Wednesday, August 4

This was a day of tournaments, water carnival, and music night. Tomorrow is Banquet! We will let the photos speak for themselves.

Tuesday, August 3

We better write while we can because the rest of this magical week is a roller coaster ride, and we just all hang on tight. Today was the last official class day of the summer. The Deer and Eagles finished their high ropes course work. Crafts and wood projects poured out of the studios. The CITs treated us to a wonderful Trivia Night tonight with a theme of the Athens Olympics. They mixed their trivia questions (in brand new formats!) along with interviews of athletes and some ingenious product commercials. They poked fun at the commercials, the athletes who are walking billboards for products, and self-serving commentators. It was brilliant. The camp was divided into 5 teams from Germany, Brazil, China, Jamaica, and Nigeria with team colors and cheers they created. The captain of the winning team lit a very impressive Olympic Torch. Following Trivia Night the Deer and their counselors had a fast and furious water balloon and water gun fracas, officially sanctioned, down at the lake. Tonight all the counselors and CITs are having a very late night pizza party as they prepare for Thursday's banquet. Tomorrow morning we have dress rehearsals for Music Night and more tournament action in the brackets followed by the big Water Carnival after lunch. Today we finished the Tour de Glen Brook. We'll try to post lots of photos tomorrow, but it is hard to keep up. Just 4 more days until you see your kids!

Monday, August 2

It is hard to know where to start.  We'll use the same excuse as the campers:  "We were too busy to write home!"  (However, they were supposed to write their last mandatory letter home yesterday during rest period.)

Thursday and Friday the Raccoons had a wonderful trip on the Connecticut River with perfect weather. It was the 7th camping trip of the summer and the first without any rain.  After paddling downriver to Wilgus State Park, they stayed the night in two snug lean-to cabins right on the river.  The next day they paddled farther down river, loaded up and headed off for miniature golfing and pizza.

Meanwhile, the rest of the camp spent Thursday at Pitcher Mountain picking blueberries.  After picking about 20 pounds of wild blueberries and eating lunch up at the base of the firetower, they went to Vilas Pool, a town park with a deep, clear river pool.  The advanced swimmers were able to jump off their 3m diving board. That night we had Blueberry Cheesecake before our Barn Dance.

Saturday Night Entertainment this week had lots of talent and a bit fewer silly skits. We had an authentic hula by Rachel the CIT,  poetry reading, lemmi stick rhythm patterns at blistering speeds, and a German song song by Skyler. (Lemmi sticks are made from stems of Staghorn Sumac, carefully peeled and prepared to make a wonderful bamboo-like sound.)

Sunday morning began with blueberry pancakes and Glen Brook maple syrup.  After a vigorous hour of cleaning, inspection yielded 10's in both of the Deer Boys' cabins!   Those of us in the office are still in shock having seen their cabin Saturday. Only the CITs got a 10 on the girls' side. During our last Sunday service of the summer we had a lovely piano offering by camper Alex B, and a Russian tale told by Mr. Braden, complete with a Russian lullaby sung by Gala, one of our Russian kitchen workers. Tzipora read  "For everything there is a season..."  from Ecclesiastes 3.  (we sometimes sing  the Pete Seeger / Judy Collins or The Byrds rendition of Turn, Turn, Turn during after-supper singing), and we had recorder music by Mrs. Madsen. It was a beastly hot and humid day, and two general swims were very welcome.  Sunday night we had a traditional cookout at the lake with delicious corn on the cob and a campfire. We invited the Glen Brook neighbors to join us and 20 took us up on the invitation.

Jedediah Tayntor, Glen Brook's  very first farmer, also attended the campfire. At age 68 (in 1815), Jedediah told the campers about his life, his family, the farm, and the battles he fought during the American Revolution. The town history actually has much to say about the Tayntors, and five generations lived here at Glen Brook from 1776 until 1882. Jedediah was a militiaman at Bunker Hill and the Battle of Saratoga, the turning point of the war. There are still Tayntor descendents living here in town, and remarkably, Mr. and Mrs. Israel Richardson who are the great, great, great, great grandparents of two Glen Brook alumni were neighbors and friends of Jedediah and Mary Tayntor.

The Camp Photo is below. It is at higher resolution, so it will take a bit longer to load than most photos.

Wednesday, July 28

Although it poured all through the night, today was not as dismal as forecast. The lake is brimful again and pouring over the dam. The grass has been so green this year; usually the meadow and the lawn by the lake are getting a bit brown by now. We also have yet to turn on a fan in the office even once, and I hear very few fans around camp. It is great sleeping weather, although convincing the 13 year-olds to go to sleep early is as difficult as it has been for the last 58 summers.

The Deer began making Banquet Cards this morning for all the staff and CITs, a sure sign that the summer is hurtling toward a close. These are the unique hand-drawn place cards by which we will find our seats next weekend. They are also creating an individual verse of a song for each of us to be sung at the end of the meal. That is almost 45 cards and 45 verses--quite a daunting task. This weekend the counselors will begin work on the cards and verses for all the campers. Tonight the Raccoons were packing up to leave on their canoe trip tomorrow to the Connecticut River. There are lots of rehearsals in the barn for the upcoming Music Night.

All of the tournament sign up sheets went up today and it looks like the brackets will be huge. It is wonderful that so many will give it a go. There are some little homemade trophies, but we really try to make our tournaments about fun rather than about winning, which I think explains why so many sign up. Besides the usual archery and tennis, we have tetherball and knockout, the Tour de Glen Brook and Bike Jousting, Bocce and even a Cribbage tournament.

Tomorrow we will all head to Pitcher Mountain to picks pounds and pounds of blueberries before going to a chilly but delightful swimming hole called Vilas Pool in the Cold River. Tomorrow night our fiddling friends, Dudley and Jackie, will be here to call a dance in the barn. We are in the midst of quite a string of birthdays, so lots of cake and singing.

A sign has now been posted on the door of the office requiring all Yankee hats and apparel be removed before entering the office. It becomes necessary to do our part in protecting the Red Sox during their slump. However, it was well-noted here that Boston won 2 of 3 from the Yankees last weekend. We may be 8 games back of the Yankees at the moment, but we are still only 1 game back for the Wild Card.

Tuesday, July 27

The rain has begun! Tonight and tomorrow will be a real gully washer, so we have swapped Trip Day. Tomorrow is officially Thursday here at Glen Brook and the day after will be Wednesday. Don't you all wish you could just swap days of the week whenever you felt like it? The secret of Glen Brook time is that we have neither watches nor calendars.

As I write the campers are singing in the living room after our fajita dinner. The whole camp gathers every night for about 30 minutes of songs. Each table gets to choose a dozen songs one day during camp which are sung that night. One popular rainy day evening activity is shopping bag skit night where each group has a trash bag full of props and costumes which all must be used and woven into a skit using every person in the group.

Minutes ago the Eagles just rolled in from their caving trip around Schoharie, New York. Monday they spent almost 3 hours exploring a large private cave with their guide, Joe. That night the Eagles stayed warm and snug up in the loft of a cabin operated by local speleological folks. During breakfast this morning Joe took all of their cave clothing to the laundromat so they had clean, dry clothing for day two. Today because of the rain they only visited one small dry cave and then got a private tour of a commercial cave operated by friends of Joe who turned out the lights so our campers could explore it by headlamp. Ila the counselor says it was the greatest trip she had ever been on. We will publish photos tomorrow once we have them downloaded.

Sunday, July 25

Another caper last night! The staff table was replaced by the ping pong table and van seats. We awarded extra points for hitting the ball into a cereal bow. After breakfast was our big Sunday cleaning and inspection. There was not a single 10 in any cabin this week, so we have something to work on. Attic Deer Girls managed a 9.8 and they have been on a roll lately, even a 10. Attic Girls are the only cabin that is the exact same this half.

