Late Spring

May is nearly over and I'm beginning to miss it already. March through May are perhaps my favorite months. I leave my door open this time of year and receive plenty of visitors, like lizards and mice and birds and all sorts of insects.

There seem to be more lizards this year than last, and the mice are happy to pop in and say hi, too. My relationship with mice has evolved a lot over the past couple of years. At first, I considered them menacing little creatures and trapped them without guilt. Then, earlier this Spring, I started to see them as cute little annoying neighbors that chewed up everything in sight. I no longer trap them. I just store my food in glass and plastic containers, keep my blankets in sealed plastic bags, and have resigned myself to wearing T-shirts with cute little hole chewed in them.

I saw my first firefly in flight last night, a sign of Summer. And I've enjoyed a number of thunderstorms. Their winds rocking the tree tops as well as my tent. The dark clouds causing me to light my lamps in the late afternoon. The heavy rain drops bouncing off my stoop and into my doorway, the door remaining open to let the cool wind evacuate the stale air from my tent. Temperatures quickly dropping from 80 to 65 as the lightning begins striking about, leaving me feeling mostly excited, but a little frightened, too.

The nights are still cool enough to require a blanket, but the heavy Winter bedding has been packed away since March. I still heat my bath water a little in the morning, but not nearly so hot. And my fuel costs are at their lowest this time of year since I don't have to heat the tent anymore. That won't start again until September.

My mornings are peaceful in spite of the birds in their frenzy at sunrise. There's plenty of early morning sun streaming through the cool air that still lingers from the night before, and a morning walk through the woods with coffee, and some guitar music to accompany the morning sounds.

These are wonderful days to live in a tent.