We’re full on into winter mode now, and I hope you’re all doing well with your lives at home. I know school can be hard, but I hope you remember to wrap yourself up in your Flying Cloud blanket every once in a while and travel back to the FC clearing in your mind. I just added a maple leaf (made of leather) to my blanket and a wooden button that allows me to turn it into a poncho! I’ve been really enjoying wearing it around as I wander in the woods here in Washington.

After campers left, the staff stayed on for four more days, doing mysterious counselory things like cleaning and having meetings. One of my favorite parts of post-camp is how tangible the presence of campers is. In one sense, Flying Cloud is just a clearing in the woods, and for nine months of the year it’s filled with birds, bears, bunnies and moose. On the other hand, anyone who’s ever walked into our clearing can say without a doubt that there’s magic there. Thanks to everyone who was there this summer making magic, and I hope to see most of you back for summer 2009! For those of you who are interested in staying connected during the off season, you should definitely check out the house parties around New England.

To leave you with something to consider for next time, here’s a little tracking mystery to check out. This little critter was cruising along the Oregon sea coast, but we’d find its family members around New England as well. Check out the number of toes, and note that this is all four feet in a group. That’s a clue! Can you tell which ones are the left and right? And what about front and rear?

The other piece that starts well in advance of Fair is Fire Raising. From our whole gaggle of campers we select the oldest who have really shown leadership in camp for this special job. These guys work long days collecting wood and practicing their choreography in the sun and rain. When they think they’ve got it, we have them rehearse it again. After days of hard work they hike on down to the Fairground on Friday for one last day of practice. Though it’s occasionally stressful, and definitely demanding, the efforts are clearly worth it. For those of you who saw the ceremony this year, I’m sure you could feel the power and the focus these campers brought to the performance. For any of you who got great pictures of the event, I’d love to see them and share them with others. You can email them to me or Becka, our Communications Director. For everyone else, check back here soon for photos and perhaps some video of the event.

The rest our our Fair preparation is all focused on grasshoppers, hot sauce and barbecue sauce. This year we went out on Friday and collected something like one hundred and fifty little guys for your snacking pleasure! I don’t know why, but we seemed to have some exceptionally big ones this year too. Back in camp there was also a crew of guys chopping onions, peppers and tomatoes for our “Smoking Tipi barbecue sauce” and our “Flaming Tipi hot sauce”. If you were lucky enough to get a bottle, you’d better check over the ingredients carefully. Some of my favorite “seasonings” from this year were “immortality”, “bad campers” and “love”.

Though it’s hard to believe, this is the last week of camp. We’ve got a lot of amazing closing activities planned, and we’re all praying for good weather. We’ll be expecting parents to come pick up their campers this Thursday, August 14th between 9:00AM and noon. If for some reason you’re going to be late please call the main office at (802) 422-3761 and let them know and they’ll have someone contact me.

I’ll leave you now with two of my personal favorite appreciations from campers this week:
        “I want to thank my parents for sending me here because this is such a wonderful place.”
        “I want to appreciate all of my friends for being great.”

Our other campers all went out on trips too, ranging from hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, to climbing over Mount Mansfield, the tallest mountain in Vermont, to the F&W classic “Pico, Killington, Shrewsbury” hike that takes the campers over three great local mountains in four days. I’ll see if I can get pictures together, and if your camper comes home with some good ones, be sure to email them to me!

In other news, we’ve also had TWO Naming Ceremonies since I last wrote. I’d like to take a moment with you to meet the newly named Flying Clouders from August session, 2008. It’s an amazing batch of names for an amazing batch of men:
At the first Naming we had:
Meteor Fox
Cedar Summit
Canyon Heart
and the counselor: Mountain Sound.

For the second Naming we honored:
Horizon Dance
Snowmelt Rabbit
Ironwood River
Buffalo Greets the Sun
and the counselor: Owl at Dusk.

It’s hard to believe, but Fair is coming really soon. This saturday, August 9th, we’ll all be gathering together as the Farm and Wilderness camps to celebrate a wonderful summer with friends, family and alumni of all ages. If you can make it we’d love to see you. You can catch the first shuttle to the Fairgrounds at 11:00 AM, and the Fair officially opens with the Saltash Mountain camp skit at 12:30. After that it’s four hours of games, food and friends before dinner and the Flying Cloud Fire Raising ceremony. Dancing, singing and a huge fire built by TL and IB wrap everything up and then we’re all off to bed. Of course, if you’re around, we’d love to see you up at FC the next day to join us for Meeting for Worship around 9:30.

Though the summer’s almost over some of the most fun parts are yet to come! Be sure to check back soon for photos and more musings on what makes Flying Cloud such a wonderful place.

(Click for full size.)

        So called for the stripes on its chest, the Barred Owl is a relatively common nighttime visitor in New England. One important factoid about them is that they will reuse the same nest site year after year. That probably means that the owl we’ve been seeing this summer is the same one we’ve always heard up at FC, it’s just getting bold!

        After this critter we’re all looking forward to more cool nature sightings and I’ll let you know when they happen!

It’s hard to believe, but this means for twenty-three of our brothers, the summer at Flying Cloud is over. For fourteen lucky fellows it means we’re only half way through, and for fourteen new guys it means we’re just getting started! I’m happy to say that despite all the rain on arrival day our second half campers are in good spirits and ready to go! We spent yesterday helping get everyone settled into their lodges, and then today we’ve been going over some of the basic elements of being a Flying Clouder: doing chores, building fires, using knives and other tools and of course, playing games! This afternoon everyone is out wandering around the local landscape, keeping their eyes open for interesting natural mysteries and getting to know Flying Cloud.

