Last week the Toys on 365 had the theme of (Inter)Nartional Camera Day, and suggested that the toys who wanted to play with them take selfies or a group photo with their cameras. Since I was going up to SweetWood in Wisconsin for the week, I took the Triceratops Twins with me. They had been begging to go ever since the Apatosaurus youngsters came back from their trip to SweetWood in April and began to brag about what a great place and great trip it had been.
Frank knows how much trouble dinosaurs can get into and so he made me promise to take VERY GOOD CARE of them. So they each got wrapped in a blue napkin and settled down into my suitcase for the drive north.
I was especially busy this year, what with the painting we all (all the humans, that is) were pitching in on for the new bath house. So I didn't get much photography done. We had one brief photo op over breakfast one day, then remembering Frank's admonition to take VERY GOOD CARE of them, over their protests I wrapped them back up and took them into the tent, where they chilled on the bed during the day until the evening when I put them someplace VERY SAFE.
On Saturday. with the painting finished (Yay! Hooray!) I decided we could all try some selfies with various friends and folk who were there. They had been especially keen to take a selfie with Aphrodite who resides down in the ritual circle.
Well, I looked for them in the suitcase, I looked for them in various bags I had in the tent. I looked for them under the covers, I looked for them in all sorts of outlandish places that I really wouldn't have taken them. I called their names, begging them to come out of hiding -- to no avail.
I approached the main evening event trying to suppress rising panic. If they didn't appear, I was in SUCH BIG trouble with Frank, I didn't even want to contemplate it. I asked everyone I met if they had seen the dinosaurs, describing them and the blue napkins I feared they had cast off to run amok through the woods.
The next morning as I packed and took down the tent, I looked again through everything at my campsite and everything up at the shelter and down at the ritual circle. No Triceratops Twins. A friend suggested I pray to St. Anthony and I did. My friend Jack tried to reassure me they would surely come out when I got home, but it was with a sinking heart I drove south again.
When I pulled into my driveway after midnight and went to lift the suitcase out of the car, I thought "Well, it doesn't hurt to look one more time." even though I had dumped everything out before. BUT, just then, I noticed that the zippered pocket on the top didn't look as flat as it had before. I unzipped to pull out the bag with my pill dispensers (which I also had done before). But THIS time, I reached way down past the pill dispensers and THERE THEY WERE! Thank you, St. Anthony! Thank you, thank you!
Of course, after the relief, I was so pissed at them. They had, indeed, thought it would be funny to hide in there. Only, later they got stuck down at the bottom of the pocket. By then, I was in the middle of the full blown panic over their disappearance. Boy, did I give them a piece of my mind and a lecture on safety and good travel behavior. I am NEVER, EVER taking a dinosaur camping again.
They were so downcast at their missing the opportunity to take all sorts of selfies out at SweetWood, especially with Aphrodite, that all on their own they got on the computer and found a photo I'd taken of her on a previous trip to SweetWood. In a calmer mood, I have to admit they have really been paying attention the other times we've done photos using the computer and the desk. When I found them, they had cleared away the clutter on the desk and built up a platform to boost themselves up to the right height. It was a real engineering feat, with steps leading up to the top. They used my genealogy how-to and reference books, which gave me a twinge of guilt, as I have been meaning to make more time to get back to that, and instead I keep taking photos.
They also had found an old camera of mine and had set it up. I had to tell them that (a) it didn't have any film in it and (b) it was broken and didn't work. But I took a picture of their set up for a belated 365 Toys shot. And I also used my regular little camera to take the "selfie" they wanted.
http://365project.org/mcsiegle/365/2015-07-07
Photos we actually took at SweetWood here:
http://365project.org/mcsiegle/365/2015-07-02
http://365project.org/mcsiegle/365/2015-07-03
