Weekend Roundup

We had the absolute best weather this weekend and enjoyed spending lots of time outdoors. A friend I've known since childhood (and her hubs) arrived from the Garden State around noon Thursday, and after lunch on the screened porch, we moved over to the covered deck, and eventually down to the dock as we caught up on our lives and all the goings on since last we spoke. 

There was very little humidity and a lovely breeze, so pretty much perfect. The little brown dog thought so too, and he went for a swim which is always entertaining. As a bonus, it wears him out a little. 

B and I met here-

A summer camp on Maryland's Eastern Shore many decades ago. We discovered we lived in the same town (opposite high schools) and the friendship grew. We spent a few summers together working at camp, time marched forward and we both married, then time kept marching and we had our first baby girls about a month apart, then our second baby girls a couple of years later. Then hubs and I moved and moved and moved some more and time rolled on and on, but whenever I'd visit my mom B and I would also get together for a visit. 

It's always like no time has passed, and aren't those the best kind of friends? 

Thursday night we had an event with our wine club and B and her hubs were able to attend as our guests. It was a fun, low-key event which included wonderful French wines served alongside a delicious beef bourguignon. 

We relaxed with our coffee on the deck Friday morning, then spent the rest of the day on the water. We could not have asked for more beautiful weather which I know I've already told you, but it's worth mentioning again. 

Even though we've had our boat summer ready for several weeks now, this was our first all day outing of the season and it was a winner. Adding more of the same to our summer calendar please. 

We saw a lot of wildlife while we were motoring around the lake, including a juvenile eagle perched beside a nest at the top of a tall tree. Hubs has eyes like a hawk (no pun intended) and he is always the one to spot birds and other animals in the wild wherever we happen to be. 

B's hubs has a fancy camera with a long lens so we look forward to seeing some of his pictures once they're back home. We encountered the same blue heron several times throughout the day and he snapped lots of really great shots of him. 

That night hubs grilled our favorite coffee rubbed pork tenderloin recipe then we went back out on the boat to check out the sunset. 

There was not a cloud in the sky which, believe it or not, doesn't make for the most spectacular of sunsets, although there's no such thing as a bad one. 

A few clouds bring out the best colors but ours was still beautiful.

On Saturday morning B and I went for a semi-power walk in the neighborhood before heading in to the nearby small big city for a late brunch. Balance, right? 

The city was bustling as we'd forgotten there was a Jazz festival happening, but fortunately we'd booked a table and were seated quickly. 

Brown butter pecan pie and a bite of banana pudding which were both super delish! 

Our friends were heading on to another city that afternoon so hubs and I had a fun Costco date. Not! I do not recommend Costco on a Saturday afternoon, but we were already in town and needed a few staples. We didn't do the usual up and down all the aisles, but we did get what we came for and got out in a reasonable amount of time so there's that. 

We actually got more than what we came for because can you not when you shop in these kinds of stores? 

Hubs and I went out for breakfast Sunday morning, then I spent a few hours trying to upload two different templates to a print site which was only a teensy bit frustrating because my files were too large or some such nonsense and then I had to rename everything and blah blah blah technology. 

We also read, watched some college baseball, and I did some laundry, spent another hour or so booking flights for a trip later this year (blah blah blah technology) and then caught up here. I had a home chef in the frig I needed to cook and that made for an easy dinner prep wise. 

And that's the weekend that was. 

What fun or not-so-fun things did you do this weekend? 

Linking today with Holly and Sarah for their regularly scheduled Hello Monday morning party. 

The Sweetness of Summer

Hello Friends! And strangers stopping by too. It's Monday and it's officially summer and it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood. While the world feels more salty-less sweet these days, there is always sweetness to be found. Today I choose to see it. 

Sweetness is found in red ripe tomatoes on the vine-

In a friend saying come pick blueberries we've got a yard full and so you do-

It's Father's Day and you bake a blueberry pie because it's his favorite and because there is so much sweetness in a dad who loves his daughters well-

There is sweetness in an early morning kayak with a little brown dog in tow-

Always the first one ready to go-

But there's a whole lot of sweetness in the way he runs headlong into everything he does-

The boat captain is pretty sweet-

Except when he's salty. Ha! Hi hubs! Sunshine, a boat ride, and lunch in a cooler eaten side by each on a deserted island in the middle of the lake can be pretty sweet too.