Friday, July 23

The campers have settled in very well this week with very little homesickness. The Deer arrive home this evening after a 3 day camping trip climbing Mt. Greylock and whitewater rafting on the Deerfield River. The camp is so quiet without them, and it allowed the younger folks to settle in nicely without getting stepped on by any big Deer hooves. It also gave the Eagle girls to be queens of the camp to practice for next summer.. We have been awaiting a huge line of thunderstorms all day, but as of 5PM it is still lingering to our west allowing us to get the whole day done without rainy day class changes. The pond is so warm right now, but the lawns, gardens and pond could use a good night of rain. Summer finally arrived with muggy weather. We had pizza for lunch. Our pizza is the best! Last night we had homemade strawberry-rhubarb pie with whipped cream. Jennifer makes pie at least once a week.

July 17, 2004

We said goodbye to the first session campers on Friday night down at a campfire in the granite ring. After singing some of the camp favorites and listening to an Algonquin Indian story about friendship, we each received pieces of birch bark inscribed with a meaningful word or thought to ponder. The bark was then placed in the fire and we watched as the flames became brighter as each piece was added.

Appreciation Night passed quietly as campers reflected on their experiences and on their new friendships while feasting on long sought after treats in their cabins.

On Sunday, the counselors welcomed their new groups. We joined together in the barn for introductions – the weather did not cooperate as kindly as it had on the previous days. Following reminders about boundaries, the barn yard, walking on the lake path, etc. from Mr. Braden , the campers returned to their cabins and changed into swim suits for an introduction to the water front. Our Australian water front director, Karyn, reports that fully 95% of the campers have passed their deep water tests allowing them to swim out the floating raft and bounce on the trampoline of the Wet Deck! A delicious picnic of grilled chicken, orzo and lentil salad and pita bread on the meadow follow swimming. This is a time spent getting to know new bunkmates and counselor. We finished the evening with our traditional game of softball (and Prisoner Volleyball for those who did not wish to don a glove or swing the bat) lead by a newcomer counselor – Keith Worthy. Keith is an alum of The Waldorf School of Garden City and Camp Glen Brook. He remains the only person to break a window in the barn during a softball game!

Tonight we had a special musical performance by Lauren Sheehan – mother of camper Luke Carpenter. Lauren plays acoustic guitar and sings folk songs. She prefaced all of her songs with a little story about the song, where she heard it, who taught it to her, and some of the history of the time it was written. From the sublime to the ridiculous, following Lauren’s performance, the kids let off a little steam with a game of tug-of-war. As usual (at least as far as my memory serves) the girls won more often than not.

The cabins have all settled in. The Aussie and Oy Deer (you’ll have to have your camper explain it!) had their first taste of challenge course by working through the spider’s web. It was a real lesson in working together. The Curly and Larry (again- ask your camper!) spent the last two days building two bridges – one over Glenbrook and the other on the old railroad grade. They come back to camp sore, dirty and radiant! It is a bit early for camp-outs at the lean-to, teepee, or ridge cabin but the Eagle girls spent the evening down at the granite ring with a campfire eating s’mores. The Foxes, Otters and Raccoons have all gotten a taste of woodshop (as well as many other activities!). Bert and Tom have them working hard crafting boats to ply the waters of bath or lake. Each of the groups (except Deer) has been down to take their swim lessons. The lake water is now a very pleasant 73 degrees.

The Deer are off on their overnight trip rafting on the Deerfield River down in western MA. They will be spending three days camping out, hiking, rafting and swimming. It should be a great trip. Check this site later for pictures. The rest of the camp will be taking their customary Wednesday hike up Pack Monadnock outside of Peterborough, NH. The weather seems like it will cooperate and the view from the top should be wonderful.

Check this site again soon for the group photos from the first session.

Bastille Day

Raccoons are back after a day of tubing down the Battenkill River in New York just across the border from Vermont. Groups love this trip. The Raccoon girls told me it was really fun floating down the river. They also found a great rope swing and jumped into a deep bend in the river. Chicken and pesto pasta for dinner, marshmallows and s'mores were followed by a rainy night in their tents. The next day they had a leisurely bagel breakfast and decided to go bowling instead of canoeing in the rain.

