Archive for July, 2010

I just spent the last hour running through the woods, yelling pirate verse “Avast, ye bested me but I’ll have me revenge and ye’ll be in Davy Jones Locker soon enough” and alternately being chased by campers and chasing them.

It’s a great game where campers chase the counselors and when the bell rings, the counselors chase the campers. The bell rings more and more quickly, until it’s ringing every 30 seconds!

It sounds simple - but there was some magical elements. Many of the players were not your classic athletes or competive, but they were giving it their absolute all. It was a game, but the goal wasn’t just to make a goal or score. The goal was the interaction, the back and forth, the friendly taunting, the tagging the camp director and yes the running up and down hills for an hour!

After today, all camper except Senior Lodge are out on trips.

A1 campers are all on overnights to local shelters on part of the 640 acres of property F&W owns around our camps on the Woodward Reservoir. This is a good introduction to camping and is also helps the cabin to bond well.

The First Lodge cabin of Sycamore are all on a two night adventure on Lake Ninevah, which involves camping, hiking and canoeing. Also a good chance for that cabin to get to know each other better.

For Big Lodgers, their trips include:

- “Richardson Lake Canoeing” - Canoeing in Maine.
- “Skyrunners” A local athletic hike along Pico-Killington-Shrewsbury
- Ninevah Shelter Build - Continuing the 100% camper-constructed new shelter at Lake Ninevah, a mile from Saltash Mountain Camp.
- Silverlake Climb - a trip to our favorite local climbing area, complete with a lake to swim in.
Little Rock Pond - A great introduction to hiking the Long Trail, with days of about 5 miles, and nice swimming areas.
Service Trip - To The Meeting School in New Hampshire, where there is Farm work and light construction to help with.

Last session, many campers most proud moments came from their experiences on the trail, so we look forward to hearing from them when they arrive back on Saturday and Sunday.

Barns and Gardens: We have started pickling produce. A flock of sheep came and went, and new compost bins are up.

Outdoor Living Skills: Snr Lodge taught First and Big Lodge to make fires, then challenged them to a race. (The Senior Lodge logs were soaking in water for 10 minutes!)

Waterfront: Swimming lessons are happening with a twist - scavenger hunt and “diving for gold” help keep it fun.

Work Projects: Safety is presented with interactive skits. More work is happening on the new cabin, as well as trails.

Arts: A new Goldsworthy-style nature sculpture has gone up between Trappers and Rivermen cabin. Our resident potter Zach Duncan-Tessmer has made some very earthy mugs by rolling the clay along the bark of trees.

We also had a fantastic All Camp Game of Kingdoms on the Fairgrounds. There was all the excitement (and volume!) of “Braveheart” when half the camp would charge down a hill and up another.

Well, that didn’t fit in a nutshell, but I like the packaging!

… was smooth. Thanks to all you parents who were there helping out, and thanks to all those who used the NYC bus which reduces congestion here (and carbon emissions too!)

By the afternoon the waterfront was full of kids playing in many ways. Some were being boys in the water and having a wild and wet time. Others were engaged in more structured running games and relay races and some were relating over a game of cards with new friends and counselors.

Our first meal together was calm, with plentiful spaghetti and ravioli. A home made red sauce & pesto with basil from our garden, cucumbers from the garden, baked sweet potatoes and freshly baked homemade bread. The grace we sang was “Mmmm Delicious”!

After dinner cabins each made a fire and a cabin contract. This “Full value contract” requires everyone to agree on what is needed to have a safe and fun cabin to co-habitate in and sign off on it. This sets everyone off in the right direction, and when the inevitable bumps in the road come up the cabin can look back to what they agree upon to get back on course.

I am so excited for this second session to start. People asked me on the first day how I was doing. My reply? “Great! I’m a camp director, and I’m in a camp full of kids!”

