Notes from a sleeping bag
Here's a first: Tonight we're blogging from a tent. A big old mansion-like family tent, lent to us by a friend. The whole clan is on hand. The moon looks pretty full, and it's got a planet next door. The lanterns are turned off, and they weren't really needed.
One of the local guys came around and made us as welcome as could be. He even brought us some of his awesome homemade salsa to go with his stories of growing up in this place. He and his foundling dog have a little comedy routine that was a big hit. Probably done it hundreds of times.
Several things about this fellow reminded us of a friend of ours who passed on last year. We're listening to several levels of messages all at once.
We shared of a bottle of red wine that showed up just today, as a thank-you for a good deed. A nice coincidence.
The night air is telling us that summer's checking out. We hate to see it go, but we won't clutch at it desperately. We had some deep drinks of it this year, and fall is always a blast anyway.
The traffic on the nearby road has stopped now. The air is still, cool, damp and quiet, in true western Oregon fashion. There may be better places to hang out, but at the moment, it's hard to think of one.
| Posted at 11:59 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (12)
You're a talented writer, Jack.
It sounds like the narrator's wrap-up of a Wonder Years episode.
Posted by BillyBob | September 4, 2009 6:14 AM
And you would deny Moammar Qaddafi this enchanting experience?
Posted by Allan L. | September 4, 2009 8:07 AM
I can see why Moammar likes this big tent thing. Except for the local roosters at 4:30 a.m.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 4, 2009 8:13 AM
Thank you for sharing this with your audience. Enjoy your time with the family. Oregon is indeed a wonderful place to experience the outdoors.
Posted by jmh | September 4, 2009 9:16 AM
It's nice you could go camping to get away one last time before summer officially ends.
The rest of us woke up to see that the "O" sold the front page of this mornings paper to Standard TV for advertising. Sign of the times.
Posted by PD | September 4, 2009 9:43 AM
It's funny, I finally decided to cancel home delivery of the Oregonian last night and awoke to find that ... a little message from the gods saying "good move." Wrappers like that are just the dead-tree equivalent of pop-up ads ... I can get those on line, I sure don't need to pay for them.
Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | September 4, 2009 11:01 AM
It's a rare person nowadays who knows a planet from a star. I think that's Jupiter, & it's magnificent, even in the burbs with the streetlights.
Posted by Morbius | September 4, 2009 12:53 PM
Jack,
You take your puter camping? There must be some time when you turn it off. I personally want you to keep up the posts but perhaps you should consider taking a breath.
I will be floating down the Middle Fork of the Salmon next week. No phones, computers, nada bupkis
Posted by Dean | September 4, 2009 12:56 PM
Other people read fiction. Jack blogs. So long as the missus doesn't mind, stay at it.
Posted by BillyBob | September 4, 2009 2:42 PM
This post was done on my iPhone. Pretty unobtrusive.
Posted by Jack Bog | September 4, 2009 4:42 PM
Keep the tent handy, your family and friends close, and the nose of the camel probing under the tent not so much. Add: Seeing Costco now sells Emergency Food and Crisis Kits, Survival (eFACKS?) -- 1 person, 3 days, 15 bucks.
... times family of 4 ... times 'How long you want, 30 days?' ... including barbecued rooster? camel chops? ...
Posted by Tenskwatawa | September 4, 2009 5:43 PM
I plan to leave my computer at home next weekend when camping at Wallowa Lake with family. It will be the first time back for us since 9/11 - the trip I missed due to car troubles the night before the planned departure. I understand it was quite eerie - the State Parks folks let campers know what was going on, and the RVers with satellite TV kept everyone updated.
I hope to not see anything remotely momentous next weekend.
Posted by umpire | September 7, 2009 4:08 PM