Camping

I am currently getting ready to take the girls camping for a few days. Michael will stay home and "relax" in between working, commuting, and refinishing the deck.

It is a huge job to get ready to camp. My to-do lists are cross-referenced, scribbled in the margins, and being continually updated.

It is taking more time to get ready for this camping trip than we will spend on the trip.

As I prepare to basically move housekeeping outdoors a hundred miles away, I keep thinking of my grandmother, who started life in the "good old days" of wringer washers, flat irons, wood stoves, and kerosene lanterns, but lived to see all manner of modern conveniences.

I don't know why I keep thinking of my grandmother today. Maybe she is giggling away in heaven, observing that tent camping - basically leaving home to work harder than usual just to survive - is a rather odd hobby.

But she was a good sport, so she might think that the star gazing, hiking, swimming, and sitting around the campfire roasting marshmallows would render the effort worthwhile.