Sunday, February 10, 2008

A visit from Holly

My pal Holly, yes, the newly-wed Holly, came to visit this weekend, arriving Friday evening after the snowstorm, and leaving Sunday after Saturday night's snowstorm.

She and Dan greeted me at the door with a margarita after my harrowing drive home, in which I narrowly missed being squashed between 2 SUVs in a 20-car pileup on the highway. Fortunately, I knew a back way home, and after 45 minutes of inching 2 miles along, I exited and took a back road and avoided the hours of waiting for traffic to clear.

We had a quiet weekend, what with all the snow, but had lots of fun cooking (apricot ginger scones), playing cards, a church supper with friends and more cards, and lots of laughter. Our new, larger tent had arrived, and Holly helped us set it up and check it out -- after all, only 37 more days until spring! Plans call for a joint camping trip somewhere with Holly and Dave next summer.

The new tent is big. It has a bit more floor space than my trusty 20+ year old Eureka (99x80 vs 90x60) and a lot more headroom. I think we could fit the old Eureka inside. I wish the new tent had mesh doors with a zip up cover like my Eureka tent did, but it is a nice neutral color. The thought of spending a rainy day in an orange and yellow tent is enough to make me take up drinking, so the soothing pale gray and navy of the new tent look good. Another reason to be counting the days until spring....

4 comments:

Meg said...

Ah, a test run of the new tent. I read the first two lines your post, saw the tent, and thought, "Damn, she makes her houseguests sleep in her yard in February?"

But then I read the rest and figured it out. That tent is awesome!

Anonymous said...

I kept looking at the first picture and wishing it was larger so I could see the quilt better. Tent? Oh.... Alright then, obviously it's time for my first cup of coffee! Great tent! Steve would like to go camping. I keep putting it off because I'm afraid of being eaten by a huge pissed of bear or a rabid rabbit while I sleep. ;)

Ali said...

Actualy, Meg, Holly beat me so badly at cards on Friday I was threatening the barn would be her bed, maybe with an old blue tarp if she was lucky. But I relented, after all, we've been friends for over half our lives, now....

Robin, have you ever read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods? He writes about preparing to defend himself from bears with his nailclippers in a passage so funny I nearly wet my pants when I read it. Trust me, if that guy can hike the AT and camp out, you could certainly manage it!

You, though, as a farmer are so close to the natural world you may not need to go camping to appreciate it. A nice B&B might be just the ticket!

Anonymous said...

Yo, people:

If you trounce your Henbogle hostess at cards, you may not get a full set of sheets for the guest bed, even if she doesn't make you sleep in the barn in the wood shavings. Just consider it fair warning before you demonstrate your prowess from decades of tutelage from your family of card sharps.

However, I’d gladly sacrifice having a top sheet for either the Henbogle House apricot ginger scones OR H.H. banana bread, and, lucky me, I had both. (and card sharp bragging rights!)

O.