Sat 31 Jul 2010
Family: July 31, 2010
Posted by ShazamChi under True Story.
1 Comment
[Continued from "Family: July 30, 2010."]
We were woken up by the sun beating down on the tent and my sister’s voice. My sister talks all the time. She’ll talk to strangers in line at the grocery store. She’ll talk to anyone. She got that from our mother who, before she got sick, was very social. It works in my sister’s favor since she works in sales, but she wasn’t selling anything on a family camping trip and I was in no mood to be woken up by her.
My parents had lent the Viking and I a camp stove, and the Viking brought his French press and pre-measured ground coffee, so we didn’t have to join the rest of the family right away. Mornings are not my thing, and since I don’t drink coffee, I need quiet time to adjust from sleeping to interacting with humans. The Viking seems to understand this and doesn’t demand too much of me in the mornings.
After breakfast, the Viking and I went for a walk with Isis. The Oak Bottom area of Whiskeytown Lake is pretty small, and it was already hot, so our walk wasn’t very long. I was worried that Isis’ pads were burning on the blacktop and I wasn’t sure if my SPF 55 sunscreen was enough to protect me. That, and after seeing the Whiskeytown beach where I had visited multiple times when I was a kid, I got a little sad. Mostly, I was over it.
Thereafter, time moved extremely slowly. The Viking was nice enough to keep my Nalgene bottle full of things that made it easier to deal with my family.
Eventually, my step-brother showed up with his fiancé and their dog. Their dog was much younger than Isis, and liked to swim, so the two dogs pretty much ignored each other after the initial butt sniffing, but she was very cute with soft, floppy ears. Coincidentally, my step-brother’s dog and my step-cousin’s daughter had the same name.
The people with children, my step-sister and my step-cousin, went to the swimming beach with their kids. The rest of us opted to stay at the camp area where it was shady and we had access to water if we wanted it. The Viking had brought his iPad so he spent some time reading. I decided to go out onto the lake on a doughnut-shaped flotation device.
The Viking was bored. I was bored. It seemed like the people with the kids were out at the swimming beach for a long-ass time. It seemed like everything was taking a long time.
My sister’s girlfriend napped. The Viking and I ate some beef barley soup. Not canned soup. No, no. We heated up some beef barley soup that I had made with leftover bones from House of Prime Rib. I make some damn good beef barley soup, a variation of this recipe. I’ll post the recipe, probably in the fall, when beef barley soup is more appropriate. It will be especially appropriate when I’m somewhere where it snows.
We were still bored. I went out on the lake again. Isis laid in the dirt. The Viking read.
Some of the family members came back to our camp sites. We were still bored. I opted to take a nap. It was hot inside the tent so I left the front flap open to get some air flow. This proved to be a mistake; I should have left just the “window” open. The next morning both the Viking and I were woken up by flies … and my sister’s voice.
After napping I swam some more. I was still bored. Time really was moving e x t r e m e l y slowly. The Viking surmised that time moves slower the farther away from civilization one travels. I agreed.
When everyone was back at the camp, and after some rearranging of tents to accommodate my step-brother and his girlfriend, I asked if we were ready to have appetizers.
The Viking and I had agreed to contribute appetizers to Saturday night’s potluck dinner. To that end, the Viking made his very tasty hummus and I made my eggplant bruschetta. We also provided pita bread and baguette to accompany. There were 16 people, including four children, on the camping trip, so the Viking and I brought a lot. A lot. Barely a quarter of what we brought was eaten. Fine, more for us.
After dinner, my sister, step-sister, and step-brother went to my step-brother’s campsite, as that was the one farthest away from the rest of the family. After some talk and a few drinks things got loud. Once standing, I realized I was a tad disoriented. My step-sister felt pity for me and made sure I made it to the Viking and Isis, who were sleeping in our tent.
Once in the tent … yeah, we fucked. I was quiet enough, I think. The campsite closest to us was unoccupied, and the closest tent held my sister and her girlfriend; we had little reason to be quite as quiet as we were the night before. I was a tad noisier, for sure, especially when the Viking fisted me. He does that so well ….
We slept.
To be continued.
I swear. True story.