Monday Musings

And a beautiful Monday it is!  We in the upper-midwest have enjoyed a spectacular fall.  Warm days.  Brilliantly blue skies.  And fall colors that cannot be replicated outside of nature.

We left on Friday for our annual fall camping venture.  I guess you could call it our 3rd annual one.  And this was the best yet.  The first year it hovered around the 20's with a touch of snow.  The second year was just plain cold with no snow and the upper 40's.  This year it was 80 by day and 60 by night.  And scenery such as this:

or this:

But really, what really mattered was being there with people like this:

Or cute little boys like this:

Or being thrilled to see a couple of the MYP enjoying each other's company like this:

And seeing another one of them trying to keep our campsite free of leaves like this:

And seeing this when you look across the way:

And then about an hour before it is time to leave you see she's dog-tired waiting in the truck:

Yes, a perfect weekend indeed.  There are many wonderful blogs where you can vacation vicariously in perfect conditions with perfect foods and perfect settings.  

But I'm not here to tell you all the perfect things.  I'm going to tell you that I spilled a full quart of olive oil right before we were leaving.  And it managed to splash all over the counter top, drip down and into three drawers and proceed to ooze all over my freshly finished hardwood.  Slippery-wippery icky stuff.  All right before we left.  

I'm here to tell you that when opening the back lift at the campsite that a full bundle of wood landed very painfully on my forearm and it bulged out in a spectacular fashion because my arm wasn't amused.  And it hurt.  

Or that a fuse popped before we even got to the campsite and we had to stop at a camping store to try to find another so the battery would work.  

And that after killing two mammoth spiders that looked like this:

I took my shower.  And then proceeded to dress all the while balancing on my flip flops.

Ahhh.  Camping.  Yes, "Life is Good".  In fact after we returned home and started to unload, the Chairman said in passing, 'you know, I almost like camping now'.  Um, really?  After twelve times he's 'almost liking it'?  Well that's nice!

So without further adieu, I must go clean out the camper.  Get it ready for storage through a very long winter here in dairyland.  It's almost a sad time for me... the finality of the warm days.  But that's life.  And we must remember above all else that, "Life is Good" - even when the darkness looms at 4:30 and the temps hover around ten degrees below freezing, and the wind is howling.  Summer will return.  Eventually...