Firefly!

[magid]

What a wonderful weekend. Totally serendipitous, all around. Still too tired to think in paragraphs, so bulletation it will be. (In no particular order. Too much going on...)

• Great people to camp with, not only the other two sharing a shade structure (etc.) with me, but the others nearby were all great. Pluses included interesting conversation, fire-spinning a few feet from my tent, bloody marys (I don't like that y before the s, but I know "maries" is wrong, and totally too French here), shared supplies of divers sorts, peeps to meander with, and a general sense of home.
  
• Fireworks three nights in a row. The wood dragon had fireworks in the eyes, as did the wood fly, plus we caught a few fireworks on the drive back.
  
• Frogs in the pond. Plus tadpoles with legs (I don't think I've seen that outside bio illustrations before), and little fishes, plus actual fireflies (as well as Fireflies :-).
  
• Making a pink and purple and black tutu. Versatile: later worn around my hat (though challenging to get through the trees with such wide headgear).
  
• Miss Firefly competition, with so many skills demonstrated and such bribing of judges, not to mention some fabulous outfits.
  
• Steam lodge after Shabbat felt great. Would've been better had I not left the washcloth in camp (and I totally lacked actual strigils...).
  
• The loan of a belly-dancing scarf and the unexpected dividends thereof.
  
• Much head skritching and some other massage given. It was extremely pleasing how appreciated this was, including an indirect compliment from someone who's actually trained, which made my afternoon.
  
• Many many many hugs. Double-plus good.
  
• A muddy start was difficult for me, but not finding the more efficient and less muddy path until later did mean I got a mental map in order fairly quickly. Realized this weekend: not everyone orients as quickly as I do.
  
• Exploring trails through the woods. Finding theme camps, art installations, and random other interesting places (shrine to Ganesh, chains of glowsticks, laser light shows, more).
  
• Mellow time to hang out with people, less rushing about (and no concerns about a dust storm!).
  
• Not carrying anything on Shabbat, and having that work.
  
• Gifting some crocheted pieces, including a necklace that finally found the right person. She got a lot of compliments on it :-).
  
• Trying some new things, and deciding not to try others.
  
• Watching talented performers, acrobats, fire-spinners, dancers, DJs, yoga practitioners, fire-breathers.
  
• Sitting around a bonfire late at night, finding just the right distance away for the heat on one side to balance the chill on the other, enjoying the psy-trance blending with the music of hand-drummer just behind me.
  
• Surprised at how many people smoked, pleased that there weren't butts around, because people carried containers for them with the rest of their stuff.
  
• It gets cold at night. I hadn't really believed it possible when packing in the 90+ F temps with humidity. So far north, dark was rather later too (I hadn't thought about Shabbat ending that late). There wasn't any light pollution either, and the night sky was dazzlingly beautiful. Shabbat evening I got to see the crescent moon rising, a deep harvest orange.
  
• Seeing people I knew, and meeting others.
  
• The feeling that this was a really big family camping trip, in that people's default was interactive, helpful, and appreciative of one another. I didn't meet all the other 400-500 Fireflies, but at times it felt like I had.
  
• Portapotties! Yeah, they can get gross, but this was the first year with them, and I was thankful for them. (I guess this means I'm not that hardcore a camper.) Also appreciated: the relative lack of mud. There'd been rain the first day before we arrived, and that mud was challenging (made worse with so many feet), but it didn't rain after that, plus hay and bridges were put in the bad spots.
  
• Excellent, talented, empathic people.
  
• Impressive outfits of many sorts.
  
• Gloves with blue LEDs at the fingertips that look amazing at night, and leave pink afterimage curves on my eyelids. It felt like I was zooming through the stars when they went by my face.
  
• A huge bubble floating by late at night, catching the available light in ways that made it seem that there was a band of coordinated fireflies that could change color slowly going by. Totally beautiful, though mystifying in the moment.