Monday, August 29, 2011

Camping, My Old House, Starting All Over Again

The camping trip was interesting, that’s for sure.  Steve came to pick me up on Monday morning and I was a bit unsure how we would get along, after all, he was my ex.  And we haven’t seen each other since we broke up, so I wasn’t really sure how we would get along.  We get along fine when we talk to each other online, so I was hoping that we’d be okay in person as well. I woke up really, really early that morning, I think I got up at 6 am and couldn’t go back to sleep for a couple more hours because my head was just continually spinning with what would happen, how we would get along, and I hadn’t been out camping in ages, so I was a bit unsure how it would be. The week before we were supposed to be camping but because of the weather we changed it to the next week and we booked it for that week instead.

So I got ready, finished up with my packing, and waited for Steve to get to my place so that we could pack up his car with my stuff, and go grocery shopping for food for the next four days, and so when he got here, we kind of didn’t say too much to each other, except on what to do in packing up his car with my items, bags and stuff that we needed for camping.  He started to pack it all up, and thought it’d be fine…so we got settled and headed off to Walmart and then shopped around there for items we needed for groceries and food for the week.  We gathered up all the items we needed, and then went to pay for it.

Then we were on our way.  It was a nice Monday afternoon when we left to go on our way to Sharbot Lake…very nice.  The roads to the campgrounds were a bit rough, but that was to be expected, and once we got to our campground, I was amazed to see that the trail leading to our campsite was quite…steep?  I was like, I’m not going down there! *laughs*  I could see myself falling down it…it was steep and had very little steps to go down.  Wow.  So Steve loaded me up with bags and items, and I took my time trying to get down the huge hill, and near the bottom I actually fell and started sliding down the hill.  Ouch!!  I stopped and realized that I had scraped up my arm and hand going down the hill.  That really did hurt. :S  It was just so steep and because I hadn’t been down the hill before I didn’t know where to put my feet down on, and I just ended up stumbling and then sliding down. *laughs*  Owwww.  After my fall, Steve made me stay down at the campsite and he’d get the rest of the stuff. *laughs*  I slowly began to learn how to maneuver the hill after that fall, and started to be more cautious and careful when I went down the hill…going up wasn’t too bad, it was the going down that I had some trouble with. *laughs*  And the craziest thing was, there were two hills I had to worry about…the one from the car and outhouse to the campsite, and the second one to the lake.  I was like, really?  There’s hills both ways?  Grrr. *laughs*

So when we arrived, we were hearing that it was supposed to rain sometime in the afternoon/ evening so Steve worked on setting up the tent so to have it ready for when it rained and so on, and then when it was done, we then started putting stuff away and since the weather was cooperating, we decided to check out the area, the water and the such like…I checked out the water and it felt quite nice actually. *laughs*  So after a bit, Steve was like, okay, I’m getting hungry so we started putting supper on, we had steaks and started BBQing on the firepit, so that was interesting.  He brought his BBQ as he wasn’t sure if there was a grill over the firepit of any kind so…he has camped there a few times but couldn’t remember if there was anywhere where we could BBQ food over.  But there was a removable grill that you could move over the fire when you wanted to make food, and remove it when you wanted the pit for just the fire.  We had the steaks and some pasta salad that I had made up for the week, and then mellowed out.  It was good, though very, very filling.

After supper we were talking and checking out more of the area, him showing me different areas of the campsites around our campsite. *smile*  He normally doesn’t drink since I have known him and when we were shopping for food and stuff he said he wanted to pick up some booze for himself and I was surprised that he did, as I didn’t know he drank at all. *laughs*  I told him to go ahead and do that…so okay then. *smile*  He opened up one bottle of booze to have in front of the fire and was all relaxed…it was funny to see actually.  He just had one bottle that night.  I then decided to put a dare on him, as I had been told by a lot of people online that I should go skinny dipping when I camped and I was like, pfft, that’s not even happening as I had figured it was a public campground…and I decided to just dare him to try it.  The campsite we were at was pretty private anyway, and it was late then and pretty dark out, and no one, if there was anybody, would be able to see him, so he said he would go for it just for the hell of it and he did…it was hilarious actually.  I wasn’t sure if he would, but he did, and it was hilarious, it was also really cold in the water and out of it too, so it was like, eek! I hadn’t really gone swimming yet in that lake, so I wasn’t sure what the water was like. *laughs*  It was really interesting with the temperatures of the water and the night air, the water was almost warm and cold at the same time so it was kind of cool. *smile* We crashed pretty early that night, as it was so dark to even do anything or see each other to talk.  I’m deaf so I need light to be able to talk, and see the other person talk. :/  So that wasn’t much fun…we were sitting around the firepit a bit beforehand so it was good, with him just keeping warm with the fire after the dip in the water.

