The Minute the Rain Stops
July 28, 2023
It was pouring yesterday morning at about 9:30 as I was writing my daily blog. Unbeknownst to me was that the afternoon A Block went off at this hour but with all activities being indoors. Kingswood can pull off stunts like this, easily, as “pivoting” has been the most trending word of the summer.
We saw that the rain would stop by about 10:30, which it did, and thus we pivoted to periods 2 and 3 of the morning slate and simply ran First Period at 3:00 when A Block usually happens.
Allow me to report again that it has been a warm summer but not a hot one, the latter of which can be energy sapping. The only folks who care about warm/wet are the programmers, who constantly have to monitor the weather apps to stay one full step ahead of the actual conditions of the moment. It being pleasant when it is not raining, boys bolt out of the cabins the minute (maybe even the second) the rains let up.
My photos on the day are posted and I did not crop the very gray clouds threatening from above in many of my offerings. I caught clinics 2,3, then 1 after rest hour and managed to capture my four granddaughters at these activities as well. The boys in that soccer clinic informed me that they enjoyed having the little girls aboard as they could easily handle the drills.
Most of the activities present in my album speak for themselves except maybe Matball, seven pixs that commence with a gaggle of boys on the blue mat. The point of the game basically is kickball but with the added component that baserunners can run the bases continually until they are tagged out by the mostly hapless counselors. It is a hilarious game to watch and I could have sat there all day long. “Who’s on first?” Sometimes, 20 boys!
Typical Kingswood humor came to the fore at dinner, as well. Our records revealed the day to be Daniel S’s birthday. Turns out that we miss-entered that data by a month. The skit led by Klaus in the dining room highlighted the bits we couldn’t perform due to the error, which of course was the same thing as doing them. Everyone was most entertained, though poor Daniel did not get a cake!
Some boys had missed the opening council fire session on Tuesday due to the overnight at Pirate Cove, so we did a second rendition as one of the sponsorships of the evening. First Todd (30+ years at Kingswood) showed the kids how to start a fire (on a wet night) from whittled slices of wood. Professional effort, successful! Seeing him on a roll, I encouraged him to tell the oft-outlawed story of Tarleton Jack, who lives to harass Kingswood campers.
Other stories followed from the both of us, and we made sure the campers understood the make-believe nature of the scary accounts. Then, when the ambient colors of sunset appeared above the large tamarack tree, it was the boys who signaled me to turn around and take in the view – not the other way around with me telling them what to appreciate. Good camp.