Now I’ve got to head back up there through the rain in time to get back for dinner. After yesterday’s oven-fresh sourdough and pasta with red or alfredo sauce, I don’t wan to miss it! Just thinking about it has my mouth watering….

Until next time, don’t hesitate to write, and of course feel free to pass the link to the blog on to your friends and family. If you can make it I’d also love to see you at Fair! Remember it’s Saturday afternoon, August ninth. Just a few weeks to go!

We gathered for the evening to talk about maleness in a general way, and I was truly impressed as usual with the depth and complexity of our campers’ understanding of the issues involved. First we asked what it meant to be male. Next we asked “who’s one man you admire and why?” Finally we talked about what we like about ourselves as men here at FC, what it means to be in an all-male community and how we can carry home some of the things we like most about ourselves here. It was an evocative and inspiring discussion. The campers brought their best minds and brightest words, and we all expanded our awareness of what it means to be male.

The next day was Visiting day, and was filled with a very different sort of energy. We had nearly one hundred people up for lunch, tripling the size of our community for a few short hours. Thanks so much for everyone who brought delicious food for the potluck! The guys were certainly thrilled to eat so well, and we all really enjoyed welcoming friends and family into our daily life. We spent a little while talking about FC philosophy, doing chores, playing games and doing a few of the classic Flying Cloud activities. After a busy afternoon we had a tasty dinner including fresh FC bread, and then parents and families headed on down the road for the night. There were some very wonderful moments of community, and I was really proud to see how well our campers did representing the culture and the values of Flying Cloud to their families. Thanks again for joining us. Before I forget, if you got any great photos from the day that you want to share with others, please email them to me and we’ll post them up!

We’re down at Saltash Mountain Camp this evening for a Contra Dance, then tomorrow we’re off to Indian Brook to visit with them! It’s certainly a busy schedule, but we love it. If your son is leaving after first half, we’ll see you in just a couple of days– sometime between 9:00 and noon on Friday the 18th. If not, we’ll see you at Fair on August ninth!

As I said before, if your son wants to stay for the rest of the summer, please get in touch with me soon.

During the second Naming Ceremony of first half which just happened, one important idea came to me that I wanted to share. You may already know our explanation of why we don’t say our own Flying Cloud Names. Basically, we choose not to because Names are supposed to represent all that’s wonderful about us and to give us something to aspire to, and to enumerate those qualities by saying our own names would be boastful. Instead, we will ask one of our Flying Cloud brothers to introduce us.

The part I wanted to emphasize right now is that Flying Cloud Names demand something from each of us. When the FC community recognizes us for something, it’s also a sign that we have a special gift which we can bring to our brothers at FC and all of our communities throughout our life. While we always feel humbled and thankful for the affirmation we receive in a name, at the same time it’s a stamp of responsibility, in that we now must live up to the high standards our brothers have set for us. Just one more layer to add to the philosophy of Flying Cloud.

Campers left on their First Half trips just a few days ago and arrived back in camp tired, dirty, hungry and happy. It was great to have them home, and we’re all excited to share stories from the adventures we had. The only group that’s not back yet is of older campers who went for a week up to Flagstaff Lake in Maine. They’ll be back on Tuesday and we’re definitely looking forward to having our full community back together again. Adventures this week that I’ve heard about so far included having Quaker Meeting on top of Killington Mountain, swimming in Little Rock Pond in the rain and sneaking back into Flying Cloud one night to “steal” s’mores ingredients from a group of inattentive counselors! The campers were certainly busy.

We’re all really thankful that the weather on trips was almost perfect. Warm, sunny and only one afternoon of rain. It seems like summer might finally be in full swing and we’re happy about it. One pretty amazing sign that it’s summer was in the world of the birds. This week we got the opportunity to watch a young vireo learn to fly! Over the course of a few days, after finding it resting on a root by the breakfast table, we watched as it was fed grubs by its parents until it grew strong enough to fly up into the trees. We didn’t see it today, but can only hope that it’s doing well. Here are a couple of cool photos. Kind of ugly now, but a mature vireo is quite lovely. Keep an eye out for them around you too!

For all you parents out there who have a camper at FC this July and are planning to come up to visit, you should soon receive a letter talking about first half Visiting Day! It’s a great time every year, and we really look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it and giving you a little taste of what Flying Cloud is like for your son.

To see new photos from this summer, please log in to the “families only” section of the website. If you haven’t received a password for that yet and you think you should have, please get in touch with Becka Warren, our Communications Director at Becka@farmandwilderness.org.

As always, week one has been a whirlwind. While it’s always hard to explain why Flying Cloud is so special, this week there is one event that stands out.

Throughout our existence as a camp, ceremony and ritual have been important parts of Flying Cloud. Over the last few years we have been carefully examining many of our practices in order to make sure they align with our FC Core Values and that they fulfill the goals of deepening our relationship with nature and our community, improving our understanding of ourselves and illuminating the Quaker values we live by.
        This summer, we had a beautiful morning of ceremony as a group. After breakfast we were called to the Naming Circle by the beating of the camp drum where we all sat in a circle around a small fire. After a few minutes, we each went off into the forest to gather a load of wood and sit in silent reflection. When the drum echoed again, we returned and stood together in a circle. One by one the members of our community stepped forward into the circle, carrying the wood they had collected. As they stood before the group, they spoke to the fire. We each took the time to either ask for some sort of support we needed, or to release any fears or pain we may have been carrying into the summer. After speaking, each man placed his bundle on the fire and walked around the circle back to where he had been standing. As he sat down, the next man stood and did the same. After a few minutes the tiny fire we had begun with was burning brightly and dancing tall.
        When every member of FC had spoken, we all stood and together we sang the song we use to close every important ceremony at FC: “Brothers now our meeting is over….”
        So began the summer of 2008.