And I think there's a special sort of sweetness to a soft summer rain-

Sweetness spills over in Facetime chats with daughters calling to say I love you Dad. In an almost three-year-old grandson grinning great big as he shouts 'Happy Favers Day!!' across the miles.

In the gift and beauty of each new day.

In choosing joy, not complaint. In choosing peace not rancor. In counting blessings not 'things I wanna be mad about'. In harsh words left unspoken and kind words spilled instead.

This weekend I was part of a virtual reunion via Zoom. Friends from long ago days spent as summer camp counselors on Maryland's Eastern shore. It was sweet. The then and the now. As I was writing this post the simple words to a grace we used to sing before meals kept rolling through my brain...

'For health and strength and daily bread we praise Thy name O Lord...'

Sweetness abounds and today I choose to see it. 

Winning!

So here we are, another Monday that feels a lot like every other day of the week, but we are all going to carry on and pretend it's new and different. Technically it is new and different, it's just a bit hard to tell from the vantage point of social distancing. 

And I am still making my way through the alphabet challenge, because it's still April in case you also needed reminding about that. Here we go-                           

                                                          Day 23-W is for Winning 

Today's word comes from one of my summer camp friends. I don't know if everyone is in touch with friends they made as a summer camp counselor when they were twenty years old, but I am and it's truly a very special thing.

Camp is good for kids in so many ways-physically, mentally, and spiritually, and it's good for the people who work there in all those same ways too. I'm feeling sad that children who were looking forward to going to camp this summer are likely not going, and I'm feeling sad for the staff who were making plans to work at camps all across America.

There is a long list of disappointments every which way you turn, and this is just one more. We have to intentionally look away from the list of heartaches we're each holding, and instead work at focusing our eyes and our minds and our hearts on things we can control. I know there is a lot of good and kind and beauty out there still and I want to see that.

Now about today's word. I can keep this short and sweet.

Winning.

I like it. Ha! My family can testify to the truth of this statement. I am not a naturally athletic person, but I am a naturally competitive person about a lot of things. 

Sometimes this is not an attractive quality.

In my defense I am not competitive in the way women can be competitive with one another. I don't really understand that, but if you throw a board game in front of me LOOK OUT!

Because I like to win.

I am all about solidarity when it comes to women doing the best they can with what they have, encouraging one another, lifting each other up, and in general not being mean girls no matter their age. Just don't challenge me to a game of cards.

Or dominos-cornhole-scrabble or anything else that might be dubbed 'game'.

Hey, have you noticed how I'm rolling through this A-Z thing like a boss?
Winning! 

Queen For A Day

Today's word comes from my brother-in-law, and he is something of a joker so I knew to expect the unexpected. When he sent the word he said it was the first thing that came to mind.

Day 20-T is for Tiara

Hmmm...so is he saying when he thinks of me he thinks princess?
Or that I'm a royal pain?

I'm sure it's the first one-ha!

This word will be fun and and since it's Thursday I'm going with the ever popular Thursday Thirteen. Can I come up with a list of thirteen thoughts related in some way to the word tiara but also to me? We're about to find out-

1. We'll start here. This little sign sits on my bathroom vanity and was a Mother's Day gift one year from daughter2. The sentiment is sweet and also true teehee.

2. Next up is the first thing that popped into my head when I read the word. My summer camp friends are nodding, thinking 'no problem' because back when I was young and spent summers as a camp counselor they lovingly (I think?) referred to me as Princess J. Here's the short version of how that came about-

3. Picture summer camp. An idyllic setting nestled into a bluff beside the Chesapeake Bay. Tall trees. An open air chapel in the woods. Dirt. Gravel. Latrines. Troughs to brush your teeth in. You get the idea.

