Back in my own bed

after three days of camping with my sons at Bon Echo Provincial Park, which is truly stunning - the main feature is a 300-foot sheer rock face inscribed with native pictographs which have been there, in some cases, for 1,000 years - 'tis a humbling experience indeed to float past these symbolic drawings in the face of this cliff...

the kids take quite naturally to the whole camping experience - no showers, no clean clothes, pee wherever the mood strikes - and in all honesty, I thoroughly enjoy it myself, although I am a little more cautious about where I relieve myself - we told spooky stories in our tent, ate s'mores till we thought we'd puke, cooked hot dogs over the fire, played board games by fire- and flashlight, and spent much of our daytime at one of the three beaches in the park - perfect weather - hot days, cool nights, no rain - I don't think it could have been any more perfect...

on the first night, it was almost 11pm when we curled up into our sleeping bags and turned off our flashlights. The boys fell asleep instantly, and I lay awake for a bit, listening to the myriad of crackles and snaps in the woods. Suddenly, there was a large sniff at the front of the tent - sounded like Charlie, our dog, who is 110 pounds - I am almost sure it was a bear - I froze, heart pounding, and reached over my head for a can of bear repellent which I reluctantly brought along, thinking how silly it was - like the original Batman movie with Adam West, where he suddenly pulls out a can of shark repellent? -

I was gripping this baby hard enough to hear my knuckles crack, practicing lifting the cap and pulling the trigger, (but only if I got within 6m of the bear, which was really no comfort at all) and then I heard licking and smacking sounds - DAMN! The kids had dropped those marshmallows deemed to be too burnt into the fire, and I had not retrieved them, so someone was having a great time out there. I sucked up some nerve, pulled myself to the front of the tent, and snapped on my flashlight. No bear, but a fisher (looks like a slightly larger otter) zipped past me -

took a couple of hours for me to settle back down, and I slept well until about 4am, when I heard coyotes yipping and howling - in the distance, but loud enough to give me goosebumps - this was followed by the hooting of an owl, and then it was quiet... lovely... until someone ACROSS THE CAMPSITE started snoring - for God's sake, I could have stayed married and had that experience - I just could not believe it -

fortunately, things calmed down for the next two nights, and decent sleeps were had by all...

but nice to be home, and sorting out laundry that smells like campfires, and thinking about - GASP - back to school with all its excitement and associated paraphernalia -

knitting-wise, I did much less than I had expected - I had hoped to plow through my SP8 final gift, but had too much fun swimming with the kids, or spent a lot of time just doing things like cooking, cleaning up after cooking, and so forth. So I have 11 days to get this stuff done and in the mail - no pressure, though...

in other news, I may have figured out who my secret pal is, but I have to investigate a little further - or would you prefer that I hold off and be completely surprised, Shugahface?