evolver, reloaded

Well I am back. Back from what? I cannot say for sure; it always takes a couple of days to digest a vacation. I remember reading a couple of years ago that a person's intelligence actually decreases by a measurable amount when they have been on vacation.

I am glad that I still have ten fingers. I have spent a lot of time outdoors - for the last three days I have been camping on an island with my many in-law relatives in Big Gull Lake, in Ontario. We do this every year, and as I noted earlier, the rite is called 'Family Camp.' There is no electricity, no campground lot or facilities - our camping is quite primitive, but there is a great deal of fun, and usually no small amount of alcohol, for at least the over-eighteens.

My brother in law bounced all the kids around the lake on an inner tube, I spent half my time snorkeling with my younger daughter, and at night, I'd play campfire songs with my brother in law. (I must define what 'campfire songs' means - James Taylor, the Beatles, and Five for Fighting, and not 'Down by the Bay.' ;-)


Last night, nature moved me in the way she regularly does. The moon came up, and the lake turned silver. The few wisps of clouds took on the same silver light, and you could see everything - the way you usually expect the night of a full moon in winter. Around one in the morning, the loons began to sing. Down the lake, they called over and over again, with that long, beautiful echo only a loon call has. The silhouettes of pine trees stood out against the sky. I just lay there for a while in the tent staring at all this, before I fell asleep. As I fell asleep, I wondered what beauty there might be on the surfaces of other planets - if ours can be so beautiful, how different and wondrous must the nights be on other worlds? Is not God wonderful?

Not that every night was like this, of course. The first night was a miserable rain-soaked affair, and many of our tents got wet, even though they were weather-proofed. But you can't enjoy the good parts about camping, if there aren't some grimy and wet moments to go with them. :-)