Yesterday I awoke with stomach cramps and felt pukey - even had to lay down for an hour. But I took three Advil and got up and went back to work. I had put chili in the crockpot, and was planning to make Emeril's cheese-stuffed, bacon-wrapped hotdogs to with it. And cornbread muffins. I invited my friend Jane and her daughter Kirsten to join us for supper - they really wanted to experience a good campground campfire, and it looked like we might have one if the weather held.
My brother Bruce had been in Mitchell, South Dakota (home of the famous Corn Palace) most of the week, and wasn't expected home until around 9 pm. And Emily and Sarah, Bruce's daughters, weren't coming to the lake this weekend for various reasons. So supper would be just the girls - me, sister-in-law Monica, Jane, and Kirsten.
And then my niece Maureen called me, and asked if her family could come visit on their way to their cabin on Ottertail Lake.
"Of course!", I said, mentally tallying what food I had, and if it was enough to feed 2 more adults and 2 children. "Stay for supper!"
And then Bruce got out of his class early, so he was headed to the lake, and would make supper too. So at 5 pm I moved all the food to his camper, where he has a spacious deck and large dining set. I plugged the crockpot in outside, and put the wieners in the fridge, then sat back and waited for everyone to arrive.
Maureen, Jesse, Andy, and Woody were first on the scene. We hung at my house for awhile so they could admire my garden and try the newest flavor of Diet Snapple. Then I took them all over to Bruce's camper on his golf cart. Soon after that Jane and her daughter arrived, and lastly Monica came, straight from work. Bruce fired up the grill, I cooked the wieners and we all ate until we were stuffed.
Bruce told a story from our childhood. The first word Bruce and I had ever learned how to spell was Mississippi. We used to spell it out loud all the time, in a sing-song rhythm. Now Mom used to wax our wood floors once a week, on Dad's bowling night, which as it happened was also our bath night. After the floors were waxed and cleaned, Mom would get us ready for our bath by stripping us down to our socks. Bruce and I would escape and run, sliding down the slick hallway in our socks, spelling M i s s i s s i p p i at the top of our lungs.
That wonderful little game ended when I picked up a sliver in my foot big enough to necessitate a trip to the doctor to have it removed, along with my very first tetanus shot.
A gang of little kids came running down the gravel road - we knew all but one of them. Soon after, their parents came by on their golf carts and we sat on the deck and visited a little bit. Maureen and her family had to go, and I got hugs from all. Then Ryleigh, a little girl from the campground, wanted me to pick her up for a hug too. She hugged me hard and kissed my cheek.
Mothers and fathers took their kiddos home to get their pajamas on, and then it was campfire time. Bruce has a great setup - a big yard ending at the swamp, and woods on one side. He's parked an old fridge in a shed on the edge of the swamp, where the beer and pop are kept. The wood for the fire is stacked neatly (sort of) on the edge of the trees, and so everything is easily within reach.
A small winged creature kept buzzing us, which some people saw and others claimed they didn't. It had to have been a bat or bats, but we hadn't experienced them before, so it was a little creepy. One of the times when someone shrieked seeing it, I looked up and saw a tall shadow move into the shed, which set off all sorts of ghost stories. Later on Shane, one of the campers, said he saw the shadow too.
The marshmallows came out for the S'mores, more wood was piled on the fire, and Kirsten got to break in her new Fleet Farm boots by kicking wood back into the fire pit when it escaped.
A little after midnight everyone said their goodnights and see ya tomorrow's and went home. A very good night indeed.
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