Camp meant shorts and t-shirts and no makeup and your hair pulled back into a pony tail or tucked under a baseball cap, and it definitely meant hiking boots or sturdy tennis shoes on your feet so 'root man' wouldn't get you. I was fine with all of that. I love the outdoors and I love camping and I love spending time in the woods.

The staff were all college students and were given one day off per week, 24 hours to rest and recharge and maybe pop home to see the folks, and on my one day off per week I liked to put on real clothes.

As opposed to camp clothes.

A cute dress. Roll my hair. A little makeup. And my most favorite thing-shoes with heels. I have always loved shoes with heels.

So there I would be, one day a week, in the middle of the woods, wearing a summery dress and heels, walking across the dirt and gravel road to get to my car so I could enjoy my day off. Voila! a nickname was born.

4. The short version was actually not that short so it earned more than a couple of spots on the list.

5.  Moving on...when I mentioned the word of the day to my daughter and asked what in the world I could say about it she said, 'Well you know mom, whenever we play Yahtzee you always write your name as Princess J on the score sheet.' Guilty.

6. If hubs and I ever renew our wedding vows I will be wearing a tiara when I say mine.

7.  I love the cake named in honor of Queen Victoria aka the Victoria Sponge. Strawberry or raspberry jam and cream between two layers of fluffy vanilla sponge dusted with sugar or topped with more whipped cream. What's not to love?

8. I like the music of Queen.

9. I might be slightly obsessed with Princess Kate.

10. When my girls were growing up the favorite board game in our house was Pretty Pretty Princess. They loved it best when Daddy played.

11. The house we rented while living in England was so cozy and was on one of the first housing estates of it's kind outside of London. The house was built in the 1920's and when construction was completed the Queen Mum visited there. Sadly no royals came to stay while we were in residence.

12. I am not a drama queen.

13. Once upon a time I married my Prince Charming.
   
And we lived happily ever after.
The end.

Twenty Things

Approximately twenty things.

Because I haven't blogged in eons and I have a million bits of random in my head and on my camera which I will now narrow down to just twenty.

Approximately twenty. 

So where was I when last we spoke? I just checked and the last time I blogged about something other than asking/answering the Wednesday Hodgepodge questions was June 11th. Yikes! that was a long time ago. Longer than I thought so now I'm wondering if it's worth going back three whole weeks to tell you about small bits of absolutely nothing important.

Yes. Because I'm all about the everyday stuff of life here on This Side of the Pond.

1. We had an anniversary. 34 years so yay us!

2. We celebrated with a lovely dinner at Halls Chophouse in the nearby small big city and it was delish. We did not take a single picture. We live about 45 minutes away and decided to stay overnight because we're empty nesters and we can. Also, we wanted to preview the hotel as we'll have some wedding guests staying there in the spring.

3. Shout out to our server at Halls Chophouse who sent us a handwritten note card a few days later,  thanking us for coming and telling us how happy she was to wait on us as we celebrated our 34th anniversary. That's some fantastic customer service right there.

4. Also, complimentary glass of bubbly when we sat down. Whoohoo! I'd definitely go back.

5. We tried a newish spot in town for breakfast called Crepe du Jour. We had to, right? I mean I need to know what to recommend to people in terms of breakfast spots come April and now I do.

6. We drove home after breakfast because it was Father's Day and Daughter2 was coming out to the lake to celebrate and spend the night. She made the most precious video for hubs, filled with pics of the two of them together while she sang Carrie Underwood's song 'The Girl You Think I Am' as the background soundtrack. Cue the tissues! Also, did I snap a photo of hubs with his girl on Father's Day? No I did not. I wish I had...does that count?

7. The Tuesday after Father's Day I flew to my mom's in NJ.

8. Wait, no I didn't. I was supposed to fly to my mom's on Tuesday, but instead the Wednesday after Father's Day I flew to my mom's in NJ. I only had to sit in the airport waiting on one delay after another for seven+ hours. I passed the time reading and thinking about what sort of junk food I might buy if I didn't have a wedding happening in less than a year.

9. I finally got to my mom's about 7:30 PM. She made me a BLT and I slept in my childhood bedroom and all was right with the world once more.

