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At last the day I have been waiting for, or at least a few hours such -- I am sufficiently caught up on all the things left undone from the camping preparation to take some time for myself, and the things caught up on includes enough of my lost sleep that sitting down and trying to put words in order does not immediately lead to heavy eyes and general lassitude. The only thing between me and successful writing is the insistence of one of the cats who is miffed I have not held still long enough for his liking in the last week; right now he is beside me taking a bath and occasionally thumping his heavy head against my wrist to remind me that I should be dispensing affection. A most excellent cat.
Camping was very good; I thought I would enjoy it when I got there, but it was both more engaging and much, much more relaxing than I expected. The older Scouts running the event did a very good job, so our girls had a nice mix of structured experiences (cooking, art, hiking, archery) and time to explore and play together. The site itself was absolutely gorgeous -- in the hills near the ocean, surrounded by giant redwoods, on a property that is owned by Girl Scouts so there were real bathrooms and other helpful structures. All the adults who came along were helpful, hard-working, and drama-free, and the conflicts between the girls were only the sort to be expected in a group of third-graders. The weather was beautiful, not too hot in the days, not too cold in the nights, and before everyone settled in it all smelled like trees and earth and stone. I could not have asked for a better time. At the end the adults talked a little about camping again with only our own girls this time, most likely in the spring, and I think I will be glad to do it -- although I will say, I would have enjoyed it every bit as much if instead of keeping food in coolers and using electric lanterns, we had cabins with electricity and running water and could cook meals on a stove.
The week behind has been all that catching up I mentioned above; preparation for smol daughter's birthday party, laundry (only half-addressed, it is clean but piled in my room), minor volunteer tasks, and much time with my children. For recreation I have mostly been too tired for reading (but see forthcoming separate post, perhaps), so instead I have been watching The Voice, which I am still not certain about; I liked the blind auditions but the 'battles' are less to my taste, and I could do without the gendered interplay between the judges.
One is not really supposed to do a list with semi-colons and commas, is one? And yet to use a colon and a set of semi-colons feels too weighty and academic, as though I am granting my thoughts an official status they do not deserve. I do not usually think about puncutation, it just happens at my fingertips, but for some reason today I keep second-guessing it.
Camping was very good; I thought I would enjoy it when I got there, but it was both more engaging and much, much more relaxing than I expected. The older Scouts running the event did a very good job, so our girls had a nice mix of structured experiences (cooking, art, hiking, archery) and time to explore and play together. The site itself was absolutely gorgeous -- in the hills near the ocean, surrounded by giant redwoods, on a property that is owned by Girl Scouts so there were real bathrooms and other helpful structures. All the adults who came along were helpful, hard-working, and drama-free, and the conflicts between the girls were only the sort to be expected in a group of third-graders. The weather was beautiful, not too hot in the days, not too cold in the nights, and before everyone settled in it all smelled like trees and earth and stone. I could not have asked for a better time. At the end the adults talked a little about camping again with only our own girls this time, most likely in the spring, and I think I will be glad to do it -- although I will say, I would have enjoyed it every bit as much if instead of keeping food in coolers and using electric lanterns, we had cabins with electricity and running water and could cook meals on a stove.
The week behind has been all that catching up I mentioned above; preparation for smol daughter's birthday party, laundry (only half-addressed, it is clean but piled in my room), minor volunteer tasks, and much time with my children. For recreation I have mostly been too tired for reading (but see forthcoming separate post, perhaps), so instead I have been watching The Voice, which I am still not certain about; I liked the blind auditions but the 'battles' are less to my taste, and I could do without the gendered interplay between the judges.
One is not really supposed to do a list with semi-colons and commas, is one? And yet to use a colon and a set of semi-colons feels too weighty and academic, as though I am granting my thoughts an official status they do not deserve. I do not usually think about puncutation, it just happens at my fingertips, but for some reason today I keep second-guessing it.
no subject
Date: 2018-10-19 12:56 am (UTC)From:Whyever not? People do lists in every conceivable way, and a few that might have required a particular and exceptional vision to achieve. I don't think semi-colons and commas is at all exceptional.
I'm not sure it's even informal. There's historically at least three regular stages of formality; you've got your work dress, your undress, and your dress levels of formality. Work-dress is work shirts and sturdy trousers; undress is in the middle of the vast swamp of business casual, and dress involves a jacket and tie. (For ancient anglo cultural masculine dress assumptions, anyway.) I would put a list using punctuation smack in the middle in the "undress" level of formality. (This is distinct from lists that use line breaks and abbreviations, which are clearly "work dress", and lists which have specific bullet points or proper numbering, which are up into "dress".)
no subject
Date: 2018-10-22 07:21 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2018-10-22 10:46 pm (UTC)From:Brains are passing strange.