The 3 C’s: Cancer, Classics, and Camping

A couple days ago I was given a cancer diagnosis…again. But this time there are no “if’s, and’s, or but’s.” In fact, the doctor who last time told me that I did NOT have cancer is the very one who broke this bad news to me. For the opposite result, see Good news!

Today I had the specialist consultation regarding this new cancer diagnosis. I guess it could have been worse, but it could also have been better–like, they could have once again reversed the diagnosis, which they didn’t. Oh well. 😦 Maybe there are only a certain number of times you can dodge the bullet….

Meanwhile, I went to my Classics class yesterday for some erudite distraction. We finished off Homer (the Iliad and the Odyssey) and did quite a bit of Hesiod. Tomorrow we are supposed to hand in our first papers, then finish Hesiod and do Pindar, then start a new unit on tragedy. Tragedy as in Aeschylus, my favorite playwright of all time.

We are taking things at a fast clip, indeed! The instructor is really, really good. ❤

And I’m preparing for my next camping trip, a solo over-nighter at a local Metro Park. See Earth Day at Scioto Grove, which is when and where I discovered that this new Metro Park offered backpacking campsites on a limited, but free, basis. I got signed up right away, and today I checked my reservation to make sure that when I get there, it will all be good.

It will. Except for the thunderstorms.

However, I hadn’t originally planned this camping trip to be on my own. But I misunderstood the availability of the person who I wanted to accompany me. Which is fine: I have a terrible thirst for one-on-one time with myself, especially in nature. Still, it did harsh my mood a bit.

So yesterday after returning home from school, I did a self-soothing exercise that I partake in from time to time when I suffer a disappointment:  I enjoyed my home anew.

Here is a little bit of my tour, starting with a still-life showing the layout of a case I’m making for a new archery bow (which is described below). Of course Ophelia had to help me! 😛

The new bow is a Fuse Focus, a 20-pounder that I picked up at a whopping 60% off on my way this past Thursday to Aethelmearc War Practice . (For more on AWP, see Aethelmearc War Practice 2018).

I had been wondering lately if my 15-lb. Cabela Sparrowhawk youth bow is too light for me. So I wanted to try the next weight up if I could afford to do so, money-wise. This bow at Fin Fur and Feather on my way up to Pennsylvania was marked down from $99 to $40.52. I simply could not pass it up.

But guess what: so far I cannot even string the new bow, much less see how I shoot with it! 😛

On the other hand, I did a very nice job yesterday of stringing my Sparrowhawk at Scioto Grove’s archery range. And with my newly-shortened arrows (courtesy of my friends David and Janet VanMeter), I managed to hit the target 10 times out of 11 during each flight I shot! (I lost an arrow first time out this season). This is a MAJOR improvement!

I just read the weather forecast for the day I’ll be camping out at Scioto Grove: thunderstorms beginning the hour I arrive and continuing until the hour I leave on the next morning. Maybe I should re-think my plans?

I think I will call tomorrow and find out their next open date for a backpacking campsite reservation!

Meanwhile, here are some of the photos I took yesterday of my erstwhile Scioto Grove campsite, which is Backpacking Campsite No. 1. If only I could somehow import yesterday’s weather into the day of my camping reservation!

1

You have to go off-trail to get to this campsite. It really is off the beaten path until you pick up the River Trail, but even then it’s only marked with an Exit sign. From the opposite approach, through the parking lot, you must spy out a steep path hidden in the long grass going down a gulch which levels out at the campsite:

Now for some random shots around the house: