While staying in camp would be easier for everyone, trips have immense value. Yesterday was a challenging day for trips to return. In case you didn’t know, it was HOT. Many campers returned happy and relaxed, but others were grumpy. Even on a good trip, you often really want that pick-up to happen a few hours earlier than scheduled, and the heat never helps. Despite these challenges, or perhaps because of them, many campers were rising to the challenge. One camper, who last summer couldn’t complete a hike and was worried about it, came back beaming, happy, and ready for more wilderness trips. Other campers who had been worrying about trips preceding camp came back and gave their trip a 7 out of 10. (Which for a 13-year-old boy, I’d call about a 9.8!)
What else happened yesterday was we finished our first cycle of morning activities.
In Work Projects, they finished a full size 4×8 foot chore chart with moveable slots for each cabin and chore. Also, began the actual siding of our new kitchen building. Those campers will walk past their handiwork several times a day every day there are at TL and be able to say “I drove in those nails, I did that.” In Barns and Gardens, they made cheese, visited our pasteurizing facility, hiked to the Plymouth Cheese Factory and kept our animals and plants well. Waterfront began their first swim clinics, as well as boating. Staff have been doing a lot of extra lifeguarding for all the extra dips and cool-off times during this heat wave. Outdoor Living Skills taught basic skills of fire and carving and also helped with the Interdependence Day Fire. Arts have made an ornate shadow puppet theatre and Rocks and Ropes have been climbing at various sites around camp.
And, as I write the staff room is full of our cabin staff scripting our second “chorning” (chore morning) skit. An over-the-top apocalyptic scenario of what would happen if no one did chores. This skit will help hype a flurry of cabin activity to stock our KYBOs, move alpacas, and other worthy endeavors. Here at Timberlake, we take full advantage of the camp setting the hype that basic work in the most over the top ways. This is the “Let’s Get It Done!” part of our TL Motto.
Friday is Interdependence Day, with all the other F&W camps. Our song is a brilliant mash-up of “I Will Survive”:
“Oh now go! Let’s go outdoors. We like to play (pause) after we do all our chores.
We love our families at TF and IB, BDC SAM Camp, FC Questers, RSG.
Now we’ll all strive, to be allies. It’s not enough to just survive our whole community must thrive.
We’ve got all our lives to live and we’ve got all our live to give.
We’ve made sparks fly, since ’39. Hey Hey!”
Leading into the tune of “It’s Raining Men” with our lyrics:
“It’s Camp Again! Hallejujah it’s camp again, Amen! We’re back again, with the cows and hens, oh yeah…”
We’ve done our learning and work and are ready to celebrate as camp as we are close to the halfway mark for this session.