Midsummer

Midsummer’s beauty is everywhere apparent here, in Mother Nature’s world.  Lush greens and wildflowers abound.  Cultivated gardens are flourishing.

Traditionally, many in New England have considered August as the high point of Summer, the most favored time for outdoor activities.  In keeping with the vacation spirit of August, the intent of this writing is primarily playful.

For some the outdoors activity includes camping.  When did camping begin to become glamping?  We don’t know.  It’s been years in the growing.  Our imagination takes flight into amusement as we consider some of the current glamping ripples.

Even when tenting, it is possible to plug into one’s solar rechargeable battery pack all manner of devices for cooking.  One could, for example, make breakfast crêpes in a small eight-inch pan designed for that purpose.  Heartier foods, at any time of day or night, have become simply a matter of having the ingredients on hand and plugging in one’s chosen cooking device.

In contrast, we wonder:

Have the available fireplaces at campgrounds become obsolete?  Where are those who remember how to build a campfire and have the patience to do so?  Has it become part of the legend and lore of yesteryear that marshmallows (when they were less toxic) were once applied to the end of a stick and roasted over a fire?

What has become of resourcefulness? Does resourcefulness now translate as the ability to make a thorough list and gather the gadgetry which will provide a feeling of being at home in the outdoors?  Perhaps resourcefulness now has a new definition.

There is no question that technology provides us with remarkable conveniences.  If necessity is the mother of invention, then that which is perceived as necessary continues to proliferate as inventiveness is boundless.

However, when seen through the lens of common sense, the current distancing from simplicity is noteworthy.

Here. we have an opportunity for perspective.  We are reminded that there is a significant difference between enjoying, optionally, the gadgetry that technology provides rather than being dependent on it,

Fortunately, in Mother Nature’s straightforward world flowers continue to bloom, gardens flourish with minimal technology and there is much enjoyment in simple uncomplicated harmony with Earth.

Image by Sabine from Pixabay.