best vacation day ever
The best things in life are said to be free, but I never really subscribed to that theory when it came to vacation. Camping is one of my worst skills. Roughing it lost its charms for me some smelly cottage many years ago, wait that might have been Larry's old cottage on Half Moon Lake... Anyway I just spent the most I have ever spent on a vacation rental, baring the airfare plus rental for Hawaii, and really it was a great spot, but ruined by the spirit of glacial Michiganian waters. Four thousand dollars, free internet, a room for every child and I wanted swimmable water too!
Today was redemption, almost free and less than five miles from home. We set off early to pick blueberries, plunk, plunk, plumpf. This is a zen experience that reveals the appreciation of so many things, not the least of which is the age of my children, and their absence from this experience. After listening to a couple of acres of kids in various stages of conversation & bickering, one poor child fell in a bog, punctuated by the kind of hysterical screaming that would have sent most parents into hyperdrive. However, it seems the zen of harvesting purple berries had subdued this mother way beyond valium. Several rows away we heard the whole hysterical experience recounted by poor Christina who had chased a frog into what she thought was a road, and later we saw her covered from head to toe in muck. The mother of course could hardly tear herself away from the berries, so we heard the complaints over and over as we also tried to drag ourselves away from the bounty. Now 7 pounds ($1.25 per pound) of berries richer, we could laugh and laugh, as only distanced on-lookers can.
A quick stop at home to drop berries into the fridge and pack a lunch, we took off again for a quick dip. Pickeral Lake was barely populated, and the temperate waters (despite one very misguided swimmer's exclaim) silky and relaxing. Finally I got to float on my new air mattresses and experience that weightless release of water, sun and blue sky levitating the spirit. Less than $20 and we had the perfect vacation experience. Things to remember. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Today was redemption, almost free and less than five miles from home. We set off early to pick blueberries, plunk, plunk, plumpf. This is a zen experience that reveals the appreciation of so many things, not the least of which is the age of my children, and their absence from this experience. After listening to a couple of acres of kids in various stages of conversation & bickering, one poor child fell in a bog, punctuated by the kind of hysterical screaming that would have sent most parents into hyperdrive. However, it seems the zen of harvesting purple berries had subdued this mother way beyond valium. Several rows away we heard the whole hysterical experience recounted by poor Christina who had chased a frog into what she thought was a road, and later we saw her covered from head to toe in muck. The mother of course could hardly tear herself away from the berries, so we heard the complaints over and over as we also tried to drag ourselves away from the bounty. Now 7 pounds ($1.25 per pound) of berries richer, we could laugh and laugh, as only distanced on-lookers can.
A quick stop at home to drop berries into the fridge and pack a lunch, we took off again for a quick dip. Pickeral Lake was barely populated, and the temperate waters (despite one very misguided swimmer's exclaim) silky and relaxing. Finally I got to float on my new air mattresses and experience that weightless release of water, sun and blue sky levitating the spirit. Less than $20 and we had the perfect vacation experience. Things to remember. Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.