Camping with Butterflies

I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging, but with no Internet at home, and slow typing via phone, it is not really happening. I have been slowly packing up my office, getting ready to be kicked off campus as the nobly unemployed, and am trying to break up with my office machine as gracefully as possible.

What better way to deal with an Internet addiction than to go out to a technology-free, 1840s reenactment camp?! As my loyal, educated viewers know, photography's announcement was made in late 1839, so alas, I have few pictures to share. I do have many fond memories and new appreciations, such as my new-found respect for cotton, darts, and elastic.

1839 is 125 years older than Alice, but I found she had prepared me for the adventure adequately. No long showers; you have to think about where your pee will go; you have to have fire for cooking; you have to think about how you are going to make fire; you have to take time to set up your camp, and you are living in style if you set up your patio. I think Alice lacks Moonshine, but otherwise, is very similar to our pioneer fore-fathers. (She was about as humid as the tent was in the rain, but like the tent, prevents the water from falling directly on you.)

A fun bonus to camp is the community. Many of the campers have met together for decades, and they form clans or tribes which have close or not-so-close affiliations with other tribes. I happen to have arrived with the chief, which meant we never lacked for company. At one point, I was alone (chief went to fire muzzle-loading musket), and before you knew it, I had a small herd of little girls following me around camp, helping me carry things, playing with the balsa-wood gliders I brought, painting, all with the promise of s'mores and 'scary' stories later.

All-in-all, it was a great trip. I found both the rain and heat made me terribly lazy (much more than my compatriots), but it wasn't frowned upon too much. They did seem pleased I wasn't freaking out too much. They didn't know I had found the perfect pee-bush that was filled with the prettiest orange butterflies, and was quite content to rough it in such pleasant company.