Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Blissful Camping

The weather here in GEW-town was beautiful this weekend. By that, I mean it was sunny, nearly 70 degrees, and not too windy. This is all quite impressive when you consider that, between October 2010 and September 2011, the temperature in my town never reached 70 degrees. Cold. Fog. Rain. Wind. That has been our coastal weather until just the past few weeks.

So, despite the fact that I had an incredible amount of work to this weekend, I jumped on board with plans to go camping in a secret special spot with our family and one other family. Because of that decision, the delicate balance that I spoke of a few days ago has been completely lost. I am behind with work, we have no clean clothes, and there is nothing for the kids to eat for breakfast or take to school in their lunches.

But it was so worth it. I'm not sure I've ever camped in a more relaxing, beautiful, blissful spot. Our travel to the spot also involved a short water crossing, which was managed by kayaks and a sailboat. And the water was beautiful.

I did, however, take some papers to grade (double bagged in plastic inside a backpack--just in case the water crossing didn't go so well), but even that wasn't too bad. I had a great view as I read the essays.

But now, it's back to reality. I have an accelerated class ending next week, so there will be a lot of grading over the next few days. I also have a conference next week that will interrupt the flow of it all (but will provide a couple of nights in a hotel room, and, at this point, I don't think I have to share!). And I want to maintain steam on dissertation work. But I feel recharged by the weekend and ready to go.

Carrying on!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You are the only *other* person I know who would take papers to grade on a camping trip. Here's a tip for next time: hole punch them, and take them in a binder so they don't blow away and you have a stable background to write on.

My big exam is in exactly 3 weeks. OMG. This is when I need my noggin to be a sponge.
unicorn the study machine