July is usually the hottest month of the year here in Colorado, and tomorrow might be one of those 100 degree days. A lot of people like to come here in the Summer to escape the heat and humidity of their home states, and take in the cool temperatures of our Rocky Mountains. I imagine a lot of folks are yearning to be in the wild outdoors, after being cooped up over the Winter. It looks like we are going to have another Covid surge in the US, so camping on a lake sounds like a good place to be.
In our family we have a tradition of telling our stories to save for future generations. I have been reading through stories that my grandpa dictated to my mother in the Seventies. My grandpa was born in a sod hut in Oklahoma territory in 1899, then later moved to West Texas, New Mexico and California where he met my grandmother. (who taught me to sew) They lived near the beach in California, then moved with my mom to a farm in Oregon during WWII. My mom’s memory is not what it used to be, but she still loves to talk about riding her horse bareback on the farm, or to the one-room schoolhouse down a long dirt road.
When Grandpa retired, they bought a Silver Bullet Airstream Trailer, and they drove all over the Western United States. Grandpa was a photographer, and I have his photo albums from the 1920s on. I have that same travel bug and photo bug, but I’ve had to put away those inclinations for the last 16 months. However, after living 40 years of my life in Colorado, I do have my secret places I can go to in the mountains where I can be alone, listen to the wind in the trees, and photograph wildlife. Everybody needs a secret place like that…for one’s sanity.
When I was a little girl in California, my mom decided to get me involved with the Blue Birds, Brownies, and then Girl Scouts. Those are my first memories of camping out overnight, singing around the campfire, and sleeping in a tent. I made sure my kids had experiences like that, so they would also have a connection to Nature. They all had at least a couple experiences of sleepover camp in the mountains here.
I have a deep appreciation for the colors and design aesthetic of Wes Anderson films, but the one I love the most is Moonrise Kingdom. (Closely followed by The Life Aquatic, and Grand Budapest Hotel) If you are looking for films to watch and have a quirky sense of humor, I recommend all of these! But Moonrise Kingdom really captures the flavor of being a preadolescent camper, a moment in life that can never be captured again, but a moment worth remembering.
I hope that you will have some of these moments and memories this summer, that are worth telling as a story, that somebody might enjoy reading about 50 years from now.
…sharing your love of fabric,
Luana and Paul
