Camp Fires

 ... the view as evening falls at the campfire ...

Bonnie has been looking for a perfect place for a hammock.

Her friends bought her one and put it up in a tree at their house.

Now she has an open invitation to be there. But it is a twenty minute drive to Marla's and sometimes someone needs a quick quiet spot, just a small time opens up where one could swing under a canopy of leaves.

Bonnie has been out looking for a perfect place for a hammock. She is observing one rule. Find the place for the hammock before she buys it. Knowing the exact perfect spot to choose will make the size and shape of the hammock easier to choose

Ceilidh roasting a super-sized marshmallow.

When I go outside, I look for the right spot for her as well. I am choosing all of the spots I love: up by the raspberry bushes where there is a view of the stream framed by two trees; over in the clump birches where Michael likes to play in the sand; down by the portable campfire pit.

Twin flower vines tumble down the embankment.
A new huckleberry bush has been discovered on the hill.
Let the coals die down.
Let the evening ghost stories begin.

The latter has become my favorite spot when I have an extra twenty minutes and I want to work in the yard.

Just a small increment of time opens up and I am down there with a rake and a shovel, trying to make the ground smooth around the fire pit.

Or I am cutting out the salmon berries that obstructing the perfect view.

Or I am arranging the cedar table and the patio chairs so that there is a circle big enough to include everyone around the fire. So much land.

So many perfect places.

Arta

Catching Minnows

... I can get this one with my net ...

The Dollar Store?

Well, I usually think of it as the Fifty Dollar Store if I carry a basket around while I shop there.

One thing I haven’t bought at the Dolar Stoare is fishing nets. I see them there, fine nets on coloured bamboo sticks.

Others must buy them for there are always some in my garage. I don’t know who purchases them – rods with the fine mesh hanging from wire loops.

 ... so small I can hardly see them ...

I have been party to teaching children that rocks don’t do well in those nets.

 I also spent time trying to fix the nets with a thread and needle – some children just think carrying rocks is more fun that catching fish.

Usually it is easier to buy another net – if someone is going to town.

... goggles on / goggles off ...

This year there was a perfect net in the garage ... one with no holes. I don’t know if that is the one Ceilidh was using the day I watched her in the water.

She was patient for hours, standing over by the dock, her bucket safe on the wooden platform and her goggles on her eyes, then back to the top of her head, then readjusted to her eyes, dipping into the water again.

Pretty fun!  my choice of a great afternoon.

At one point she brought the bucket over so I could take a look at it. Either I have forgotten how small minnows can be, or I need new glasses.

 She had to show me exactly where they were swimming in the water, trapped until her task was over.

 “I can’t believe it. I spent the whole afternoon doing that, ” she said, slipping them back into the water.

Arta

Sunscreen

The Ultimate Water Fight Begins

Ever vigilant about the sun, I try to keep covered with a long sleeved shirt and a hat.

But the hat is not always at hand when I go out the door.

I believe in sunscreen as well.

"Take that for a good splash!"

I put it on but have noticed that it gets in my eyes.

So the application goes from my cheeks and nose downward.

Still I get that stinging in my eyes after I have been out working with my shovel and rake.

... women and children strategizing to get the best of Eric in the water ...

Thinking that I am touching my face and moving the sunscreen upward, I keep that in the front of my mind: no hands to the face.

Still my eyes sting. I default to keeping data about when this is happening.

This week I got it.

That is not sunscreen in my eyes.

It is sweat.

Salty sweat! I didn’t even know I could work that hard.

"Watch out for my underwater watergun"

."A bucket load of water for your head."
LtoR: Bonnie, Ceilidh, Rebecca

This week the forecast for heat is in the low thirties – though the 34 degrees might be called mid thirties.

 I am going to take care of the sweat by staying close to the water and with sunscreen.

Perhaps there will even be an "Ultimate Water Fight" again.

Arta