Words are inadequate

So, camping. First time in six years, second time since moving to Vancouver in 2011.

I've missed this, is my main takeaway. I've missed trees and water and cool morning air, tea and oatmeal outdoors for breakfast and sitting by a fire late into the night. I've missed being surrounded by green, I think. Pac-NW green is quite a bit different from Appalachia but the sense is the same.

My thirty-year-old backpacking stove has sadly given up the ghost: the plastic pump assembly has sheared in a way that's non-trivial to repair. Doesn't look like anyone is selling pump assemblies for stoves that were finicky and outdated thirty years ago, either. I'll need to get a replacement stove before the next time.

And in the chaos of packing the car and departing we managed to leave the sleeping bag behind. Thankfully a campground full of car-camping pagans is well equipped with cloaks and things, and Erin was able to scrounge up enough bedding to keep us from freezing. Honestly, as things to forget go the sleeping bag was likely the least problematic. The tent and air mattress worked great (the shock-cords in the tentpoles are no longer elastic, which is annoying but not terminal), and we had a sufficiency of food and flashlights.

Spent a bit more time talking with a range of people I'd met once or twice in passing, which was lovely. It wasn't the auto-click I get on rare occasions (most recently Fourth Street) but it was still quite good. Saturday was basically a perfect temperature for camping under trees, which meant it wasn't quite as warm as I would have liked for going into the river. Not that that stopped me.

I had Experiences and Conversations and much of those defy easy description. I brought a lovely spiced mead to share. Everyone who tasted it got wide-eyed and said "This is GREAT!" which was rather gratifying.

The fires are certainly still A Thing; on Sunday morning the sun was a dull angry red from the smoke.

One of the things I love about camping is the way it rewards minimalism and having the right tools. (Where "right" is of course highly subjective.) For instance, I'd forgotten that ages ago I'd bought a silicone bowl and cup, which are the perfect camping dishes: lightweight-ish, multipurpose, easy to pack and easy to clean. Or my "chair" which is two pads held together by straps and reinforced with metal struts: cushioning and back support, in a flat package. No legs, so one has to be comfortable with sitting on the ground, but that's never been a problem for me. It's just so great to have everything I need in a small package right there. Makes me feel secure and comfortable.

There's not really enough room in the apartment to properly dry out the tent etc, but it didn't rain so just hanging it loosely seems to have done the trick.

Erin's staying a couple of days with Sherry who does pottery. She's then coming back up on Wednesday to hang out here for a couple of days before we drive north. I'm looking forward to that as well.

And then uilos and I spent the weekend before last camping at Assateague, because the correct time of year to do that is just after Labor Day. I mean, assuming you don't get hurricaned out, which is what happened last year.

( Camping! )

The Big Short, and the Enormity of the World Economy Explained by Pop Culture References: "I already had a comfortable grasp of mortgage backed securities, collateralized debt obligations, and credit default swaps, so the technical details were (mostly) easy reading. That said, I hit one point a third of the way through that I had to read three times before it clicked, and when I could finally say that I understood what I'd just read, I felt I'd wandered into a story about an ancient sunken city that will rise again when the stars are aligned." An explanation of what the hell happened to the economy over the past (decade? Five years? Something).

Facebook's Eroding Privacy: A Timeline: "To help illustrate Facebook's shift away from privacy, we have highlighted some excerpts from Facebook's privacy policies over the years. Watch closely as your privacy disappears, one small change at a time!"

Eighty-degree temps and April should not go together. This is why I lump spring in with summer, and care for neither: because in many of the places I've lived late spring takes on the worst aspects of summer, far too quickly.

We can make it rain again and feel like I belong
Let's make it cold again I'm not ready and it's wrong

I've progressed from "run five minutes, walk three, run five, walk three, run almost-five" to "run for twenty-plus straight through" in about a month. I feel like this is a bit faster than I usually take to reach this point. It's certainly earlier in the running season than ever before, thanks to ridiculous weather. I may end up having to take July and August off instead of collapsing from heat exhaustion.

Last weekend we went and saw The Losers, a surprisingly decent action movie based loosely on a comic book. Fails the Bechdel test, of course; on the other hand, of the eight main characters, two are black and two are some variety of Hispanic, so yay. Recommended, not least because if enough people go see it maybe they'll actually make the two sequels they've quite obviously contracted for.