The last council fire, we had a quiz on camp history, and then reinforced that we are making history right now, in the moment. We then passed out cards and everyone wrote something they are proud of. Here are the results:

What TL campers say they are most proud of 7-17-2010

Sycamore
Being here
I am proud of having general swim every day
Getting my Woodsman
I hiked 26 miles
Woodsman
Everything
Getting my self up

Foxes
Making a monkey’s fist
Platinum record award
Climbing ADK walls
About to get my Woodsman on 1st year
I did back flip off rope swing
Getting Woodsman
I going to get my Woodsman
Building a fire
Getting my Woodsman

Catamount
Canoeing 20 miles
I gave a bead
I did a big splash off the monster
Doing a Grand Circuit at age 11
Hiking 26 miles
Coming here
Cut a full log
Hiking 4 days in a row in the Appalcians

Bears
Jumping off of a cliff
Cabin switch!
Flip off the monster
Bear pit tree
Got Woodsman/Craftsman and Survivor
Jumping off Bear Pit
Making a friend
Improving canoeing skills

Otters
Meeting new heights
Made a bear pit
I got level 4 in swimming
Jumping off a cliff
Building the Arts maFort
Bowdrill
Making new friends
Up on Bearpit tree
Making new friends
Got level 4

Rivermen
Went on Androscoggin Canoe trip
Backflip off rope swing
Proud: being happy
Cabin and shelter building
Making the Tobin shelter
I am arachnophobic and sleep with spiders surrounding me
Working on the cabin

Lumberjacks
Chump
Swimming a TF
Building the cabin
Doing a backflip off the rope swing
I built a bench

Trappers
Making new friends
Almost getting my Tenzig climbing rating
Jumping off Bearpit tree
Getting my Basic Canoe rating
Lifeguard training
Majority of my Solo
Building cabin
Building cabin
Swimming to Bear Pit

Rangers
My 24 hour solo
Helping in the kitchen
Hiking Camel’s Hump
I went up down to left stuff
Growing facial hair
Doing work projects
Raising the new cabin
I am proud of making a gate for the pig pen
Building the new cabin

Staff
Working hard
I taught a major rating (Basic)
Doing a shelter hike
Cabin raising
Cabin raising
Skyrunners trip
I’ve led two successful canoe trips that no one got hurt on and everyone learned a lot and enjoyed even more
Taking kids on PKS hike
Surviving without bug nets
RPS (Rock Paper Scissors) staff champ
Taking care of campers
Getting to know my senior lodge
Staying the course, keeping calm
Help run “Guys Night”
Milking the cow
Art

Everything!

Named after the toilet paper (or loo roll, as my wife’s side of the family call it) “AngelSoft” is our version of hockey played with a roll duct-taped to make a puck.  The stadium is the upper lodge, and the goal is a gap in the benches.

On the 14th of July Big and First Lodge played an epic tournament.    It was one of those rare moments where the intensity was high, everyone was giving it all they had.    “Wait”  you’re thinking “You’re talking about a game named after toilet paper”  but these boys were really into it, and playing very hard.    So each goal was a triumph, a roar of victory.  Yes, each goal - including the opponents.   Because while we are a Quaker camp,  we are not against pushing our limits or striving hard.   We are non-competitive so no one is excluded, and everyone truly feels a winner and part of the group.    A tie result for many means that no-one won the match.  A “TL tie” means everyone wins.

I’ve noticed, as perhaps others have as well, there is more spam out there, more political causes and ads that come into our inbox and it’s harder to sift through it. Some of you probably have so many emails it feels like a daily chore just keeping up with the news.

The TL Blog is always here when you feel like checking it. When you are in the mood, you can check it for an update. While I don’t update on a rigid schedule, there’s always at least one new entry a week.

When you want to share it with another family member, there is no delay - you just send them to the blog!

I always try to direct folks to the Blog in my emails, but if the link doesn’t work it’s nice to know you can find your way here via the F&W web.

…and thanks for reading. As a parent myself I know we can be sponges for news about our kids when we are away, and I appreciate many of you would not tire of much greater detail about each day and each child, but bear with me as i try to provide the general tone and feeling of camp and let me know via email if there is a big part you are missing. Thanks

Someone here at F&W asked me today “How was your weekend?” and I just had to blink and cock my head quizzically. They mentioned the photos on the F&W facebook page for Friday’s Interdependance Day, and things started to click. Friday was ages ago in camp time. We had an amazing song to share with everyone, complete with trucking in our piano onto stage, crazy costumes and unbelievable volume and enthusiasm.

