Camping at the Coast

I brought books to read that I didn’t open

Magazines to catch up on that I didn’t flip through

Journal to write in whose pages remain blank

Sketch books for sketches that I didn’t do

Suntan lotion I didn’t need

CD’s I didn’t listen to

Wine I didn’t open

Food I didn’t cook

 

But I did see dory boats going in and out at the cape

And I talked to a kayaking ocean fisherman

I saw a nesting peregrine falcon

and pigeon guillemots paddling red feet in the ocean

I viewed the coastline from a hang glider’s overlook

Watched children, parents and grandparents playing at Oceanside

I bought baskets of cherries, berries & beans at a farmers market

And ate an ice cream cone at the Tillamook Cheese Factory

I heard children shrieking with summer joy in the river

And saw fields of blooming purple and blue hydrangeas

I saw black and white Holstein  cows looking at me

I saw the flash of lightning

And went to sleep under the roll of thunder

I heard the crackle and snap of our campfire

And smelled wood smoke hovering over the campground

I heard the daytime scoldings of parents

And nighttime murmurings of voices around the campfires

I walked in the sand

I napped in the sun

and I woke  refreshed

I was very busy and came home

Fully rested.