I took Jewelie camping over the weekend @ Lake Hope . Was a good little bonding trip. Jewelie loves the outdoors just like her Dad. I feel pretty fortunate knowing that at any age, the both of us can always go camping, just the two of us, and rub off a bit on eachother.
We brought all of her painting supplies and she set up on a picnic table in the shade, painting pony's and rainbows and any little insect that would come along. I showed her Pollock's technique and she was soon splattering paint like mad.
I myself had my nose pushed deeply into the Grapes of Wrath. That's where it all started, this capitalistic theme of a weekend. I don't know why but my mind can really wander sometimes, in spider-webs, and everything I see points back to the middle. If I were more into writing this may be a good thing, but I'm not. I work in a cubical at a computer all day, and occasionally snap some pictures. So it's more of a hinderance, it's a phaedrus complex for sure.
The campground had a little outdoor movie theatre set up towards the entrance. The Apple-dumpling Gang showed @ 9:15PM once the sun dipped below the 90 degree tree-line behind the screen. 3 little kids find a big gold nugget, and then all of the townspeople want to adopt them in a big scene. There's a love story in there too, but all I could think about was this big chunk of shiny metal that turns our gears, and how we need it like a squirrel needs an acorn in late fall.
The movie ended late, it was going on 11 and Jewelie was tired. We walked back to the camp-site sans flashlight, I used my lighter to guide us. Jewelie was content, she liked the old movie, she laughed a lot, and was looking forward to marshmallows. She had 4 and went to sleep in the tent. I kept reading my book next to the green Coleman lamp, just like the one Dad had when I went camping as a kid. The moths were out and the lantern was their God for the night, the picnic table was their church. I mark my page at chapter 9 and go to sleep.
An animal of some sort wakes me up @ 6am, I unzip the tent to a blanket of thick fog and the smells of smoldering campfire from the night before. I wake up Jewelie with promises of chocolate doughnuts and gatorade and we head to the lake.
We had the whole place to ourselves save for 4 canadian geese and some fish. The lake was warm for the time of day. Jewelie was playing in the sand, making a big dome of it and then decorating it with little pebbles. I was up to my knees in water taking pictures and watching the fish. There were a school of minnows in the shallow water with lots of energy. They all gathered around a lone piece of bark that had fallen in the lake. The biggest of the fish had claimed this piece of bark and I watched as he chased the smaller ones away for the better part of 5 minutes. I don't know why he/she was so protective of this wood but as he/she was not in the mood for sharing with his/her common fish I picked it up and tossed it onto the beach.
On the way home driving the backroads of Southern Ohio it is very apparent the state that some of us are in. Lives of necessity rather than health and well-being. I saw jack-rabbits strung up for lunch, and tacky blue tarps in unmowed yards hanging for the sole purpose of shade.
So all things considered I don't know what to think of this. Would I have put hundred's of farmers out of work during the dust bowl for my 3 dollars a day on the tractor. I look at Jewelie and decide that I probably would. I look at the fish and realize it's natural. Could things be fixed so that the little fish get some bark too? Sure they can. Will it ever happen though??? I wouldn't hold my breath.
Enough of that, here are some pictures:
