On Sunday I was very depressed. I don't get this way often, but when I do you don't want to be around. Part of this mood stemmed from the fact that Sean & I didn't have anything to do. I sometimes wish we lived in a big city where there were things going on all the time, but at the time, I'm not sure how I would deal with big-city life. You see, I grew up in a small town in south Alabama, called Brewton. I believe the population, including all the little country communities on the out-skirts, was something like 9,000 people when I graduated high school. I would run into the grocery store & leave my car running! People didn't lock their doors at night. I was only 5-years-old & would ride my bike by myself from my house to my grandparents' house about 2 miles away! However, we also didn't have a theater, a mall, a bowling ally or much of anything. In high school our fun was drinking beer down at the creek. Anyhow, I digress. The point is I would like entertainment & culture that comes with a big city, but I don't know how I would handle all the other things that come with it. And on Sunday, I needed some entertainment; particularly, I wished to be invited to a cookout with lots of people where I could chat & drink a beer. However, neither of our phones was ringing off the hook with invitations!

I sat on the couch in utter depression & Sean urged me to get up & get moving. I decided the first step should be a shower; I felt cleaner, but not any happier. While I was in the shower, Sean had planned for us to go "camping". He wanted to run into town to get an air mattress, being that our sprung a leak after he laid on it 24/7 for about 2 weeks after his back surgery...that is another story all together! For some reason he was more comfortable on the pull-out bed in the den with an air mattress under the horrible, pitiful excuse of a mattress that comes with a sofa bed. Thus, we didn't have an air mattress. We decided that it would take too much time to go into town to buy a new one; so, we decided to deal without one. I did, however, run to the store to pick up some beer at Sean's insistence. He said that part of our cookout/campout was for me to have some beer. Sean hates beer. FYI: I don't drink much at all, but I just had it in my mind that we needed to cookout & drink beer.

When I got back, Sean had set up a "campsite" in the backyard! It was so sweet & the set-up was so cute! He is so artistic, I mean, even the way he set it all up looked great! Like something out of a magazine! (Aside from the blue rain flaps that appear in the left-hand side of the photo.) He had the tent with bedding (blankets & comforters on top of our dogs' beds!), 2 chairs, his MP3 player with these little speakers all hooked up so we had music, a weed that had planted itself in a pot that looked really pretty, a cooler for my beer, tiki torches & bocce ball. Plus, he had made vegan mac & cheese. I made some pita sandwiches & we ate outside. Not really a bar-b-que or cookout, but it was still really nice. Plus, it really cheered me up!



Sean is really into the flute at the moment. He is a pianist/vocalist, but plays many instruments. Lately, it has been the dreaded flute! Don't get me wrong, the flute is a beautiful instrument; we had a flautist at our wedding. But it is different when you live in the same house with someone who tends to be a little compulsive about things, especially practicing an instrument. I hear the usually high-pitch of a flute for hours on end. Thankfully, he has been very consumed with designing my brother's website & hasn't had quite as much time for the flute in the past week & a half. He takes one in the car with us, he plays one during the commercial breaks while we are watching TV, he plays while he eats his dinner (I am not kidding!)! Part of his current obsession with the flute is Irish music. Again, don't get me wrong, I like Irish music in small doses. However, our campout Sunday night felt like we were in hills of Ireland! He had his Irish gigs playing as we ate, when we finished, he started whittling on his flute. Oh, did I fail to mention that? Oh yes, he makes flutes, too! The first one he made while we were married was made from PVC pipe; currently he is perfecting the bamboo flute. However, the best bamboo he can find happens to be attached to my tiki torches! I used to have 4, now I have 2 regular ones & 2 "miniature" ones!



When it came time for bed, I tried to convince Sean to go inside where it was cool & comfy. He wasn't having any of that! I didn't want to hurt his feelings, so we went to bed in the tent, but only after coming inside & getting my sound machine & finding batteries for it & taking it back out to the tent. (I must have my noise.) Like I mentioned, Sean had removed the rain flaps to help with air circulation; we do live in Florida & it is still quite warm at night. As a result of the flaps being removed, the bedding was quite damp. I forged ahead & tried to be a "camper" about it (get it?). At around 2:30 in the morning, Sean says "It sure is humid, isn't it?", Jamie says "Sure is.", Sean "Wanna go inside?", Jamie "Yep.", Sean "Let's go." Needless to say, I was out of the tent in a flash! We were back in our own bed with the sound machine plugged back in, the AC turned down & the fan on all in a matter of minutes! We slept so good, in the bed, that is!

It really was a lot of fun! The best, though, was Sean going to such lengths to make me feel better! I looked out in our backyard & saw what he had done & was so thankful to have a husband like him!

Labels: Camping, flute