Camp Prepping While Anxious

 I am trying really hard not to lose it, but I am so jumpy and my stomach is so heavy, FOR NO REASON AT ALL. We're in really good shape. I just finished the third of three batches of biscuits, ribs and chicken for 22 are in the freezer (some people cook at camp, but I can't do that, so I cook at home and we do our dinner one of the first nights there). I just have to heat up and then decant my pineapple simple syrup and the food is done. And my hands are still a little bit functional - thanks to the really great super-sharp knives I bought on prime day after the last time I tried to slice the skin off a pork roast and destroyed my hand for four days - and my back is bad but not terrible. That's better than many years. Now we just have to get there and set everything up and there, alas, lies the rub.

Matt convinced me not to cook more rotini for the rotini and grilled corn salad. We always end up with too much food, and I said merrily "oh well, if this is the year we run out, it will be a good story! And then I'd have to kill myself." Matt said "well, at least you have new knives. Seppuku was never so easy". 

My friend Janet asked me to bring her a book for the beach and I am crumbling under the pressure. I started surveying my shelves to find a book for Janet, look for a couple of books I wanted to give Eve, and see if I did have a copy of I Capture the Castle, even though I won't be home in time for the first of Engie's CBBC posts on Monday. I couldn't find I Capture the Castle, which maybe I never had. I couldn't find Mean Boy by Lynn Coady or The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon for Eve, which I absolutely had copies of. I have a nicely compact stack of about twelve books for Janet to choose from. I've asked Matt if we can maybe leave a tent at home so I can bring more books. 

I have to pack the super-bright camping lantern which, during the year, I commandeer to help paint my toenails. At this point my eyesight is so bad I was sort of painting my entire foot then trying to wipe off everything that wasn't toenail. Then I discovered that a lantern that emits a billion lumens makes it a lot easier, and it only takes an hour or two to blink away the afterimage.

Yesterday, partly in an effort to distract myself from camping jitters and partly because we'd been planning to do it sometime anyway, Eve and I had a bookstore and ice cream date. Someone in Ottawa, I can't remember who, had told me about this great used bookstore in Stittsville. It's in an unprepossessing plaza but inside is charming and well organized. As we were parking, the people in the parking spot next to us were coming back to their car - a husky dad in a plaid shirt and two black-clad emo tweens. Eve was transported by the juxtaposition and the emo skills of the kids:  "omg, little queen is glaring at me, I love it so much." Eve found a Miriam Toews she hasn't read yet and I found a few other things. i will definitely be returning (they did not have I Capture the Castle, I checked).

 Then we went to my friend Nat's favourite bookstore The Spaniel's Tale - also super cute. I bought a book for my niece that I will not name for now because I'm not entirely sure she won't see this post. 

The Merry Dairy is the best ice cream place for Eve because they have multiple delicious vegan flavours. We got cones and then went back in to pick up the stuff we'd pre-ordered. We went to the cash register, which I had done before, and then the teenaged boy at the counter said "oh, you just go around to the side window, ring the bell if no one's there." So we did, but the sign there said it didn't open until four, and it was only one. We rang the bell, and were about to go back in when a woman walking her dog called from across the street "oh, that doesn't open until four". We told her we'd been instructed to go there but were willing to go back in. She came over and said "oh, that was Aidan, he usually washes dishes", and she opened the window and lifted the shade and called a girl over to get our order. We walked away grateful but confused. Eve said "was that the owner of the Merry Dairy? Was she just trying to walk her dog and we made her clock in? I hope Aidan doesn't get in trouble."

In the evening I went into her room to give her a hug, and she showed me something on her computer and we talked. I walked back to my room, and then back to her room, and said "I came in here to hug you" and she said "you did, but you can again", and then when I hugged her and rested my head on her head I said "oh, I remember now" and she laughed really hard. I really, really love her, even when she's gently mocking me. Now I'm going to finish my pineapple syrup, go do some yoga in an effort to mitigate the effects of five upcoming nights on an air mattress, and try to chill the fuck out.