Today tournaments continue and then the camp is off to Circus Smirkus, an amazingly fine youth circus. More about that tomorrow. I just watched the Bike Jousting contest in which Mike from Cambridge won over Alex from London (very British event) in triple sudden death overtime. Riders with a 6' lance try to put it through a set of suspended rings. The bulls-eye is about 2" in diameter. (So there is no confusion, they do not lance each other.)

The Falcons, through very unusual circumstances, ended up at Hampton Beach yesterday in the rain. Monday they had a good day rock climbing and were going to climb in a new area again Tuesday, but missed their exit, or some such story, so they say. The good news was that beach parking is not a problem when it is drizzling and 63. This morning I gave them a mini course in map and compass work. After some instruction, they all found their way back to the pond solo completely cross-country after being dropped off about a mile out. They all hit the pond and were only scattered less than 60 yards from the target. Not bad without GPS! This afternoon they are doing some whitewater rafting on the Deerfield River coming out of the Berkshires.

Yesterday was our first day that rain really affected the program. On the other hand, we had a long rest period, got some tournament preliminary rounds done instead of General Swim, and had a shopping bag skit night for evening activity.

We have worked hard for years to supplant the old camp idea of "raids" with "capers." Raids involve invasion of privacy and potential destruction of property, are unsafe for all, and we come down really hard on them. On the other hand, last night the head table in the dining room disappeared and was replaced by a canoe with a board across the gunwales set up for breakfast. The chairs had been replaced with life jackets to sit on, and those of us at the head table wore life jackets during breakfast. This was a perfect "caper" --fun for all, perfectly executed, and ingenious. We got to watch all the campers come in to the dining room this morning, and I think the Raccoon boys were averting their eyes and were least surprised, so I accuse Raccoon Boys in the Dining Room with the Canoe.

Two Poems the Fox Group (8-9 year olds) composed during Nature Class today:

The Joy of Nature at Glen Brook

Green is a sight for sore eyes,
Here at Glen Brook lies a surprise for city kids,
So throw away that and junk,
And you can write about nature in your bunk.
It’s just a thrill to be alive;
With Nature life’s just a big ride.

The Rain

Nature blessings through summer’s days,
Morning’s dew in the sun’s warm rays;
The rain shall fall and wet the Earth,
Thanks to the rain the land will give birth.
The rain falls on the trees: oak, maple, and beech;
Hopefully the rain to the Earth this will teach:
To nourish and to feed,
And to help the poor to plant their seeds.

By: Emma, Skyler, Taggart, Kate, Sophia, and Michael

Today's News was written by the Fox Girls and Otter Girls!

In the cabin we have to have Sunday inspection and last Sunday we got the best score of all the girls, a perfect 10-being the first time the Foxes ever got a 10! There are 5 Fox girls and we all do a lot of different activities together. Some of our favorite activities are: Arts & Crafts (Tag), Woodworking (Sophie), Archery and Tennis (Skyler), Free Time and Performance (Emma), and playing Knock Out (Kate). Recently we went to Greenfield to go canoeing and camp out in the woods and it was fun to spend time with other campers (Otters), counselors and CITs. We really enjoyed eating s'mores too!

- The Fox Girls as dictated to Jackie

We have been so busy lately--there's never a dull moment here! Last week we went canoeing in Otter Lake, while we were on our overnight campout in Greenfield. Last weekend we had a great 4th of July. At field day we played exciting games--the 3-legged race (in a milk crate) was quite the challenge. The fireworks were beautiful! Last trip day we hiked Mt. Monadnock, which was tiring, but well worth it when we saw the beautiful and extraordinary view. Tonight we look forward to having a sleepout in the lean-to by the lake where we will enjoy s'mores and breakfast in the morning cooked on an open fire! We miss you all! See you soon!

-"Otter Girls Rule!"

July 12, 2004

We have been really busy the last few days and now we are rushing toward Parents Weekend and Changeover. This week will see lots of tournaments, a swim carnival, appreciation night and preparations for the big weekend.

