A Day to Remember
July 29, 2024
By the time Alice and I returned from our overnight on Squam Lake, the Kingswood Lake Swim had already been completed. There is so much interest in this event that the program guys are promising a second heat in the next day or so. Sara was up early and out on the water to catch some great photos of the action.
Speaking of early, so too was the hike to Mt. Washington that departed before breakfast. If you know this hill the way we do, your easiest day hike is to go up the Ammonoosuc Trail and down the Jewell Trail. The former follows the source of the river of that name and offers many rewarding encounters with the darting waters.
Coming down the Jewell guarantees some magnificent views into the Great Gulf Wilderness area. Some pix are posted. Just for the Guides, this excursion was back at camp in time for the big event of the day.
Use my photo album for your reference purpose: Bill Dalton is shown introducing the boys to an important Kingswood topic. His mother, Joan Watts, was the wife of one of the icons of the classical piano genre, Andre Watts. Andre had been to Kingswood several times to visit his children and grandchildren and even agreed to play some Chopin for the boys many summers ago.
Then he joined the campers in their table-pounding cheers, eliciting my concern for his hands! “Andre, don’t ruin your career.”
When Andre passed away a short while ago, it was decided that his estate would donate a new piano to the camp. Yesterday in the Great Room, we celebrated this occasion. Joan brought along one of Andre’s most accomplished students, Stefan Johnson, who dazzled us with two pieces by Debussy and one by Prokofiev.
Stefan did acknowledge that the “undercard” of camper performances knocked it out of the park and a thoroughly delightful time was had by all.
All but Bill, that is, who excused himself promptly to “get off to my kitchen duties.” The Kingswood grilling site, you see, is named in his honor (“Billy D’s Temple of Smoke”) for the many years he has labored over smoked meats for the entire camp.
Bill is not on staff this summer but had summoned several old camp hands to join him for producing a great feast that followed the concert. I noticed the boys carrying their plates to the garbage cans at cleanup time and they were completely empty in nearly every instance.
You can guess what happened next. Instead of needing a nap to allow for proper digestion, the campers (staff, too) exhibited an exuberance that is easier to photo than explain. My favorite was the visit from Officer Mark Skid, who showed up to deliver me a citation for driving my golf cart too fast and employing his speed gun to measure the velocities of all manner of flying objects hurled by the campers.
The boys got their ice cream after that, but this trooper was missing in action, having gone to bed!
PS: I inadvertently missed posting a few of my “RIGHT NOW” pics from yesterday and have amended that posting