10. My sister came over the next day and we went shopping for a new bathroom vanity for my mom and it was super frustrating so we called it a day and went to lunch instead. I had dinner at my brother's house that evening and enjoyed that too. Also not a single picture was snapped of me with my siblings or my mama while I was there. Blogging is not the only ball I'm dropping lately.

11. On Friday I drove about an hour and a half to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for a weekend with friends from long ago summer camp days. We sleep in rustic cabins that are maybe a little too rustic for 50-somethings, and we duck between raindrops and celebrate the clearing of the skies. We talk and laugh and remember. We sing camp songs and share stories under a million stars and we marvel at creation in a place so near and dear to each one of our hearts.

12. I drove back to my mom's early Sunday morning so I could go with her to church and then a leisurely lunch afterward with a few of her friends.

13. Monday morning mom and I got down to business and got the vanity sorted and new floor tile ordered and paint colors picked and we both felt better about her home improvement project. It's not a huge project, but is there such a thing as a small room reno? They all feel big to me.

14. My brother dropped me at the airport Tuesday where I once again sat for more than two hours waiting on delayed aircraft but then did finally make it home in time to have dinner with Daughter2. We were in the neighborhood so why not? Hubs phoned Daughter1's in-laws and they met us at the nearby fancy taco place too, and then hubs and I drove home and I crawled into bed where I could have happily remained for a day except we had company coming on Thursday.

15. A former co-worker of hubs and his wife drove down from NY for the weekend and we had such a great time catching up. He and hubs became friends when hubs worked for a small company post-retirement. They hit it off right away and I met his wife when we all went on a 'work trip' to Antigua last year, and we made plans then to get together at the lake this summer.

He and hubs both love to water ski so there was lots of water skiing. I love it when someone else is here to pull hubs so he can ski, tie up lines, and act as dock boy when we dock. The weather cooperated and we spent most of the weekend on the water or planted on one of the small beaches on various islands in the lake.

16. They left this morning and hubs is mowing the lawn because for some reason that's how he relaxes. I'm changing bed linens because we have company coming for the 4th of July holiday and staying through the weekend and as long as beds are made and groceries are bought we're good to go.  Company really isn't all that complicated and we enjoy all the comings and goings.

17. In other completely unrelated news...hubs and I watched the movie Hostiles. Has anyone see it? Not for the faint of heart! We also just finished Season 1 of an Amazon Prime program called Bosch. It's based on a character created by Michael Connelly and if you liked his books featuring the Lincoln Lawyer you'll recognize the name Harry Bosch. The show is really well cast and hubs and I both liked it a lot.

18. I finished a book that's gotten a lot of buzz. It's called The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir, and I thought it was just okay. Think the Duggers and you'll have an idea of this novel's theme. I wanted to like it, but I felt like the storyline fed into a lot of sterotypes and generalizations about the Christian community that are more exception than rule.  It reads more like a YA novel, and I while I do occasionally read some of those this one was more of a miss for me. I did want to know how it turned out, so there's that, but overall it was just okay.

19. While I was visiting my mom hubs was home arranging with an electrician for the install of a ceiling fan on our lower patio and the hanging of our Edison Bulbs. I love the way they turned out and can't wait to have dinner under our very own 'stars'.

20. And now an awesome sunset and 100 bonus points to anyone who made it all the way here.

photo cred: hubs

Have a great week everyone!

Cloudy With A Chance of Love

Just some random stuff to throw down here today.

As opposed to other days when I think oh so carefully about content, ahem.

I'm tired. Hubs might laugh at that because while I have been on the go, he has been on the go-go-go, plus he's working but still...

In the past six weeks I've flown across the country and back, made a long weekend trip to Atlanta, took an 1100+ mile road (work/fun) trip with hubs that involved stops in four cities in various states, was home for one! day before flying to Philadelphia for a week with my mom (in NJ) which included a weekend trip with a friend to a summer camp staff reunion in Maryland-

...then back to NJ, a Sunday cookout in the city (Philadelphia) at my sister and brother-in-laws house where the hydrangeas are ridiculously gorgeous-

I mean, come on!! Have you ever seen prettier hydrangeas???

