lined the road above our home and a brood of gangly kids stood outside our door watching the goings on.

Memorial Day for me then was more of a celebration of the start of summer vacation.  I did not think beyond that, for my mind was that of a child.

I now look down from the cemetery's hill upon the other smaller cemetery beside our house, and I see things as they are.

Still though, when I visit the flourishing trees and green hillsides of my youth, I recollect an innocent little girl with stringy brown hair and crooked bangs, bubbling with excitement for summer's start, and I'm glad that memory is still with me.

For in that memory is an innocence.  A time of trust that I will never know again.

The sixty-two year old me has obligation and duty.  My skeptical self does not trust easily but the dreamer in me is not ready yet to give up on memories past.  

But I know that Memorial Day is a day to remember the country's people who died while serving in the armed forces.   And I am so very grateful.

God bless the USA

Miss you, Dad