Saturday, August 25, 2007

Moonlight Escape

We tried to go camping. After Rei had asked a few times about going camping, we picked a weekend in nearby Warwick and she was excited to sleep in her red sleeping bag with her red pillow in a tent.

It turns out that once again, theory is more appealing than actual practice. The weather wasn't great: a grand summer thunderstorm blew up in the evening; timing-wise it was for the best, the tents were set-up and supper had been consumed. The kids were a little weary of being tent-bound for so long and they had trouble getting to sleep.

There was some more rain today, but Rei was away to attend a birthday party. Everyone did well through the day, but all the activity and fresh air had the kids overtired and overly-sensitive. A pre-bed tantrum did not bode well for us and the decision was made to abort the mission and head home.

Shelley took the kids home, along with as much camping equipment as we could cram, while I stayed behind and packed up the rest. I must say it was a beautiful summer night with a lovely fullish moon. Too bad it was spent searching for tent pegs and rolling up tarps in the growing dark (in our haste, the lantern went home with Shelley and the kids).

It was during my packing that our country-loving francophone neighbour decided to strike up a conversation with me about camping gear and how we survived yesterday's storm. Nice guy, warped sense of timing.

So it's home again and I think things will be easier tomorrow morning now. I was going to have to wake up early to come home to Strathroy, because the printer at the church office is too old to interface with the laptop; then head into Glencoe to get things together and ready for the first worship service in Appin. Seeing as the first leg is now completed, I can finish and print everything up and be ready to go first thing. Once I get the campfire-smoke smell out of my skin and hair; unless I'm feeling a John-the-Baptist-kind-of-mood...

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