Above-average preparedness and the occasional bagel
Our camping inventory is complete. This afternoon we treated ourselves to a shopping tour in our favourite tent and poncho shops, and came away with one small treat bag. Inside, the ultimate weapon in our assault of the outdoors: solar-powered mosquito repellers. Imagine, in a world where high-tech can solve anything, we’ve found something completely unforeseen.
When these treasures were handed over so that I could pass the cash, I didn’t have anything to say. How can you top such a purchase? I’m not even sure whether the plan is to hide until sunrise, but the two (not three; one of us has to serve as the control in this experiment) tiny cubes emit a very high-pitched whine that is AS annoying as any tent siege.
Camping is only a couple of weeks away. Locally we’ve just had twenty-three days out of the last thirty declared as “rainy”, so it can only get better from here. The monsoon season, so new to Canada, has to end sometime. My hope is that the clouds have also hindered sunbathing in the drought-ridden Prairies, but the weather guy didn’t mention anything beyond our borders.
We went for a late lunch in a real bagel shop, one that boasted a wood-fired oven, a great odour and decent coffee. I’ve become accustomed to the bagged breads marketed as bagels in our local supermarket. Enough cream cheese and you can convince me of anything. This shop sells bagels that are chewy, tasty and able to absorb a daily ration of butter without any dripping. I’ll be back.
