Camping Anyone?

Well, no camping here!!! Brrrrrrr too Cold!!!! Although we have been in the "pluses" the last few days..........3 celcius to be exact!!!! With lots of RAIN..............ewwwwww. Oh bother! At least it's not freezing rain!

I must say, that I am a happy camper though! I am really excited about the new stamps that Kristi is releasing on Thursday night over in the Hanna Member Forum on Splitcoast.

Did I ever tell you my Moose Camping Story?

When I first graduated from College, I worked in Toronto with at risk youths. A very challenging occupation indeed! Anyway, in the summer we would plan a lot of activities, one being camping and canoeing. We decided to take our group of nine to Algonquin Park. It's really interesting to observe how environment impacts on individuals. By day, our charges enjoyed the swimming, hiking and of course roasting Marshmallows was one of the highlights.

When night fell however, that was a completely different story. Some of these teenagers were terrified! They had no issue with roaming the worst parts of Toronto after dark, which frankly would make me pretty nervous, but being in the pitch black of the woods was rather intimidating. I spent the most part of the evenings escorting the teens back and forth to the outhouse, which was a little stroll down the road.

Anyway, we were at the farthest end of this campground. One evening, while sitting by the fire I noticed a Shadow walking onto the site, oh about 12 feet away........... as I was focusing, I was thinking what a sweet sweet deer..............the head was parallel with the top of the mini van. As I blinked and refocused, I realized that it wasn't a deer at all.........actually, it was a Moose Calf........with it's Mother right behind it! Yikes!!!!! I don't think they wanted to roast Marshmallows!



It was actually a little scary, because the group went ballistic, shrieking and screaming and starting to thrash about. I quickly tried to calm everyone because my fear was that mama would not be impressed and charge us all.....................luckily, she was calmer than the rest of us, and casually nudged her babe and strolled off the site.

The moose were definitely the highlight of our trip. It seemed that they liked to swim at the bottom of a steep incline at the south end of our lot. In the wee wee hours of the morning as the sun was just rising, you could here them breathing in the water as if they were right next to you, blowing puffs of air into your ear.......................must admit a bit frightening the first time we heard it. I think there was speculation that we had a Yeti running around out there!!!!

Must say that I am more partial to sweet Riley than to the real thing...........and our little Riley smells better for sure.


Card Recipe: Trailer Riley, Marshmallow Riley
Paper: Pomegranite, Chocolate Chip Dp, Serendipity
Accessories: Copics, Gel Pen, Twill Ribbon, Mini Clip, Chalk, Rose Ribbon

Happy Stamping!

**** VICKI****