After one cancelled flight and one re-booked flight, I finally made it home Monday night. Five hours later than anticipated, but nonetheless home. 

Has there ever been a sweeter word?

For some reason (actually the reason was ROOTS) I'd scheduled a hair appointment first thing Tuesday morning so was up and out Tuesday a.m., home for a quick lunch, then made the drive to the lake with hubs so we could meet the boat delivery-

...followed by a boat ride (of course!), which meant dinner at something ridiculous like 9 PM, and then on Wednesday I waved the white flag.

I was cooked, and did something I absolutely never do which is lounge in bed until 10:30 finishing a book (the Daughter by Jane Shemlit -really good!). The idea of having nowhere to be on a Wednesday morning was heavenly. Eventually I did laundry and bought groceries, then Daughter2 said she was free and we said do you want a boat ride? so when hubs finished working it was back out to the lake for dinner and a cruise.

The afternoon started off a little threatening with some dark clouds, but by the time hubs had wrestled the bimini on and off the boat the skies had turned gorgeous. And HOT. Very very HOT. A boat breeze can fix all that though, and as we headed back into our dock around 8 pm I snapped this picture of my Daughter2-

Something about this picture makes me sigh. She's all grown up now, but it's the pony tail down her back and the barefeet and the casual way she's sitting that help me see the little girl she once was.

Back when summer meant leisurely mornings at home, trips to the library to get a stack of books and whatever treat the summer reading program offered as incentive (usually a free Slurpee), an afternoon at the pool, dinners filled with something on the grill served alongside fresh corn and tomatoes and nowhere to go besides our own backyard for quiet talks and fireflies.

The weather was stirring as we made the drive home and the sky was a thousand shades of childhood summer. I thought about the words to a Psalm I love and about God's goodness in all the seasons of my life. How He sets a sky on fire with magnificent drama.

How sometimes I need to see bold beautiful brushstrokes across the heavens to remind me I am small, yet He knows my name, my longings, my heart's desire. How there is nowhere His love can't find me, including the middle of a mid-life summer.

"Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds." 

Psalm 36:5

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Go Jump In The Hodgepodge

It's been a hot hot week here in the Palmetto State. Let's sit in the air conditioning and answer random questions about everything under the sun, k?  If you've played along today add your link at the end of my post. Be sure you leave a comment for the blogger linking before you because that's what good neighbors do. Here we go-

1. If you could sit beside and/or jump in any lake in the whole wide world today, which lake would you choose and why?

Something Italian. Lago Maggiore is one of my favorites, but I'm not too picky. Plunk me down beside a lake in Italy and I'm good. 

2. What's your favorite 'fruity' drink?

Probably lemonade. Or Pimms. I do love a Pimms cup on a warm summer day, and we make ours with fresh strawberries, sliced citrus fruits, and a sprig of mint so it's fruity. 

3. I read a list here of thirteen things to do right now to simplify your life. They were-

clean as you go, re-evaluate your relationships (cut toxic ties), unsubscribe (too many blogs and websites), de-clutter, write down your daily goals, reply to emails right away, forget multitasking, create a morning routine, re-evaluate your commitments (which hobbies and responsibilities are most important to you), say no, clean up your computer, and plan your day ahead

Which of the tasks listed do you currently find most helpful in keeping life simple? Which item on the list should you adopt in order to simplify your life this month? 

I do or have done most of the items on this list. The one thing I could do this month that would be most helpful around here would be cleaning up my computer, photos in particular. I still don't have a handle on the photo system since iPhoto became My Photos. 

4. What did you do the summer after you graduated from high school?

I worked as a camp counselor at a girls camp in Maryland. 

c.1978

It was and always will be one of my life's 'happy places'. 

5. Are you a fan of podcasts? If so what's a favorite?

I'm just now jumping on the Podcast bandwagon. I've been listening to some while I walk, and am hoping to find some good recommendations here today. I listen to pastors mostly, but I do have season one of Serial downloaded for hubs and I to listen to, maybe on an upcoming road trip. 

