Phew. We survived. We're home from a weekend camping at a Quinte Conservation Area called Depot Lakes, which is north of Kingston. It is the only CA where camping is allowed, and the campsites we used are accessed by water. There were eight of us in total, including our three-year-old and five-year-old grandsons. Ruth organized the trip with military precision and we managed to eat well, along with setting up four tents, a kitchen tarp, and a hammock. Early Sunday morning the rain teemed down and we wondered if we would be breaking camp in the rain. We've done that in the past, and it's no fun, but by 6:30 AM the skies had cleared, so we didn't have to be brave little campers.
This was the first camping experience for the grandlads, and they loved it. They swam in the lake, and they ran to the shore when they heard loons. When the older of the two was asked what his favourite experience of the weekend was he claimed it was making the trip in the canoe with Granny and Grandpa. I could say "savvy kid" except that I'm fairly sure he meant it.
Getting our "nature fix" was good for all of us. We were pleased that my sixty-year-old brother came along, and it had been years since he camped. He's really ten six-year olds stacked together, so he had fun as well. And our younger daughter, the boys' aunt, made the trip from Toronto, doing a great job of entertaining the boys... and fending off raccoons.
We often hear of "nature deficit disorder" these days, a phrase coined by Richard Louv more than a decade ago. It is so common, in fact, that some use it as though it is a recognized medical condition, which it isn't. Just the same, I know what the natural world does for my spirit and I see it with my grandchildren. Once again I was convinced through actual experience that we thrive as spiritual and physical beings by time spent in the midst of Creation.
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