Here again, gone again

Laurel, that is. She spent last week in Montana with one of the girls from the barn. Miss Hair Implement Queen went cold turkey, and backpacked up into the mountains to the family's (very) primitive cabin, where she spent several days having the time of her life. Would you believe? She even cleaned fish with her own bare hands:


That's her, the one with the chipped pink polish. Except for a quickie text as they passed through Laurel, Mont., we didn't hear from her from several days, and a terse, yet empathic text message lit up the screen:

MONTANA IS FREAKIN' GORGEOUS

She was home long enough to get her laundry taken care of, and off we went, with two of her friends with her in the back seat, down to Waterville, Minn., and Camp Omega for a week. We got there too early to check in immediately, so while they killed some time wilting in the humidity:


I plugged away on a way-too-familiar piece of knitting.


Yes, indeed, I decided to kiss and make up with the seed-stitch sweater, which is back in the rotation now that the Orange Blossom's Special is (re)finished and waiting for some clasps.

It was only an hour or so before they were allowed to settle into their rooms. Smartly, the three of them portioned out hair implement responsibilities, but that only left room in their suitcases for even more stuff. Note the pillow and the blanket and the backpack, in addition to the large suitcase with a bad case of gopher cheeks:


While I waited outside — did I mention it was even-my-eyelashes-are-limp humid — I had a look around. Nice place, very traditional, I think:


I went inside for a few minutes to check out their digs, but decided that perhaps I didn't want to watch 13-year-old girls unpack.




I hope she and her friends are having a great time, but golly I miss her. I can hardly wait to hug you, Laurel! Come on Friday!