We're wrapping up our summer with some time in Washington. We stayed a few days at a house on Mason Lake, alternating swimming, inept paddling, dozing, eating, playing video games, and watching movies. Cook and I made the girls eat Klondike bars and watch old movies so we could relive our childhood vacations. (This is what children are for, right?)
Went for a short hike at Big Creek. (Staircase is closed, so we'll have to come back another time...)
Another gentle car-camping trip! We camped at Seaquest this time, and hiked the Harry's Ridge trail. None of us except Duchess had seen Mt. St. Helens up close-ish before, and the trail offers a good view of the side of the mountain that blew out in 1980, and the lake where dead trees are still floating. It rained the night we arrived, but Saturday was beautiful, and there were ripe huckleberries and strawberries along the way, and a lot of very nonchalant chipmunks.
We're jamming all of our summer into August. Three camping trips and a house rental! This weekend was the second camping trip, a very gentle local adventure. We did get some river rafting in, which was very fun. Otherwise, mostly hammocks and berry foraging.
I've developed a new facial twitch, and I stayed up till midnight last night finishing the Hilary Mantel trilogy. (Was I sobbing loudly in the bathroom at 11:45, sitting on the step stool, hunched over Thomas Cromwell's execution? Yes I was.) And tonight I attended a video conference meeting hosted by the principal of the middle school, learning about how Skipper will experience her 6th-grade fall. It's really sad and shitty, and I am feeling angry and sad about all of this.
However, Skipper and Dog #4 and I went camping! It was fun.
We're muddling along. Still employed.
Dog #4 goes to his new adoptive home next week, but Skipper and I are taking him camping this weekend. He likes hammocks, so we're hopeful it will go smoothly.
We've invested, like every American family that's still economically okay and has outdoor space, in some outdoor furniture. Trying to be outside so we don't go crazy, and make space where we can socialize with other humans.
Also, we discovered we have a hummingbird nest right in the middle of our yard.
Other than that, no news. Kids will be attending school remotely at least through the end of October, and Cook and I won't be back in a physical office at least till the end of the calendar year. It feels very hard to plan further than a few weeks in the future...
We are alive! Not much to report. Cook has a new job, still in government, but doing a different kind of work. I have the same job. Duchess ...
