and we're out of here

i sure hope my posture isn't really like that. had arm around dad.

taken yesterday. thanks be to God; alleluia, alleluia.

a different man

dad and his egg drop soup from main kwong.

i've heard the phrase "he's a different man" used so frequently for dramatic effect that it has lost its impact. precisely how has this person changed? what was he like before?

again, in the interest of vagueness, i'll just say that this guy is displaying a vim and vigor and animatedness that i haven't seen, well, in about a decade?

how animated is he? two days in and he's ready to talk politics again. guhhh ... but in a good way.

again, thanks and praise to you, Lord.

the next weekend

before

just to keep things vague, the hard work of lining up ducks in a row paid off. thank the Lord for miracles, medical and otherwise.

during

and thanks for all the good people placed in our path, including ms carina, who kept us fed, body and soul, throughout the whole process.

after

wedding weekend

flower girl, lector, ring bearer.

so the boy was the ring bearer at a family friend's wedding. (we got a lot of mileage from the anecdote that, upon learning his role in the wedding, he began practicing his growling. why? because he was going to be the "ring bear." i think the whole bridal party heard this by the time rehearsal rolled around.)

he and his sister were gems the whole weekend. while other small people were running around like uncontrollable maniacs, they fidgeted, but stayed seated. this was not unnoticed by other adults, which kris and i took as compliments.

cake-a-holic.

they were rewarded with wedding cake at the reception (and chocolate cake at father's day brunch). they were also finally taken off the rein once the band took the stage and allowed to dance for a few hours with their cousins and mommy and daddy.

tonight, after a long weekend, the boy told me after i kissed him goodnight that his favorite part was "walking up the long lane (aisle)." he said "i was scared at first, so i closed my eyes, but then i wasn't scared anymore, so i opened them."

i think a friend took one shot of me and him together in our smart, dark suits before the wedding started. (i should have told auntie joy to take a pic.) i hope it turned out, so i can upload a copy.

into the woods

sometimes unhappy camper

after returning home this morning, i asked the boy as he was getting cleaned up from his first camping trip how he liked it.

i'd hoped/expected he'd say something effusive, like "best weekend ever."

it was more like, "i didn't like getting scolded all the time."

swinging pointed sticks, poking sides of tent with whatever was in his hands, playing too near the campfire (and almost falling in), spraying water at his sister before a hike, playing with the camp site spigot and creating small streams — the admonishments seemed to go one after another.

creekers

all were minor incidences, but most mishaps, or at least discomforts, begin with something thoughtless and minor. (wet shoes, i tell him, will make a hike miserable, for instance.) he still needs to be told  — repeatedly — that being in the forest isn't as forgiving of a 6-year-old's tomfoolery as being in town.

when asked again at bed time, once he'd gotten a nap and a couple of meals in him, he said he'd had fun.

what the kids liked was what all kids like: fire and water. they were eager to throw handfuls of leaves onto the fire as tinder and equally happy to open the pump to the camp spigot, as well as make big splashes in the creek with their rocks.

what was pleasing to kris and me, though, were the hours the kids spent having pretend adventures around the camp site and at the creek across the road. (they were bummed, though, when one of their walkie talkies quit transmitting, effectively scuttling an emergency rescue drama. only a slight calamity.) kris and me? we both liked being off the grid for a day or so.

almost a good pic from hike

there were smores, hikes and, despite a misfire in sleeping arrangements friday night, good long nights of rest. i even used the open fire to season a cast iron skillet i rehabbed from an apparent rusty demise. we made bacon, crisped up some chicken legs and even made spam the next day. made me happy to lay down a few new layers of fat so quickly.

(seasoning snafu: neglected to give the skillet a proper cleaning after seasoning. kris threw out the first batch of bacon she cooked because black stuff — oil? — was flaking off on the bacon strips.)

(campfire snafu: unthinkingly started with  a tall teepee fire instead of squat, square log cabin fire; the teepee wouldn't allow the grate on the fire ring to properly close. adjusting the logs pretty well killed the roaring fire. also didn't bring enough tinder or kindling to get a second shot, let alone five fires for five meals. jack london wouldn't let mistakes like this pass. also, from my reading on returning home: kindling is different from tinder.)

so i've got a list of things we need to remember to bring/do next time:

• extension cord
• build fire near grate hinge on ring
• stakes (8) (correx: found the tent stakes under the ground cloth when we broke up camp. we were able to make due with the spares i brought.)
• keep pegs outside rings at base of tent
• tablecloth
• wash basin
• log splitting wedge
• no. 8 rustic
• dry branches (lots of them)
• serving spoon
• cutting board
• extra dish towel  (2)

this list will probably grow. hope to get in at least another trip before summer is out.

just before rising

was so pleased this morning, btw, i kept singing "what a wonderful world" on the drive back. praying outdoors in the stillness of the night and morning put me in the mind of the lyric written by bob thiele and george weiss describing "the bright, blessed day and the dark sacred night." such a wonderful line.

and, yeah, what a wonderful weekend. amen and amen. and, as the great satchmo said, ohhh, yeah.

if

a bag of fries left while parked doesn't kill new car smell, two days of campfires with the doors open will.

june loon

game over.

automatic sprinklers kicked in at the fancy trace fork soccer complex. provided a welcome distraction from the boy's team getting pantsed by a more skilled and more competitive group of 6-year-olds.