Friday I picked up the Eagles on the Connecticut River. They had put in above the covered bridge in Cornish, NH and paddled about 10 miles down to Wilgus State Park where they spent the night snug in beautiful lean-tos right on the river. They built their fire, cooked their food, and then the skies opened up with thunder and rain just as they started to eat. They enjoyed their meal snug and dry in their lean-to watching the torrent. The next day after breakfast and a lazy morning they got back on the river stopping at an island for lunch. When I picked them up the boys were busy looking for fish and the girls were our having water splashing fights in their canoes. After coming back to camp to unload and shower, they headed back to Keene for a celebration pizza party.

Friday night the Falcon Adventure Camp returned from their caving expedition. They explored a bunch of caves in New York with our expert caving guide, Joe Armstrong. There were wet caves, big caves, very small passageways, and all in all a memorable and challenging experience. They were exhausted but elated when they returned to camp. Sunday morning they would arise at 3AM to climb Monadnock. They reached the summit just five minutes before sunrise on a crystal clear morning. Surrounding the mountain were valleys filled with clouds. Shortly after dawn, the clouds moved onto Monadnock as well, and they descended in the mist until they dropped below the clouds.

Saturday morning the campers woke up to find that all the counselors vanished, as had all the music from the songbooks and all the instruments in camp were out of tune. All that was left was a handful of administrators and the always strong and noble CITs. After a quick breakfast, teams were organized by the CITs to search for the missing songs. Counselors dressed like well known song characters were scattered throughout camp. There was a Frozen Logger in the woods, Puff the Magic Dragon and Jackie were in Hannalei, Three Little Angels, Kookabura in the Gum Tree (up in the Ropes Course), Anne Boleyn the Tower, an Octopus in the Garden, Waltzing Matilda, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Leon Singing in the Rain, a Drunken Sailor in his boat in the woods (?), and Georgie popping his head out the window. As each song was "found" the campers had to sing the song with a twist, for instance "in the rain" under a sprinkler. All the songs were found and the camp was back to normal for a few hours.

Later came Saturday Night Entertainment with Miss Glenbrook 2004 (the male CITs were lovely), Stumpy and his wife, the Glen Brook Dwarves who visit every summer, a couple of fun singing acts, a unicycle act, and the Eagles did an excellent original composition about their canoe trip set to the tune of The Cat Came Back.

Sunday was a late pancake breakfast, an excellent cabin cleaning and inspection, followed by our first Sunday service with beautiful music by Athena and Mrs. Madsen and a story by Mr. Butler. (Mrs. Butler told the 4th of July story, and we obviously have two wonderful new storytellers in camp!) Before our big Sunday dinner was a general swim. After our chicken and tofu dinner, we had a rest period, more swimming, free period, picnic supper, and ending with softball and prisoner volleyball.

have not said much about the CITs so far, but they are an absolutely fantastic group this year. They are enthusiastic, hard working, and both the counselors and campers love them. They are known as "The Strong and Noble Ones." Monday night the CITs will host the Deer-Eagle dance DJed by "Rockin' Robin" Madsen. But it is a secret, so no e-mail letters about it tomorrow!

July 6, 2004

Just a quick update tonight. The Otters and Foxes returned from a very successful overnight. They went canoeing on Otter Lake, very appropriately, and swam, tented, had a campfire and played games. The Deer today were doing Ropes Course--mostly The Wall, a 13 foot shear that all the Deer needed to cross without ropes, etc. Tonight the Falcons invited the Deer up to Adventure Camp for s'mores and stories. Falcons leave early in the morning for 3 days of caving over in New York. Eagles today had some low ropes, swimming, woodshop, and archery & tennis. Raccoons had counselor choice, swimming, archery & tennis, and games.

Today we had a bagel breakfast with cereals and fresh fruit, a delicious Russian dish made by our two counselors from Novosibirsk, Siberia. Supper tonight was ever popular pizza.

Tonight the counselors are making sandwiches for the hike tomorrow--Mt. Monadnock is the plan.

