Patio Camp

Last weekend I went patio camping. I'd been thinking about "sleeping out", as we used to call it, for several days, because the nights had been warm, dry, and still. Last summer I had slept outside on a mattress in a homemade tent, but this year I had a nice modern air mattress that I picked up when my sister and her family visited a couple weekends before. So after dinner one night, and after a bit of Internet research, I bought a $70 tent at a local department store. The sleep out was on!

As the sun set I began assembling the tent. Because I was actually setting it up under the covered patio in our backyard, I didn't have to fuss with the rain guard, or whatever it's called. I had the thing up and ready to go in about 15 minutes. I inflated my mattress, threw it in the tent, tossed in some sheets, a blanket, and a pillow, and voila! I was ready for my camp out! Anne and the doggies came out to see the finished product. Anne allowed that it really was a pretty nice tent, though she still preferred her bed. The dogs were cautious and had to be lifted in. After exploring the insides and the familiar bedding, they left to spend the night with Mommy.

So I passed a very pleasant night in my tent. I couldn't see outside my tent, but I could hear. I heard a pool party somewhere, motorcycles, airplanes, distant dogs, train whistles... and then, birds singing as dawn arrived. Around 6 a.m. I heard Anne let the dogs out. They were soon poking their snouts into the sides of the tent, all around, and snorting, trying to find a way in. I unzipped a small ground-level vent, which Rufus and Lucie took to be a doggie door. They rushed in all excited with wet feet from the dewy grass, and proceeded to jump all over me and each other. What a fun wake-up call!

So friends, I recommend sleeping out now and then. Sure it's a lot of work, and you're sleepy the next day, but it is somehow therapeutic. It gives you perspective or something. And anyway it's a lot of fun, even in your own backyard.

The Good Old Summer Time

It's late July in northern Ohio, and summer is in full bloom. Almost everything is going on now: lightning bugs, flies, blooming flowers, mosquitoes, cicadas, ripening apples, butterflies. Not too many yellow-jackets, and no crickets yet, but these will come along in the next few weeks. There is a sense of fullness, of accomplishment, a sense of peace that I perceive in this time of year, a sense that keeps getting stronger right into August.

As I drive to work each morning I notice how the summer flowers have changed over time, in a slow, almost imperceptible way. A couple weeks ago I noticed all the orange daylilies growing along the road. They reminded me of childhood vacations with my family, driving to cabins at Pymatuning State Park.

Then, a little later, I started seeing chickory along the road. This is a beautiful blue flower that is only open in the morning, unless protected by heavy shade. It's about the only blue flower in the area, so it really stands out.

DAYLILY

CHICKORY

Now I'm seeing Queen Anne's Lace added to the mix, another flower from my childhood. I used to find it growing in the fields where I would wander.

I know from summers past that as July gives way to August, I will start to see some deep purple ironweed start to mix in with the white Queen Anne's Lace.

QUEEN ANNE'S LACE

IRONWEED

Then goldenrod will start blooming in late summer. It makes a beautiful color combination - the yellow goldenrod, purple ironweed, and green leaves. Although it is still summer, this combination means summer is getting old and will soon be drawing to a close.

Then, when you can sense autumn in the air on certain mornings, you notice that the tall purple ironweed has been replaced by bushy purple asters, maintaining the yellow, purple, green color combo. Finally, the first poison ivy leaves begin turning a bright red. This signals the arrival of early autumn, and my favorite time of year.

GOLDENROD

PURPLE ASTER

But now it is nothing but summer. Corn is growing, bees are in the clover, even birds and squirrels seem to be resting. This is a really nice time of year.