A beautiful day it was yesterday and the shutterbugs were clicking about the grounds all day long.  Sara’s selections belie mine as she captured the perpetual exuberance of youth as boys dashed pell-mell from one activity to another as if being drenched in sweat at the mere waggle of a pinky was no big deal.

Indeed, I found Ian and James all hot but not at all bothered, though one of them remarked “I’ll get a letter about this.”  Leave them be is a fairly decent parental strategy as we could count on the campers to use reasonably good strategies for keeping hydrated on this sapping day.  Very few lads logged into the infirmary with heat-related gripes.

Yes, we played Pemi’s 11 year old squad in baseball yesterday in the intense heat. Rosey hollered in my direction that this greatest of all games is meant to be played in very hot conditions.  That baseball is the perfect synthesis of chess and ballet renders it the perfect team sport option for such a day as that one.  Connor threw lots of strikes in a most authentic contest. I was pleased.

Everyone knew, you see, that general swim at 4:30 or so would be a prolonged event with plenty of time for everyone to get a tube ride before the picnic supper out of doors by the lakeside.  The campers were invited one cabin at a time to step across that line in the sand (enforced more strictly than many a line!) to the hamburger/hotdog/veggie options being organized by the Guides (15 year olds) at the serving tables.  It was incredibly comfortable down by the water and everybody’s mood was ski–high.

The after-dinner announcements in the council fire area were amusing to this director, as some of the boys (the older ones) were in a hurry to get showered in time for the Merriwood dances, older boys enjoying home field advantage and the younger/older ones going on a road trip.

But, we were in no hurry at all with the juniors, who found Finn’s birthday bit — getting Kieran ready for the dance — so hilarious that they were begging for an encore. Those same little guys eventually got smores about the fire — some here at the council circle and a half dozen or so across the lake at Sunset Point, where they camped out for the night.

Later today, showers are expected and perhaps some relief from the heat wave conditions.  Oh, I guess we’ll advertise a “take it easy” day again during the session, but if many of you are doubters, it would not surprise me in the least.  “Good Camp” will continue,”irregardless,” as my students used to say.