"Treehouse'' (acrylic on canvas), by Eveline Luppi, in her current show at Providence Art Club.
Treehouses are one of those outdoor summer creations favored by kids aged from about 6 to 12, at which point most lose all interest, even before the bats and bugs become intolerable. Like camping out, their charm fades as you realize that physical comfort is underrated.
Camping in itchy sleeping bags in which you first wake up sweating and then, before dawn, if you'd been able to sleep since the first wake-up (if there was one), you wake chilled to the bone and sore from lying on those roots and stones you can't seem to avoid and scratching the wounds inflicted by red ants.
Luckily for kids whose parents force them to camp out, the camping season is still brief in New England. Perhaps global warming will extend the misery over the next few decades.
-- Robert Whitcomb