The next day we both got up, did some swimming and Steve was doing some chasing of little frogs that were hopping around on the shore of our beach, and kept capturing them and showing them to me.  He seemed like a little kid chasing after them and capturing them…it was definitely strange. *laughs*  I had breakfast, relaxed, and then went for a bit of a swim, and Steve got his inflatable canoe set up so we then went for a canoe ride…but the strangest thing with the ride – we kept going in circles!!!! *laughs*  Steve and I had brought our cameras and his camcorder, and I sat up in front because then that meant I didn’t have to steer…and Steve was doing no steering so we kept going in circles, which was ridiculous… *L* So we were just fooling around with the cameras and things like that, and I later told him after we came back that normally the person who paddled in the back of the canoe was the one who steered the canoe, and he was like, oh, really?  When I heard that I knew it was all his fault. *laughs*  Hilarious though…we were just floating around the lake and checking out the scenery and just enjoying the sun.  Though the fact that the canoe kept going in circles was kind of making me feel a bit seasick. *laughs*

We also noticed that there were chipmunks always coming around saying hi to us when we were sitting around the campsite and all that, they would just come up and stand up, see if we had anything on us and we would be breaking bread and giving them scraps of bread and they started coming back and forth hoarding all the bread that we gave them…they were adorable! *laughs*  I have never seen chipmunks be that friendly before… *laughs*

Whenever we would swim, there was this one higher up rock on one area of the lake, and if one of us sat around there, we could see all those little fishes follow our feet and hang out around us… it was so weird. The water was so clear that we could see the fishes swimming near us. Heh...it was pretty funny too. *smile*

Later that afternoon Steve wanted to take me to a hiking trail by Sharbot Lake that he knew about and used to go to a lot when he was younger, and wanted to take me there to check it out…the lake we were on was called Black Lake, not necessarily Sharbot Lake, it was on the other side of the land we were on. Heh…so we went driving to the hiking trail, and then went for a walk there.  It was an interesting trail… very hilly, but lots to look at, take pictures, and things to check out, so it was pretty fun.  It was hard work going up and down the hills though, I was getting tired by the end of the two hour hike through the trails. Steve said it was hard work for him as well, and he’s more active than I am!  *laughs*  Good thing I didn’t get to bump into a lot of people there, because I would probably have slowed them right down. haha…Funny though.  There were a lot of nature to check out, a lot of oddities out there and it was fun to check out… *smile*  Everything was just gorgeous where we went walking so it was pretty refreshing.  There was a lot of stopping and going, a lot of photos taken so it was a lot of fun.  I know I definitely did want to sit down a few times in the hike, because it was exhausting. *laughs*  It was hilarious.

We got through the hike and the last bit took a lot out of me, when we first came to the hiking trail, it was downhill so it was easy enough…then when we had to return to the car, it was very steep uphill that we had to climb up and it was like the last grunt up there…wow.  We both were exhausted by the time we got to the car…and just went, whew!!!  *laughs*  Funny though.  There was just too much hills everywhere in that area, which was crazy!  Haha…we then returned to our campsite, and we then had supper, mellowed out and relaxed…it was nice. There were the chipmunks again running around looking for food, and we were playing around with the cameras for fun, and then Steve went to sleep a bit because he was so tired and he wasn’t feeling so great after all day out and active…I think it was like 9 pm when he went to sleep. *laughs*  We talked, and I went to sleep close to around the same time as he did too, because I can’t really sit up in the dark by myself and do nothing…I couldn’t even see or anything like that, so it was a little freaky…though at one point I had to go to the bathroom to the outhouse at like 1 or 2 in the morning…and oh my God, that was so hard to do… *laughs*  It was pitch black everywhere and I did bring a flashlight, but that famous hill I had to get up, while really needing to go to the bathroom was so hard, and finally I got to the outhouse and used it, and then I had to come back, but I was still half asleep so I sort of flew down the hill and crashing into that white tree in the bottom of the hill…that stunned me awake and I regained my balance and got to the tent okay…it was insane!  Thankfully I was able to go to sleep…I just had sore hands from using it to catch the white tree to keep my balance with me so that I didn’t fall face first down the hill. *laughs*  It certainly got me awake…once I got into my sleeping bag again, I finally relaxed into a slumber and fell right to sleep.  Thank God, I didn’t think I would be able to after all that adrenaline going down that hill that I hated so much. Heh…

