We took the dogs for a long walk around the camping loop this weekend, the sort of walk that starts without much purpose beyond giving everyone some exercise and somehow turns into a conversation that lasts long after we’ve made it back to the campsite. Thanksgiving came up. We’re hosting again this year, and Cliff’s…
For more than a decade, it has often felt as though no aspect of American life was untouched by Donald Trump. Politics, certainly, but also science and medicine, religion and education, international relations and business, journalism and the media, culture and the arts, the military and industry. He has been everywhere: in museums and courtrooms,…
The things that frighten us as children have a peculiar staying power. Monsters beneath the bed eventually reveal themselves as piles of clothes; the sinister shape outside the window becomes a tree moving in the wind. We’ve grown old enough to understand these things, but some part of us remembers what it was like when…
As we sat at the campfire this weekend, we began talking about the strange bargain of aging: The longer you live, the more stories you have to tell, yet there are fewer people with the time or the inclination to hear them. From there, the conversation moved to all the ways a life can become…
There comes a moment every year when you realize summer’s hold is finally beginning to weaken. The afternoons may still be warm, but the oppressive heat that has defined so many days now seems fleeting. That was how we felt as we pulled into Loyd Park on Friday afternoon. After setting up camp, however, we…
Earlier this week, headlines were filled with yet another debate involving Donald Trump and the Kennedy Center. At the center of the controversy was a familiar human desire for recognition. The President had publicly argued that his administration deserved credit for its role in the institution’s future. Regardless of one’s political views, the story raised…
It was, in many ways, a week filled with noise. It began with the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, a gathering that seemed to have little practical purpose beyond energizing the party’s base. The media treated it as a major event, and like so many political spectacles these days, it generated a steady stream of…
Six months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, psychologist Eugene Kennedy reflected on something unprecedented. For perhaps the first time in history, we knew what thousands of people thought and said when they knew they were about to die. Through telephone calls, voicemails, messages, and conversations captured in the final moments of their…
We arrived Friday afternoon and got settled into Cloud 9 while wrapping up the workday. One of the luxuries of camping at Loyd Park is being able to step away from work without traveling very far. Once the laptops were closed and the last emails answered, the weekend officially began with one of our favorite…
We arrived at Loyd Park on Friday afternoon, happy to return to our favorite campsite. Tucked beneath a generous tree canopy, it offers welcome relief from the Texas summer sun and has become our preferred home away from home. Before long, Cloud 9 was set up, lunch was finished, and we settled into the familiar…
Aging carries a lot of baggage, and the emotions that accompany self-reflection are definitely part of it. When we were young we thought we knew what aging would be like, but really we had no idea. Now that we’re in our sixth decade of life, we find ourselves asking what does it mean to live…
There are summer weekends built around adventure, and then there are summer weekends built around endurance. With Texas locked in the grip of a weeks-long heatwave, we knew this trip would require a slower pace, a little patience, and a willingness to let the weekend unfold gently. We arrived at camp Friday afternoon in time…
We arrived at camp shortly after noon on Friday and immediately set to work getting Cloud 9 set up before the Texas heat reached its full intensity. Within a short while the awning was out, the campsite was organized, and we were able to settle into the shade before the afternoon became truly oppressive. We…
With an oppressive heat wave bearing down on the area, we adjusted our schedule and arrived at the campground late Friday morning, hoping to get settled before the worst of the afternoon temperatures arrived. It proved to be a wise decision. Our new air-conditioner quickly justified its purchase, bringing the cabin to a comfortable temperature…
There is a certain satisfaction that comes with finally closing a chapter that has lingered longer than expected. After six weeks of appointments, repairs, waiting, rescheduling, and expense, we headed to McClain’s RV to pick up Cloud 9 following the installation of a new air-conditioner. The experience was well worth the wait. The customer service…
