18 April 2026 Saturday & 17 Apr 26 Friday

(written retroactively, 18 Apr 26 Sunday)

we made it home from maryland very late last night. 
we left the campout after one night (friday), as we 
caught wind it was going to rain in the middle of the
night last night (saturday), and the tent we set up wasn't 
waterproof. E loves his belated uncle's vintage heavy
canvas tent with lots of poles. it's lovely in fair
weather but (as we discovered the first time we spent
the night in it, last fall) it is not waterproof. i 
advocated for using my smaller and very trustworthily 
rainproof tent this trip, but E was so excited for a 
chance to use his, that i agreed, since the forecast 
said no likelihood of rain until sunday evening. 

it was a serious slog schlepping our stuff down to the 
campsite. you had to park at a drop-off spot, get your
stuff down a steep and winding hill, across a footbridge,
and then a bit down a trail. then you drove about six
minutes away to park, and walked 12 or so minutes back
to the campsite. getting out was much more intense. i'm 
so grateful to E for insisting on handling most of the 
worst of it, and also driving all the way home. 

we chose a site away from the main group and the music, 
and had it all to ourselves. there were a lot of monumental
birch trees. the woods, between a stream and the Potomac,
felt surprisingly peaceful, considering we weren't far
outside of d.c.. the frogs made astounding croaks: 
"gorollop, gorollop" and "bwah,bwah" in the night. we 
nearly ran over one small still yellow frog in the middle of 
the trail with our wagon full of gear. i thought he was a 
leaf at first, but E warned me and thankfully i missed him.  
we woke up to the calls of blue jays and warblers and the 
knockings of woodpeckers. 

there was good music, and people were friendly, though we 
didn't make any definite connections. our friend we went to 
see dj played a really beautiful set, and i had a meaningful 
experience dancing. i told him how much i enjoyed it, and 
then we sat by the fire a short while and went to bed. (his set 
was supposed to be 1:30-3am, but ended up being pushed forward
because his usb drive went missing, and so it ended at 5am). 

apparently our friend wasn't satisfied with how his set turned 
out, though E and i and others all mentioned thinking it was 
really special. our friend ended up saying some unkind things to 
the host related to equipment. it clearly wasn't their fault, and 
it seems he had unrealistic and unfair expectations. or maybe
he was lashing out in a projectional way. 

i hadn't seen him in many years, and we only got to see him 
very briefly. i've been in talks about doing an art collaboration 
with him, but seeing this behavior gives me great pause. i tried
to offer gentle counsel, in the morning, that he might make things
right, but it was clear he saw himself as having been wronged. we
all have our struggles. maybe he will come around, or maybe there's
deeper context i'm not seeing. i was sorry things went so sour, 
and that we didn't get to spend more time with him. 

on the way home, we stopped to eat at Bethesda Curry Kitchen,
and met the owner of Smoke BBQ as we stopped to take a polaroid
photo of E at a defunct payphone in front of the latter 
establishment. it rained mightily soon after we got on the road.