“Nothing to Write Home About”

July 26, 2023

 

“Nothing to Write Home About.” Nurse Ashley’s morning appraisal, not your son’s. He will be writing home soon, that is if he wants ice cream!

 

Ashley’s statement thrills me as it means that the Lasso Effect, predicted in a previous blog, is working just swell.  There was electricity in the air and it was a lot more than the distant flashes of lightening we saw at last evening’s council fire gathering.

 

I have plenty to write home about yesterday was a warm, but not too hot, day and pell-mell is the word I would use to describe all the action.  Sara got to some morning clinics and wants you to know that she profiles any event she covers and will feature your child, eventually.  She keeps records.

 

Rob and I drove ten minutes down the road into the Baker River region to check out three of our favorite swimming holes.  We were unable to take these extremely popular A Block trips all of first session due to the incessant rains.  We found the stream to be quite benign so Sara accompanied her brother, Rob, with the seniors, who went to what we call Big Eddy during A Block. Photo evidence abounds.

 

Speaking of Rob, that is he who is conducting some lake rescues in the skiff during morning clinics. Boys were not stranded so much as too far out at sea to get back in time to move to the next clinic block. This left me pondering over how many other camp directors were checking out swimming holes, towing in sailors, and leading a day trip after that.  But this is how Kingswood operates – always has.

 

I spent the afternoon at the baseball game with a neighboring camp.  Check the scoreboard.  I told you we had many good players.  Bobby M. was one of them, who cranked a grand slam home run as well as hurled a few shut-out innings.

 

We’ve already had a couple of “dual birthdays” to celebrate and Skyler, especially, has been up to the challenge of producing a fast/furious/funny bit during a meal. Leo and Ella had a pillow fight, which was “even” until Gabe fell from the ceiling to polish off poor Ella, much to the delight of the campers.

 

At long last, the property is showing signs of drying out. I have no idea how long this will last, but Spanky mowed for hours to get the joint looking much more presentable and everyone noticed. To commemorate this development, some counselors offered an after-dinner Frisbee hole-in-one sponsorship down the hill towards post #7.  $20 was the prize and while some discs came tantalizingly close, no one could claim the prize.

 

At the same time, a gang of exuberant campers were getting organized for the overnight camp out at Pirate Cove.  To be safe, we ferried their gear by speedboat while they paddled canoes the relatively short distance across and down the lake to this terrific outlook.  That bunch of pix in Sara’s album showed the already-fed troops greeting the rest of the campers at dinner.

 

Closure last evening happened at the council fire gathering where we told some camp stories and heard a few musical renditions from the counselors.  I made light of the distant lightening but, in an abundance of caution, Rob and Mike dismissed the campers before we could sing the camp song.  Nothing to Write Home About.