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.

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.)

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.)

(flickr/ Chris Jones)

broken windows —
each empty house
someone's story

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

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...

Eight Things

Eight random facts about me (random is harder than it seems like it should be!):

• I lived in upstate NY as a kid, but didn't learn to ski until I was in high school. And if it weren't for my friend Woody, who was similarly "behind," I might still be a non-skiier. Thanks, Woody!

• I can only wink one eye, and that one not very well. My Oma was an incredible, equal-opportunity winker, but I didn't inherit that gift.

• I haven't been bored since I learned how to read. (In our home we treat the words "bored" and "boring" as if they were extremely vile curse words.)

• Names matter to me. For the longest time, I didn't like sourdough bread and cheesecake because they sounded horrible. (Now, of course, I love them both.)

• I am actively trying to decrease the number of prized possessions in my life.
  

• I have no pictures of my college graduation; my camera died that day.

• I sometimes miss people I have never met. e.g. Brainy, Octavia Butler...
  

• My favorite animal is the otter.

(Thanks to Kelley for the assignment,
and to Getty's Moodstream for some inspiration.
I don't really do the "pass it on" part of memes,
but if you're so moved, consider yourself tagged.)

(flickr/ atomicshark)

blue hydrangea —
its specific gravity
pulling me in

(Cross-posted at Summer Haiku 2008.)

VoiceThread

I've signed up to lead a few online mini-courses over the summer, and in preparation for that have given myself permission to play around with some technologies that are new to me.





In this case, I combined my noodling with my "to do" list... I've been wanting to do some kind of image-oriented promotion for this amazing Quaker event for at least two years now. Hope folks enjoy it!

(I usually ask friends before I put images
out here on the intertubes,
but haven't gotten to everyone in this show yet...
if you see a picture of yourself and are aghast,
please email me and I'll take care of it.
Oh, and if you're intrigued by VoiceThread,
they're over at voicethread.com, natch.)

Happy Juneteenth!

Read about Juneteenth over here. Or here. One of these years, I want to be there when NJ celebrates in style.

May the good news that has taken so long to reach you arrive today.

Tech Tags: juneteenth