A good time was had by all.

Laura and I had talked about going camping this weekend, but it turned out not to be a good time for her and Matt. Friday night I decided I wanted to go anyway.

Around 7:15 am Saturday morning Leigha woke me up with the usual cold nose snuffling in my ear, and I started to brush her off until I remembered that we were going camping. I headed out to get supplies and fuel (and somehow managed to buy two really cute sweater sets and an indoor electric grill in the process).

We got to the campsite at 10:30ish and started to set up. The guy at the next campsite was starting to pitch what was, based on the footprint, the biggest tent I had ever seen, but it was obviously brand new, as he was reading the instructions.

I began unloading my stuff and got out my nifty pop-up tent, which took all of 30 seconds to pitch. I pounded in two stakes, inflated my air matress and by the time this poor guy started to get his tent pitched I had set up my whole campsite and was eating a bacon and egg brunch. I felt bad for him and smug all at the same time.

Laura and Matt joined me for the day and made sure I has sufficient firewood for the evening, and we had a lovely day. We took Leigha down to the water and it was clear that she knew she was supposed to be in it. She cavorted around in the water with the most pure joy I think I have ever seen.

Laura and I talked about whether Leigha could be trusted off leash in the water and determined that it might take a couple of years for her to mature enough for that. Sure enough, when I woke up for a wee-morning pee, the clasp on the lead did not engage (there was sand in it and it didn't close).

When I came out from behind the tree I'd chosen as my latrine, the dog was gone. After the initial panic subsided, I remembered that there was a dog two campsites down, and sure enough, she was sniffing around that site.

Crisis averted, we climbed back into our tent and went back to sleep. It was cold, but between the extra quilt I brought and the silly dog who insisted on sharing the air matress with me, I was quite comfortable.

I woke up again at sunrise and enjoyed the birdsong and the magical quality of the light at that time of day. This was Ginnie's favorite time of day.

I took Ginnie's ashes down to the lakeshore, and as I scattered her ashes I thanked her for being my best friend during some trying and some joyful times of my life, I thanked the Universe for bringing such a sweet and good friend to me, and I thanked Ginnie and the Universe for bringing me a new friend.

This was a good weekend.