The next day was a relaxing day actually so it was a good day. *smile*  I ended up waking up, wondering where Steve was as he was not at the campsite then found him down at the water shore just sitting out and enjoying the view of the water.  So I decided to get changed into my bathing suit and get washed up down there in the lake, just getting my hair and everything else cleaned up, and then I ended up just staying in the water and going for swims and the such like… *laughs*  It was a hot day again, and all I wanted to do was just stay in the water. *L*  We ate at the campsite, some breakfast, and went back to the lake and enjoyed the water and just chatted it up, as Steve was feeling better that day and he was all mellow out.  I was just enthusiastic to go swimming so I just swam and swam…But the funny thing about that day was, we had been hanging out by the shore all day that we actually, dumb us, forgot to put on some sunscreen and we got nicely burnt that day…we didn’t think of it until we noticed the other person getting badly burnt. *laughs*  Ouch…we both started hurting bad from the burn. *laughs*  The other days we’ve been fine, we’ve put on some sunscreen but that day we both just forgot.  We hadn’t really been planning on staying out there all day and we ended up doing just that…it was relaxing and it was beautiful out there, so oh well…haha…Hilarious.  I even took a long swim so it was pretty good… Steve did the same so it was pretty fun.  While we were swimming, a canoe came towards our campsite shore, and they were people that was using the same shore as we were, only they were using a different campsite…so Steve was talking to the couple a bit, telling them about the campgrounds and what they can do around there, as they were kind of new in the Sharbot Lake campgrounds, so he was giving them ideas of what they could do. *smile*  They were pretty nice, and they had a German Shepard that was jumping all around the water so it was a little funny to see.  I was just keeping busy swimming out in the water while Steve was talking to the guy there and so on.  He had to let them know that I was deaf, so oops.  They did try to talk to me while they were canoeing in to shore, but I couldn’t hear or understand them, so that was a little funny. Heh…

Finally later, we had to think of supper so we trudged back up to the firepit and made some hot dogs and the such like and started eating them and relaxing, and it was another relaxing night, just talking and being silly and doing stuff at the campsite.  Another night at the firepit… we later said that we should have brought some marshmallows with us, as we had actually forgotten to get some… I always have marshmallows with me whenever I camp or go someplace where there is a fire. hehe…Funny though.  Oh well, no such luck. haha…

We were doing a bit of talking about us, I was trying to get him to talk about us, but he didn’t want to talk about us, and things that were heavy, because it was his holiday and that we could talk about it after we came back…I thought it was a little weird, but had to accept that and just treat it like a holiday and not talk about us at all.  So we just had fun and enjoyed the whole camping trip instead so it was quite different…I hadn’t camped in years so this was a great refresher for me, and I really enjoyed myself.  Heh…