July 5, 2004

Well, it was indeed a great 4th of July. (We are still waiting for some photos. Three below. ) The day actually began Saturday night with the counselors up very late finishing signs, decorations, treasure hunt clues. After breakfast the campers went on a hike and a swim while half the counselors got the camp ready. After our huge Thanksgiving feast, the six teams were announced. All the teams were named after exotic Australian animals--emus, numbats, echidnas, potoroos, skinks, and jibirus. Each team had a color, so during rest period there is lots of clothes swapping going on. The games began with lots of relays--dizzy stick, egg on the spoon, 3-legged, greased watermelon, water balloon toss, etc. Next was the obstacle course and the standings were announced. By this time, even with running through the sprinklers quite frequently, it was time for a cool down general swim. The treasure hunt began with lots of very difficult clues. The same treasure box has been buried for 30 years or more, so some of you remember it. The treasure box contains candy for the whole camp to enjoy, not just the winners. Time to eat with a cookout at the lake, a spectacular bonfire perfectly shaped, singing, and a story. By now it was quite dark and the campers gathered on the grassy lakeside to watch two counselors do Maori fire dancing and an impressive fireworks display. Needless to say, we needed to sleep late today!

July 4, 2004

The 4th is underway, and it is a big one! Tomorrow there will be lots of news and photos of the day. Today some quick updates on the trips that came back.

Deer arrived home Friday night after their 20 mile paddle on the Saco. They only got wet (by rain) one night, but it was a gusher that came in about 2AM. The river was a bit low, but the swimming was awesome. The Saco River flows out of the White Mountains south toward the Atlantic and has massive sandbars on almost every turn for good swimming and camping. The reported highlights: an evening hike upriver and then swimming / floating back down to the campsite; Julie hopping into her canoe with such vigor that she leapt over it into the water on the other side, chicken and pesto, and the construction of model "summer homes" out of sticks and sand. Our Deer counselors are really terrific this year. Leon returns from Australia for his 3rd summer, Victoria who has been here forever gave up the kitchen to be a Deer counselors this summer, Burt left construction in Arizona for us, and Karyn returns as Waterfront Director after a 5 summer hiatus.

Falcons gave a report of their sea kayaking trip at the end of our 4th of July feast. (By the way, it was a huge Thanksgiving in July type feast with moussaka for the veggies.) They kayaked almost 30 miles visiting islands in the Kennebec Bay. They camped three nights on islands. On Beal Island they collected almost 200 mussels and boiled them for dinner. They saw lots of seals and osprey, and even a Bald Eagle with her babies. They practiced their flips and escapes in the pool at Camp Chewonki before setting out. Leah was brave enough to do an Eskimo rescue in which she flipped, tapped on the bottom (now top) of her kayak, and was righted again by a partner in a neighboring kayak, all in cold Maine Atlantic water. I was also told that they did not get very sore paddling because they had learned that "Loose Hips Save Ships." Swiveling at the hips and pushing rather than pulling on the paddles for thrust works best.

July 2, 2004

Last night was our first dance in the meadow, although we missed the Deer. As you can see from the above photo, it was a very exclusive group. We did all the old favorites such as Hell and Toe Polka, Virginia Reel, & Sally Down the Alley, as well as a couple of our line dances Cotton-Eyed Joe and ChaCha Slide. Mr. Braden calls the dances and Debbie the Nurse is our line dancing teacher. Mrs. Madsen was on piano and Mr. Bullard on guitar last night.

With almost an hour of thunder and lightning about 2AM, it was very exciting. The Deer also got stormed upon, but they are back on the river again this morning. They will pull off the river this afternoon, get some pizza, and have a sleepy bus ride home.

Yesterday noon we had pizza so good that two of the Eagle boy waiters got down on hands and knees and bowed a "Hail to the Cooks!" Last night we had chicken fajitas and amazing homemade pumpkin pie with whipped cream which elicited a great cheer when it was announced. We also had a sighting of a couple of aliens outside the dining room windows. We suspect it has something to do with Saturday night entertainment.

