July 12, 2008

Rainy Day Plan

People are often amazed to hear that we camp for two weeks in our tent. Here's the secret: rainy days can actually be fun! The trick is to have some cool stuff planned that you'll ONLY do if it rains... it gets to the point where you're almost eager for the rain to start. (The other secret is to pack plenty of tarps, ropes and bungees.)

One of this year's rainy day options looks something like this:



Don't tell our young men... we don't want them to start rooting for rain quite yet.

July 11, 2008

Gone Campin'

Yes, it's that time of year again... we hear the ocean calling our names, and we are outta here! You can leave us messages in the comments below (although we probably won't read them until we get back), or, even better...

Send us snailmail at camp! Last year we got tons of mail and it was SO GREAT! If you're reading this between July 11th and July 20th, here's your big chance to make our day at camp.

Send a little note (and/or dark chocolate!) to:
Riendeau-Krause campers, site 19-I
c/o North of Highland Campground
52 Head of the Meadow Road
P.O. Box 297
North Truro, MA 02652-0297

If you'd prefer, you can call the camp and ask them to leave us a note on the camp message board, which is also a big thrill. That number (good from July 13th through the 24th or so) is 508/ 487-1191, and office hours are pretty much all day with the exception of meal breaks from noon-1pm and again from 6-7pm.

Even if you don't have a chance to send a message our way, we know we can count on you to send warm and sunny thoughts... right? And a special thanks to the excellent neighbors who are keeping watch on our little house until we get back.

Let the family togetherness begin!

(For those among you who might enjoy a little vicarious camping,
links to the the photo essays from the last two years are here and here.)

July 08, 2008


summer nights —
falling asleep to the drips
of the day's swimsuits

(We have pretty much been living at the pool;
only an act of will kept us home tonight
to set up our tents in preparation for the upcoming trip.
Cross-posted over at Summer Haiku 2008.)

July 07, 2008

(flickr/ Chris Jones)

broken windows —
each empty house
someone's story

(Thanks to the folks at One Single Impression
for their continuing inspiration.)


July 03, 2008

Little moments and big thoughts

summer roof rack —
two bicycles, a surfboard,

and a rocking chair

(You can't make this stuff up, folks.
Cross-posted over at Summer Haiku 2008.)

Leo Babauta over at Zen Habits has a post up today about life goals, asking folks to post their top three in the comments (yet another example of the new internet rule: the genius is in the comments).

Here's what I said:

Keep matchmaking.

Keep writing haiku.

Be present to myself and others.

I'm not sure how stable this list is, but it's interesting to think about.


Head on over and chime in, if you're so inclined...