We started packing up some items that evening and when we got up in the morning we tried to get up a bit earlier so we could enjoy the campsite a bit more and just have fun just hanging out and checking out the view, it was nice there so it was pretty relaxing.  We started putting things away, cleaning up that morning and just sitting around, eating, cleaning and packing up, and talking…. so it was pretty nice. *smile*  By that morning we both were badly burnt so we really didn’t want to be half naked in our bathing suits again to go swimming…haha…we were talking a bit and I was telling him I wanted to go by my old place where I grew up at, as it was on the way back to Kingston, and he was like, sure, why not…I told him I really was from the country and he was like, yeah, I get that….okay.  *laughs*  So when we left, we took a detour to go by my old house from Harrowsmith, and then drove by my old house.  I was shocked at how different the house itself looked like, and was pointing out different areas where I used to go in, hang out, play around in, the little woods across the road from my old house and so on, so on… it’s in the middle of nowhere pretty much.  I was shocked to see how different my property looked. *laughs*  It looked a lot better than the last time I went by there, and it was really cleaned up but it just looked so different now than it did before so it was hilarious.  It’s really nice now, more of a country type of house with bigger sheds or farm houses I guess, beside the house, and the house now shared the property with the next door’s house for the horses, so that was cool. *smile*  It just looked so different…I just remember my place having a huge field out back that I used to go running out in when I was a kid, and the woods out in front that I used to go with my brother and my pet dogs. *L* The woods are still there, but the field was a different layout this time around. *L*  It was a different sight…the house was really cleaned up and looked so different. *L*  I then went driving down the road I used to know a bunch of families live in and I was shocked at how many houses had changed and had cleaned up, so it was cool…only one was falling apart, but the rest was like, wow. *smile*  A definite change.  So it was fun telling Steve about different places, and different people I used to know on the street and telling him stories…I could detect some jealousy there. *laughs*  When I was a kid, it was just home where I did a lot of playing around in.  I do prefer being out in the country than the city…even though people tell me I’m more of a city girl and not a country girl…so okay, if that’s what they think, fine then. *smile*  But it was fun to check it all out. Heh.

When I got home I was like, oh my God…home…all the luxuries of home, electricity, lights!!! Baths…. *laughs*  When I got home I had a nice long bath while Steve was driving back home to Brockville, and it was holy crap, heaven. *laughs*  I was like, oh my God…I feel so clean again. *laughs*  Then I mellowed out with my cat, who was angry that I was gone for four days… *laughs* Watched some TV, relaxed and just felt really good after a few days of camping…it was a lot of fun. 

And then one day on Saturday night soon after we got back from camping, I think, after a few days of me and Steve talking to each other online and all that about us…we kind of started thinking of seeing each other again.  Steve still has around two months left of getting his life back together, and his financial status back to being out of debt, instead of always being in the black.  But we did get along very well at the camping trip, and we did click very well, and it was easy for us to talk to each other and the chemistry was still there, so…we decided to try again and he came to visit again after he went to his friend’s karaoke thing in Smiths Falls and he stopped by on Friday or Saturday night, and we started talking, and it seems like we are trying again now. We do get along really well so oh well.  What can I do?  *laughs*  So we’re taking it all very slow and trying again.  Just have to see how it turns out this time around.

The past week I’ve been working on the camping photos, and I have gotten a lot of it up in the pictures page here, and Steve even got a video done and set up from the camping trip, so it’s pretty cool.  It’s in this link: 


Sharbot Lake Camping 2011 (HD) from Steve Savage on Vimeo.

I think I look a little weird in some shots, but it’s pretty fun it seems. *smile*

I had to take some photos of my brother and his fiancee, as they were due soon with their baby, so I had to take photos of them pregnant, so…they came down last Saturday and it was gorgeous that day, though so humid…I’m so tired of the humidity.  Yikes!!  *laughs*  Oh well…so we went out to the waterfront to take photos and I wasn’t sure how or what they wanted me to have them to do, what poses they wanted to do, so it was interesting trying out different ones, and I was surprised at how many turned out to be…a lot of them turned out well…so it was interesting…I still have to see what Jase and Kelly did pick out to use for themselves and to post online for themselves.  So it was interesting. *smile* I was really tired by the end of the two hour photo shoot. Heh…I ended up taking like 70 photos and I gave them 40 to look at and appreciate…a lot of the photos turned out really well, surprisingly enough. *laughs*  They seemed to like it but I’ll find out what they like and don’t like eventually.  I just sent them the photos this afternoon so oh well. *smile*

After the photo shoot we all went down to my mom’s place for dinner, so it was nice…we all were exhausted from being out in the sun all afternoon so just sitting around and relaxing and eating supper down there was pretty good. *smile*  I didn’t have to do anything so it was good. Haha…Funny.  It was nice, and Kelly was talking about how people at her work and her family were saying that she was likely to give birth soon, because of how her stomach has dropped considerably and my mom was surprised at how much it had dropped and said she was going to be due very soon, with how much her stomach has dropped. *laughs*  It’ll be interesting to see when she has her baby.  She’s supposed to be due in the end of September, but I have no idea when she will actually have the baby, so it’ll be interesting to see, for sure. *smile*  All wait and see.  Hehe…

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