Have you ever tried being friends with a stone? How about a shelf made of rock? Maybe a fallen tree branch?

     Well today, I did all three. I intended to spend the day in perfect happiness like I spent yesterday. But today I planned to read more and move less. That proved to be more difficult than I expected.

      After another slow morning, I set about the task of enjoying my reading time. It worked well for an hour before I got tired of the flies constantly landing on me. So I spent the day moving from place to place in the vain hope that I could find one location where the flies might not bother me. Around 11 A.M. the sun added itself into the equation. It wasn’t a hot day, probably only 80 degrees or so, but it was warm enough to be uncomfortable if you happened to be sitting under the sun trying to read.

     So I fidgeted around, then decided to go for a drive. I ended up at a cafe that sits just inside the park border. It’s called the Hard Rain Cafe. As much as possible, I am trying to keep food costs down by buying groceries and making my own food and I’ve been doing pretty well. So at the cafe, I intended to continue being good; to just get a cup of refreshing Huckleberry iced tea. That worked until the tea was all gone. At that point, I broke down and ordered a ham and cheese sandwich with onion rings. Real, warm food! After I enjoyed my splurge, I drove back to my campsite – where I promptly resumed my circuit of the available seats, trying to escape the flies, hide from the sun, and avoid having rocks poke through my back. I cycled through several chairs in my quest.

     First, there was my tent. That worked for awhile, but the sun eventually ducked below the trees and spoiled my private party. Then there was my balloon chair, but that would only work on the sand, and the sand was mostly in the sun too. On my first day here (Thursday), I made friends with the fallen tree branch that sat invitingly by the firepit. Today I visited him again – but no, he was having a meeting with the sun and the flies. They invited me to join, but I walked off in search of less bothersome company. Eventually, I saw a hospitable looking stone. I asked politely if I could use it as a temporary seat. It did not reply, nor did it protest as I sat on it. With people, silence does not always mean consent, but with inanimate objects, sometimes that just has to be enough. He After sitting on him awhile, I moved to a shelf of rocks by the water. This was a perfect spot for me to sit and dip my feet in the cool river. So I did. And I found that I could also lean back and recline. The rocks did poke me a little, but after the shelf got to know me a little better, I think it tried to be more gentle with me.

     That was the extent of my excitement for the day. Oh, except for one more thing! While moving around my campsite, the most terrifying insect I have ever seen landed right next to me. I am not usually scared of bugs, but this one had me running. I grabbed my camera (since it was on my way away from the insect). If anyone knows what exactly this creature is, I would love to find out. I’m guessing it’s some kind of a beetle, but I don’t know which type.

     Now, as I go to sleep, I will hope to avoid nightmares of large insects with menacing antennae crawling across my tent and finding their way inside. Ugh!