June 15, 2008

Catching up on sleep

Nights are cool at camp, especially in early summer when the still icy river puts a chill in the breezes that sweep across the water. Inside the tent, I pile blankets, old quilts, and ancient sleeping bags to snuggle into. My father always says, "These nights are great for sleeping." All the fresh air and exercise and sunshine of the daytime makes me so tired that I fall to sleep within minutes of finding a comfortable spot on the floor of the tent.

When you sleep in a tent, you wake at first light, with the songbirds of the marsh making more noise than any alarm clock ever could. On cold days, I'll wake up early to eat breakfast and then drag a blanket out into the sunny field, where I can stretch my body into the warmth and let the sunlight massage me.

At home, Boy in Black and Older Neighbor Boy are nocturnal creatures, often playing the guitar or biking in the middle of the night, but at camp they both went to bed right after we doused the campfire, which was not much past ten o'clock. I wasn't surprised to find them napping under the pine trees after breakfast. I think their bodies needed to recover from the shock of a decent night's sleep.

Morning nap

7 comments:

jodi said...

My husband is trying to get us to change our body clocks for the trip to Germany. He and our older son are having little trouble. The youngest and I are having a harder time.

I like the idea of piling the blankets and the quilts on the ground. Sounds comfy.

Gawdess said...

I want to go out and lie in the sun, I am making an appt. with myself to do that this afternoon!

Horace said...

I so love your camp posts: makes me excited for our trip to Canada next month. We'll be driving by your way again. Perhaps this year we'll even coordinate a little meet-up?

That is, if you're not napping!

jo(e) said...

Horace: Send me an email with your schedule as soon as you know when you're coming through. I'd love to plan a meet-up!

YourFireAnt said...

Yeah, and hang onto your clothes. You know all about Jo(e), I'm sure.

FA

Mike's Travels said...

The shock of a decent nights sleep... that's what I could do with!

This I Do...

Silver Creek Mom said...

Sleep. Ah you make me want to pull out the tent and sleep outside. We have to bring out soon MY beautiful daughter is having a 18th Birthday bash...Hopefully with not more than 20 people. She is pretty well liked. Sigh.