about bliss

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

daily bliss: backyard tent

I've been driving around the greater Midwest for the better part of a year with my tent in the trunk of my car. Late last summer I planned a three week stint in Michigan and was hopeful that I would camp somewhere along the way. I never did. And, I never brought the tent back inside.

In preparation for camping out soon, I decided to air out the tent. I set it up in my parents' yard, as I'm currently visiting them and they have a lot more yard space than I do.

Once the tent was assembled--a 3 minute process--I unzipped the doors and climbed inside. Suddenly, I was transported back to childhood, and endless summer afternoons spent sitting inside our family's canvas Sears tent, with my hard red plastic "briefcase" full of art supplies, drawing dress after dress, and imagining my grown up life as a fashion designer.

I rolled up the doors to let the warmish breeze blow fresh air through the tent, and climbed back out. I headed for the porch and my stack of books and notebooks, and set about making presentation notes for my grown up life as a scholar.

5 comments:

  1. I have a few smallish kin who would LOVE to sleep outside with you if you promiced to protect them from coyotes, snakes and such. You could pop corn and read into the wee hours of the night by lantern while I sleep peacefully in your bed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. hee! i heard about the tenting at your place:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. So...you pitched a tent right there?

    Hey, good practice for THIS WEEKEND...YAAAAAAY.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Darcy and I totally camped out in the front yard last week - it was GREAT. You should definitely do it for a change!

    Or maybe just use it as an alternative office? No reason you can't make notes in a tent...

    ReplyDelete
  5. wishokie, yes, it was good practice. i needed to remember how to set it up:)

    kiki, i think it would be super fun to sleep out in the yard!

    ReplyDelete