MAX: You know that twelve-man fire team I asked for? Change of plans. Kill them.
WADE: . . . kill them?
MAX: Or fire them. Whichever's easier.
WADE: Honestly, firing them would be easier.
MAX: Did you brief them on the Clay situation?
WADE: Of course.
MAX: Aaand we're back to killing them.

(Please do not mention Aisha's transformation from "blood-crazed Afghani terrorist" to "generic Hollywood action chick," as it will only make me froth at the mouth.)

There was also camping, featuring a good fire, tasty food, and Seth's abortive attempt to walk on water. Good times.

I don't really know what this weekend will bring but I suspect I'll be staying in for a good bit of it.

After getting poured on over Labor Day you'd think camping would go a little better this time.

( Not so much, really. )

It's easy enough to say "don't post on topics that may inspire lots of comments on a day when you aren't going to be around to continue a fairly fascinating conversation." Only, who knows what those topics may turn out to be? Which is to say, lots of good stuff from last Friday, and thank you all.

I ran off that weekend to have my shoulder looked at. The one that's been bothering me for, um, around eighteen months now. The physical therapist has me doing stretches and things to generally improve my posture, which can only be to the good. Having actual instructions other than 'don't slouch' (those being 'drop your shoulders' and 'tighten your shoulderblades together') is likely to help matters.

Also visited the Canadian embassy in DC and got told that only the Buffalo office handles immigration matters. Waste of a perfectly good afternoon.

After that, uilos and I headed off to the wilds of Pennsylvania for a weekend of camping. Said weekend mostly consisted of things that didn't work out quite as anticipated but were really good anyway. Getting locked out of one campground ("oh, we don't actually open for camping for another two weeks. yeah, you're not the first people to try this after reading the website. sorry about that") and driving another 30 minutes to another. A BRIDGE OUT detour that took us through crazy back roads (and thank gord for the Device, as without it we'd never have realised that the detour kicked us out further north on 82 than we needed to be). Enough rain that the picnic table oozed water when we sat on it, but still a mostly-dry Satyrday for hiking and campfire. (Which was its own Experience, as the wood had really only had time to dry out on the outside. I don't think I've ever had that much trouble making a fire before.) Also, protip: do not refrigerate the two-year-old marshmallows, as this causes them to become like unto chewy sticky rocks. Even after toasting.

The rain dripped through much of Sunday morning while we were breaking camp, and then opened up on us as we loaded the last of the things into the car. Rather decent of it, I thought.

Once loaded we met up with tamnonlinear for a run through the Brandywine Museum (a gorgeous converted mill), featuring various Wyeths and most importantly a wonderful Edward Gorey exhibit. Plenty of illustrations from the books; also, decorated envelopes from letters to his mother, a handful of sketchbooks, and Gorey's fur coat. Then lunch (french toast, despite the name, should probably not be made from french bread; the pancakes, on the other hand, were nothing short of amazing), and an enjoyable ramble through the Book Barn. And then home, through more rain. (We waved to elvenyukiryu as we passed Avondale but were too exhausted and wet to stop and say hi.)

In all, an immensely pleasant weekend. The tent has been set up on the porch since Sunday evening. At this point I'm starting to wonder if it will ever have a chance to dry out.

Looks like Wednesday is in the process of winning over Monday for Seven Samurai, both because I'm not going to be in Greenbelt after all and because pirates plus samurai in the same day would be a bit of overkill. So, 5/30 at 9:20 PM. Moorenko's is a pretty serious hike, but perhaps the Ben&Jerry's would do for pre-samurai ice cream. Say, 8:30 on Wednesday?

For about the last year and a half (since the final cleaning-out of Pop's house) my father has been unable to use his garage, as it's filled with furniture. I suspect this is starting to wear on him a bit. A few weeks ago I was invited to take away with me any of the camping/backpacking stuff I wanted to.

The last time I went backpacking was probably twelve years ago. I've been camping more recently than that but not for at least five years. Regardless, digging through all the old stuff seems to have sparked a desire for "outside, /now/." So uilos and I are going camping this weekend. We shall see if it's just a momentary touch of madness or if I actually /do/ enjoy it all.

At the very least I've gotten a neat origami bowl and cup out of it.