Anyway, I went to Girl Scout camp this weekend. I go every six months to take care of the tents over there. And when I say "take care of," I don't mean I take them out back and embed lead into their skulls. I mean that we either set up or take down these big smelly canvas four person tents. (I suddenly feel like I've written about this before, but I'm going to repeat myself anyway.) Spring we set them up, fall we take them down. Simple as that.
They're platform tents, so once everything's spread out and you've got two people working on hoisting the upright poles and you've also got four people on the corners, once the thing is up, you have to tie the ropes to the platform. Now there's a specific knot I was taught to tie so that come fall, all you have to do is pull the tail end and Voila! The rope is loosed. I call this the "tent knot." I learned this weekend that it's a slipknot. Who knew? Anyway, I tried practicing this knot at home to refresh my memory and no luck. I just couldn't tie a knot that reminded me of the knot I tie on the tents. Then once I got to camp, I tied the knot like it was no big deal.
Apparently it's just like riding a bike.
April 13, 2013
It's just like
riding a bike.
But you wouldn't know
what that's like
because you never
rolled your bike out
of the garage
after months of cold and school,
dusted off the seat
and took off down the sidewalk.
My brother and I rode
up and down the alleys
of our neighborhood,
our boundaries being
the busy streets
that tied us to one little triangle
where we could visit
one grandma
but not the other.
When we were old enough,
we rode around the circle,
pretending to be horse jockeys
because they used to race there.
And we always stuck
together.
It was easy.
"My two favorite things in life are libraries and bicycles. They both move people forward without wasting anything. The perfect day: riding a bike to the library."
- Peter Golkin
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