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Radio Silence, or I Still Have No Idea What I’ll Write About All Summer

posted by Carl Newman at 4:38 pm.

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I had to take a leave of absence from blogging recently, what with going back to Barrington and getting a car (thanks mom and dad). Then there was Mother’s day (thanks mom and Mimi). And then camping.

I love to camp. Not really so much camp, as build a fire. I started one Monday night at about 6:30 Eastern Time and it didn’t go out completely. It was still smoking a little when I left this morning at 10:45. I can’t get enough fire.

Fire is probably the simplest really cool thing you can do. There has never been a time in my life when someone said, “Hey, Carl. Wanna start a fire?” and I declined. It’s kind of my thing.

I burned a porch that night

First of all, a fire is psychologically satisfying. It’s an instant gratification thing. I take my hatchet or my saw to something and then I throw it in and watch it burn up. Boom. Done. Awesome.

And the camping trip I went on was with the Penny Dreadful Players. A group of more snide, quirky drunks can’t be found. But you put a fire in front of them and even they are hypnotized.

I’ll admit that I enjoy the firemastering a bit too much. I suppose it must look silly to people around me as I pound a hatchet with a hammer to split wood. It just brings out some sort of weird neanderthal instinct in me. Many times on the trip I had to restrain myself from saying things like:

“MMMMMM. FIIIIRREESS BURN!”

Building a fire is simple, but it’s easy to not learn how to do right. I learned from genetics and family and practice.

I had a lot of simple moments on the camping trip, and I happen to think those are really good for your soul. I walked into a shallow cave on a creek bed near our campsite and just sat and listened to the water alone and I couldn’t tell you what happened, but I know I liked it.

Of course our idea of camping isn’t exactly Walden. We need an ipod and speakers in addition to copious amounts of beer in order to really feel at one with nature.

Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Carl Newman: Apologizes for not being able to find appropriate pictures, or upload them correctly when he does find them.