This morning the beach was covered with hundreds of tiny toads the size of peas. The momma painted turtle was also on the beach very near where we saw her lay her eggs two weeks ago. Does anyone know the hatching time of turtle eggs?

Yesterday the laundry came back. We have a new laundry service this year who seems to really be on top of things. For the first time ever, we were sent back a couple of items which were dry-clean only. No complaints of lost items so far. This place actually barcodes the laundry and videotapes the unpacking of the laundry bag zooming in on each piece.

That's all for now. The lunch bell has rung!

June 30, 2004

What a beautiful day with bright blue skies and light breezes! Early this morning the Deer left for their 3-day canoe trip on the Saco River just over the border of NH into Maine. They will set up camp tonight near Fryeburg and be ready for put-in tomorrow for a 20 mile paddle, coming off the river Friday afternoon. The Falcons called in that they had arrived in Wiscasset, Maine and were doing their sea kayaking clinic. They were going to sleep last night on the main(e)land and shove off this morning to do some island hopping. They will be sleeping on an island tonight. The rest of the camp is climbing Gap Mountain for our normal Wednesday hike. They just radioed that they are all at the top with a beautiful view, and about to dig into the sandwiches and trail mix. They will return in a couple hours for a rest period and general swim. Tonight is our weekly cookout.

Last night's evening activity was a spirited game of soccer, "football" for our international friends, or knock-out or, remember I predicted this, camper bocce. This morning before breakfast the Fox girls were actually beating the Deer boys in knock-out. It is really cute seeing these 8 and 9 year old girls playing basketball with the 13 year old boys! We had eggs, homemade biscuits, grits, fruit, and cold cereal to get ready for the hike. Yesterday was delicious chili and salad for lunch and spaghetti & homemade sausage sauce (or veggie), garlic bread and salad bar for supper. Our table had some divine black raspberry ice cream for dessert, and I noticed that about half the tables had chocolate walnut. (Of course, there is always a little swapping between tables.)

June 28, 2004

Camp is off and running! The first 24 hours have been delightful. The campers seem really happy, the sun is shining, and life is good. This year's group of counselors are superb. Our staff training week was so much fun, and I cannot remember a year as a director when I was so relaxed just because I know this staff has the experience, maturity, enthusiasm, and commonsense to handle whatever comes their way. Arrival day seemed flawless thanks in part to the fact that 90% of the forms were indeed in before the campers arrive. After general swim including swim tests, we had free period and picnic before evening games. Last night we had the choice of softball, prisoner volleyball, or knock-out basketball. Prisoner volleyball seemed the favorite. Some of the counselors this year are fanatics about Bocce and Cribbage, so perhaps it will rub off on the campers.

Today the Falcon Adventure Camp is packing up to leave at dawn for a 5-day sea kayaking trip on the coast of Maine. The Deer began the morning with a canoe clinic in preparation for their 3-day canoe trip to the Saco River on Wednesday. (There are 25 Deer and we have divided them for some of their classes into 3 activity groups named Larry, Curly and Moe, although some of them may be too young to understand.) The Deer also have begun their electives. The Fox girls are just outside my window as I write playing some kind of a game of tag and hide and seek. This morning I visited them down at the studio making dream catchers. What a cute group! Raccoons are up in the barn at their first performance class thinking about what they will do for Parents Weekend. This morning they had Nature, Swimming, and Tennis / Archery. Otters began the day out in the woodshop and also did swimming and tennis/archery this morning. Eagles are off somewhere for a games class right now. This morning they had Counselor's Choice, Art and Swimming.

In case some of you are wondering, yes there were tears last night, but apparently only one camper out of 68, so the odds it was your child are very small. When her counselor asked her how she was doing, she said "I'm just a little homesick, but I'll be okay." Realistically there will probably be a few more tears yet this week, but all in all we are settling in very well.

Lunch today was quiche and salad and supper will be homemade shepherd's pie. It smells great way in here in the office. After lunch they were supposed to write a letter home which will be their meal ticket to supper. Keep your letters to your kids coming!

--James Madsen