Camping report

It has rained on the three of the last four of our annual Manhart/O'Reilly/Carver camping trips. Sandi is considering consulting the Farmer's Almanac before we make next year's reservations. I'm thinking about consulting a psychic. I also have a client whose husband swears it is sunny and gorgeous during his summer vacations every year. After the psychic, I will consult him and take the balance of what they each say and plan accordingly.

Actually, this is the first camping trip that I didn't mind too much about the rain. Why, you ask? Well, because we had the cabin, of course! Ella kept saying we were camping and I would feel my face flush with embarrassment. "No, honey, this isn't exactly camping." I mean, goodness, can you imagine if this is her camping standard? She did get some good camping time our first evening there, complete with swimming on the shores of the enchanting Moosehead lake right from the Manhart's campsite, having supper cooked over the open fire, toasting (burning) marshmallows (and eating large hunks of Hershey's Bars swipped from the s'mores fixings), romping the woods with Skyler on adventures ("You be the dinosaur now!" "No, I'm the dragon!" we'd hear them say) and contracting a case of poison ivy. We saw two deer and a very friendly fox. What more can a girl want from the woods?

We did make the bottom bunk that she slept on into a "tent" by hanging a blanket around it and letting her sleep with the rechargeable flashlight. She was really roughing it.

The Manhart's were absolute troopers and held through the rain that started mid-morning on day two. They napped in their tents, went to town for lunch, came to the cabin for the down pour in the afternoon, briefly considered an overnight with us in the cabin but we all reconsidered when it became obvious that someone might end up heavily medicated and in a straight jacket if we attempted such close quarters. You know who your friends are when you can pony up the truth in both directions.

To round out the weekend, we had lovely supper on Saturday night and a chance to reconnect with an old and dear friend and to meet a new one. It was a wonderful night of drinking wine, catching up over the past eight years and enjoying those deeper conversations that warm your heart and enlighten your spirit. There would be no way for me to express in words what their visit meant, but suffice it to say that it is amazing when life comes full circle. Thank you Kizzy and Marie-Eve (a French name pronounced so beautifully, I cannot even try) for your generosity to us and to the girls, for your love and positive energy, for extending yourselves so completely to us and for making us part of your trip from Canada. Come back again soon.

So, maybe next year we'll be back in the woods. Or maybe we'll just go to a hotel. Just kidding, Em.