Bonus blog blues

Where is everybody? A mere handful of boats on a gorgeous lake ... empty camp after empty camp along inviting shoreline ,,, empty marinas, boats up on the hard, going from winter to winter under the same shrink wrap ... deserted main streets in tiny touristy towns ... and tonight, at sunset, this beautiful campsite is devoid of activity. No smoky cookouts, no music or revelry, nobody on the beach ... nobody in sight.  It's late July in paradise.

Of course, my question is rhetorical. I'm the oddity in this picture, out and about 'for fun' when our news and national mood hardly encourage it. I've confessed to my blessings, my undeserved privilege, my extraordinary good fortune in being able to do this. Maybe the question is ... should I? Is the appearance of joyful adventure in bad taste, insensitive, tone deaf? I'd like to hope that my body of work in my teaching and my life allow for this, even explain this, and the ruminating that accompany me as I row.    

I do wish others were out, safely of course, but out, away from the newsfeeds, social media, and incendiary exchanges. There's real life taking place out here ... in the campgrounds, in the guy who opens up his kitchen for you, in the gal who won't take a tip 'just for ice.' I'm glad I'm here to see, hear, and feel it.