Camping to Cleans the Soul

  My husband Matthew and I got to the camp site in the deep woods (not too hard to find here in Vermont). Only to realize that we forgot to bring dry wood with us and all the wood there was wet. We had plenty of birch bark to start the fire and some dry twigs, but those only burn for so long. Luckily not far down the dirt road was some family friends who let us have some dry wood.
  I took this picture of a pieces of a chainsawed tree. It has an interesting pear shape, but it reminded me on The Buddha sitting in lotus. I've always been fascinated with the different shapes of trees and what they look like after they've been cut down.
  We did get the fire going eventually, Matt chopped the wet wood smaller and stacked it close to the fire so it could dry out, that only worked so well though. Most of the wood did dry out, but there was still some that was too stubborn to dry
out all the way. But, we had fire until the day we left, so it all worked out in the end.
  After we established fire we set up our tent in the back of our pick up truck. All you need is a couple tarps, some poles to hold them up, bungees and rope/twine (and bedding too).


  This was dinner, gluten free dumplings and chicken made in a cast iron dutch oven (thank you Mom for letting us borrow it). I wish we had of brought people, this dutch oven could feed a small tribe. It's nice to have other people on fire duty too, and to play card games and such.

  Regardless it was nice to just be out in nature to recharge our batteries. We were lucky to have such nice weather, sunny and warm, but not too warm with the right amount of breeze. The peace and quiet along with the view brought a calmness to my soul. I wish I could live out in those woods forever. I understand why Henry David Thoreau preferred the woods to his modern society. I got the peace I needed to finish rewriting two of my poems and I was inspired to write two more.

  This was our breakfast, bacon, red potatoes, onions, and eggs seasoned with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I had to cut everything with a bayonet, we forgot a normal cutting knife at home. It all worked out in the end. I love cooking out on the open fire, even with the face full of smoke. The added smokiness was delicious. 


I did get some exploring in, and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery. Some of the leaves covered in dew sparkled so beautifully in the dawn light. There were a lot of interesting trees and flowers and even this pure white moth. Next time we're going hiking and fishing. This was a nice slow paced mini vacation from everything.

  I'll be posting more of my poems here soon, I hope you enjoy the pictures of the great outdoors.