“We got no iPods but we got some bomb cooks, you and me we’re rocking Timberlake. Unplugged in mud and hanging with our best buds you and me we’re rocking Timberlake” (To the tune of “Bad Romance” by L.Gaga)

Friday’s celebration ended with homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches, square dancing and a bonfire. We kept the celebrations rolling into the next day with a small banquet celebrating our J1 campers who left us too soon on Sunday morning. That evening was a great Council Fire with songs, raps and a touching bead ceremony that deserves it’s own special write-up.

Sunday morning was Senior Lodge Trip pack out, J1 departure and in the evening… FIFA Night. Staff then had a weekly all-staff meeting until midnight.

That weekend had a week’s worth of special things. Or perhaps a month’s worth.

First and Big Lodge have been out on trips  - more about them soon.    What important for parents of First and Big lodgers is know that the oldest kids in the camp are doing a great job of showing how positive the “big kids” can be.

Saturday July 3^rd.

Does mixing up 8 cabins of 13-14 year old girls and boys sound productive? Well, it was! The Senior Lodges of Indian Brook and Timberlake got together on Saturday July 3^rd and hauled brush, chopped wood and started to build our Interdependence Day fire for July 9th. We feasted on 21 pans of home-made pizza and had a swim in the cove. There was spontaneous dancing and singing over dinner, and guitars and songs during the evening (Including “Bohemian Raphsody” from TL and “Closer to Fine” from IB). My favorite comment from a Senior Lodger was “It wasn’t awkward at all”.

Sunday July 4^th. Build it up!

Cabin raising has started well. Dan Reagan, whose mother was one of the first campers at Indian Brook, is putting his timber-framing skills to work with us today and over the next few days. Other Snr Lodger were improving the trail to Catamount cabin, building cabin signs, putting in a new “Slack-Em” stump, and continuing to build up the brushpile for the fire.

Life Skills

…is a phrase you’ll hear often. Perhaps so often it loses meaning. At TL, I see an incredible work ethic coming from our young leaders of the oft-maligned ages of 13-14. I bear witness to boys that are at the kitchen at 6.00am sharp (a half hour before the 3-bell) to voluntarily help with baking and food prep. I see teenagers doing their morning chores at 9.00pm before bed so they can sleep in. I see a young man new to TL brave enough to speak up and correct a counselor to make sure boy and girls were evenly divided for our work projects with IB. It gives me a lot of hope for the future working with these young men.

The first 24 hours have gone so well. After arrival, campers were engaged in orientation games, followed by their first meal at the upper lodge. As the sun set, there were camp fires, cabin contracts and games in each cabin. The noise from our 90-plus boys peaked by 9pm but after the quite bell the camp was silent and calm. This morning every cabin woke to chores followed by a meal of fresh fruit and make-your-own breakfast sandwiches. Songs ensued (”The Wait”, “Country Roads” and “The Banana Boat Song”) followed by silent meeting.

In morning activities, campers built debris shelters and wet weather fires, conducted a scavenger hunt in the garden to learn vegetables, and improved our trails around camp.

The afternoon was more free-form, and some chose basketball, other painted t-shirts, practiced rock climbing skills on our chimney, while others chose amongst the six other offerings.

At the same time all this is happening, half the 9-12 year olds are finding the time to pack for their trips that leave tomorrow morning!

Some of the specific things I saw during this time were:

- Over a hundred people enter our dining hall in silence
- A cabin of 11 year old boys in bed at 9 pm, absolutely quiet, listening to the sound of the their counselor’s voice telling a story.
- Boys who had never met each other a day ago excitedly making plans to do activities together.

In summary: it’s been a nice mix of kids having a lot of choice, accomplishing a lot, making lots of noise and being quite and calm - all at the appropriate moments!

Camp is off to a great start.