Filling Our Days

And now I shall address the question of what one does to fill the time when one is camping for a month. The answer? Not much.

Physical activity increases. Here we are sitting in the woods, surrounded by nature trails, a half mile from the beach, near a less-traveled oceanside highway with great bike lanes. The added bonus is that exercise keeps you warm when your living room is outside.

Reading is best done in the Teardrop at night after the sun goes down and the temperatures drop. We can watch movies in the Teardrop, too, thanks to Leah’s civilized renovations and a campground with electric in every site. Only one movie so far, Midnight in Paris, which I give two thumbs up and highly recommend especially to romantics and writers.

Cook, eat, wash dishes, repeat. Meals take an extraordinary amount of time to clean up from when you don’t have plumbing and you are taking care not to soak your site with graywater.

We use our cell phones to read Facebook every morning. (Isn’t that how everyone gets the news?)

The biggest surprise has been the nature of creative projects undertaken. We had great plans when we left, but then the picnic table gets all sandy, or damp, or it’s not warm enough outside, or the bugs are bugging me, or we go for a walk and suddenly the sun is setting.

My most important realization has been that writing is a strictly solitary activity for me. Leah and I are together all the time on this trip, thinking out loud, talking, laughing. If this were a solo trip, I’d probably be writing my brains out. But it’s not.

However, I have been surprised – and excited - to find Leah and I writing songs together, a mission often discussed but never fulfilled until now. Don’t underestimate the power of throwing two people with creative tendencies into a small space together for four weeks.

-Amelia