Wednesday, August 24, 2022 The Sun Dome

Three years ago, my husband and I got a sundome tent. It has a screen at the top instead of the usual tent covering. It comes with a fly to put over the whole tent to keep out rain, etc. The first time we used it was on our way out to our daughter’s wedding that year in May. That first night was brutal – the temperature got down to about 34 degrees and suddenly the whole concept of a tent with a screen at the top seemed foolish. Of course we used the fly, but that didn’t help much. We’ve used the tent about a half dozen times since then, but have never fully taken advantage of the dome…until our last camping trip. Gather around the campfire and I’ll tell you about the trains, the cicadas, the frogs and the stars.

Our tent site was private and on the edge of a drop-off into a verdant valley, but surrounded by trees. We were sitting in the screen tent reading in the afternoon enjoying the light breeze and hearing the cicadas singing the songs of their people. In the midst of this we heard a train approaching – loud, gloriously loud! It filled all the trees with its noise and the sound was so close I would not have been surprised to see the train burst through the trees and come through our campsite, tracks or no. It went invisibly past us, although eventually I spied a break in the trees across the narrow valley where I could see the cars in that ghost train swiftly clacking by. It happened again early in the evening and I wondered why the sound of it filled me with such a thrill. When the sound died away, it was as if the whole forest had been holding its breath. After a pause, the cicadas, birds and squirrels renewed their woodland chorus, the wind was shushing through the leaves as if the train had never come through. But there – that’s my imagination talking.

We had a campfire that night and when the last of the firewood was burning down, we looked up and saw that the clouds had cleared away and the stars were out, visible in a way that you can’t often see in the city. We decided to sleep under the stars in our tent, leaving the fly off so we could look at the sky through the screened dome. There was a canopy of tree branches overhead, but I could still see the stars here and there. It was one of those “close to nature/close to God” moments. Two stars in particular twinkled down at me like friendly eyes. I lay awake as long as I could, reveling in the experience, enjoying God’s “playlist” for the evening as well – a steady rhythmic percussion of frogs and crickets, unbelievably in sync with each other. How do the cicadas, birds and squirrels know when to quit their parts and the frogs and crickets know when to begin theirs? It is a mystery known only to the heavenly Choir Director.

Twice in the night a train went by and both times I woke up joyful and thankful to hear it. The sleeping temperature was perfect. I can’t remember when I’ve had a more pleasant night sleeping in a tent.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

Oh, I’m not sure about deleting posts in the morning anymore – I’ll have to think about it while peering through the blog dome.