Recently, I camped for four nights in a local county park. That’s my cute tent, and cute camp chair and adorable camp booties. Every adventure needs good shoes.
This campground is lovely, but by no means wilderness. You can see and hear the other campers around you. So, it’s nature, and also you have to work with your gaze to immerse yourself. Look up, for example,
or hike a path through the woods.
Woods, in this case, meaning coastal redwoods.
I was not surprised to love the tang of needles underfoot, the oval-leafed underbrush, the branching ferns or the red-gray fox by the road as we drove up. I love sleeping outside with no roof in sight, but even people who hate tents love the out-of-doors.
However, I didn’t expect to love the communism.
No, no, at large scale I remain an avowed believer in Elizabeth Warren’s “well-regulated capitalism.” (I would add, “with a robust safety net.”) But camping works when “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.” And the necessary cooperation, the collaboration in everything from putting up tents to rinsing forks, feels deeply sustaining to me.
I also loved the sheer number of chores. Weird, right? I I am so sick of my own kitchen I can’t tell you. But at the campsite, the feeding and washing of dishes calmed me because it had to be done and I had good company. Calming to cook what we had planned, nothing more, even though it meant we ate a ridiculous number of grilled red and yellow peppers.
Absent the anxiety of choice it’s hard to feel existential angst. When every task is shared, it’s hard to feel resentment. Our first couple of nights with bad fire-making did make for a lot of smoke and reddened eyes, but small price to pay.
Have a good weekend everyone. The sound of a creek is perfect and other people aren’t always annoying.
16 Responses
How beautiful and serene! I love the forest path and little pebbles in the stream, and I’m so glad you and the other campers enjoyed spending time with each other and Mother Nature. Removing modern life’s many “convenient” annoyances has a funny way of showing us that maybe the people aren’t the problem — the lack of true connection and cooperation toward common goals is. Don’t you think?
Have a peaceful, beautiful weekend. <3
I absolutely surely do think:).
How beautiful. I love that you were there. This is such familiar scenery to me, having gown up in splendid Northern California. Urban settings, with walks to parks and shore are my daily favorite, but I have been thinking that I need a trip to a cool fragrant forest in the autumn. I hope I can find one here, near Seattle, with maybe a cabin for me instead of a tent since I’ll be on my own. My parents camped with us regularly in breathtaking Western locations where my dad was mapping. It was a rare privilege. I was lucky. Of their four kids I was the least enthusiastic, but I think memories of the beauty, the food, the hikes, the late night near the fire are the most elevated and vivid for me. Turns out I loved those day more than I understood. Happy Saturday to you, Lisa. xo.
A cabin in the forest sounds beautiful. “Turns out I loved those days more than I understood.” That, for me, is both elevated and vivid. xox
The internet would call today’s post a “timeline cleanse,” sounds like it was for you in real life, as well.
Don’t discount the presence of the “red-gray fox by the road” as you were arriving. I’ve long read the symbolism around fox sightings in nature, here’s one: “The fox can represent the ability to navigate complex situations, trust one’s instincts, and find creative solutions to challenges.”
In case an ounce of doubt remains in everything you’ve planned for The Wedding, let that fox serve as an affirmation that you’ve done everything exactly right. That’s what he was telling you: good job, MOB, carry on as you were.
Next up after The Wedding, dealing with this: “I am so sick of my own kitchen I can’t tell you.” A new kitchen for you, my dear. The fox agrees with me.
OK then, I LOVE THAT FOX! SO MUCH!
Thank you Flo:). Also, I regret to inform you that any new kitchen for me needs to be in someone else’s house and they make the food and send it to me;). The fatigue is real.
I’ve been thinking about this. Do you know I feel the same way? I’m tired of going to the grocery, tired of deciding what to keep in the pantry/refrigerator, tired of deciding what to make for meals. We know there’s a better use of our time, and yet…some people LOVE to cook!
That’s why I think this might be a good topic for a full post [MUCH!] later in the Fall.
Perhaps:). I used to love to cook. I was just thinking about why I feel differently now…
I love camping partly because it focuses one on the tasks are truly important, feeding ourselves and creating shelter. Mostly I love it because nature is calming.
Yes to all of this. Focusing on the tasks that are truly important, in nature. Sigh. Just saying that makes me happy.
My husband’s a long-distance hiker, and being out there really strips away the unnecessary, doesn’t it?
Our nuclear family is this odd combination of the communism you describe — from each according to their ability, to each according to their need — and the type of anarchy that’s against rulers but not rules. The latter took a lot of pressure off when my kids were little, let me tell you. One “because I said so” and my credibility would’ve been shot!
What a beautiful interlude. Sounds like exactly what you needed. Hope some of the magic followed you back to your everyday.
It does strip away all that does not matter. I wish I were a long-distance hiker! Maybe someday. I’d love to actually backpack in to a lake in the High Sierra and spend a few nights. I did Outward Bound in high school, it was a required program, and I hated it. Now I’d kill to be able to hike 50 miles through the mountains above Yosemite in a week! Your nuclear family sounds like a work of art:).
Hello Lisa, Did you look for gold in that creek? In California, you never know!
–Jim
Ha! No. But if we ever make it up to Calaveras County maybe I will;).
Being outside in a beautiful forested location is restful and calming. The solitude, quiet, stillness, and the gentle sounds of a breeze in the treetops is very Zen.
We all need this type of departure from the noisy, fast-moving pace of everyday life.
Enjoy Lisa!
Thank you!