6. Do you think today's fathers have it harder, easier, or just different than fathers in the past?

Not harder or easier, just different. Every generation has it's challenges, expectations, and disappointments when it comes to parenting and I don't think that's any less true for today's fathers. 

7. Tell us one way you're like your father? Or not at all like your father if that's easier?

Well I've got his eyes for one. I'm a lot like my mother and not sure I've thought much until today about how I'm like my dad. He was determined, a hard worker, he loved Jesus, and had a tender heart. In those ways I think I'm like my dad. My mom has a lot of those same characteristics too, so let's just say I had good examples to follow on both sides of the parental DNA. 

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Hubs and I celebrate 32 years of married life tomorrow. I made a little Smilebox video for our 30th and am posting it here again today because 32! Whoohoo! And still true believers! 

Customize your own free slideshow

Happy Anniversary hubs!

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How's Your PMA?

Well I could make myself crazy by skipping two letters in the A-Z Blog Challenge or I could make myself crazy trying to go back now and write three posts. I choose option one.

We had a busy day on Saturday filled with company and going and doing, and then I wasn't feeling well Sunday-Monday, so I'm going to settle for N + O =NO post for those two letters, and jump back into the alphabet with today's letter-P. Believe me it's better this way. You get 1000 words instead of 3000. Something like that.

Also, a reminder there will not be a Wednesday Hodgepodge link up this week, because obviously I need a break. The Hodgepodge will return next week-April 27th.

Okay, jumping back on the A-Z Blog Challenge train now...

P is for Positive Mental Attitude

I have camp friends who read my blog, and no matter where those friends may be when they read my post title, they're all responding with the appropriate Boy Are We Enthusiastic! 

Way back when I worked as a camp counselor, and even before that when I was a camper, if there was some activity we might be less than excited to take part in, the staff member in charge would shout into the megaphone-'How's Your PMA?' and we would reply with, 'Boy are we enthusiastic.' 

Generally said the first time without a lot of enthusiasm.  

If we did not show enough enthusiasm in our response the person with the megaphone would ask again, a little bit louder, 'HOW'S YOUR PMA???' and then again a little bit louder, 'HOW'S YOUR PMA???' and we'd get louder in our response, and before you knew it you were laughing and feeling a little bit excited about something you didn't want to do five minutes before. 

This mantra has come in handy in home building and in life, even if I only say it in my head. A positive mental attitude helps when you're moving or you think you're moving or you're wishing you weren't moving or you're building a house and it's taking a sweet forever. When it rains buckets and you need dry land or your builder calls and says your bathtub selection is too wide or your accountant calls in the middle of it all and says you need to send another bajillion to the IRS. 

How's your PMA? 

Boy are we enthusiastic! 

Building from scratch isn't all fun and games. There are parts of the process that could be described as fun, parts of the process where you feel a tremendous amount of excitement. And then there are a good many parts of the process where you feel something less than enthusiasm for all you've taken on. Where you question why you didn't just buy something already built and move in. 

Where you spend a full day debating whether you need more dirt less rock or more rock less dirt and should the driveway come another 1/16 of an inch to the left or the right and at the end of it all you kind of want to snap at the person you love best. It's precisely that moment, when you're frustrated or tired or overwhelmed by all the decisions all the time that it helps to ask, 'How's my PMA?'. 

In my head I shout. 

And I smile because summer camp is good for lots of things, but one thing for sure it teaches you is doing things that are not your favorite with a PMA makes those tasks more pleasant. True when scrubbing a toilet, and just as true when you find yourself spending four tedious hours with an electrician making 1001 small decisions. 

Whistle while you work. 

The sun'll come out tomorrow.

Put on a happy face. 

A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. 

BOY ARE WE ENTHUSIASTIC!

Throwback Thursday Summer Camp Style

I'm busy. Always it seems, and I accept that. 'Tis a season, and when this season ends there will be another season, because that's how mid-life goes. Not at all how I imagined it would be, but life is full of surprises and I mostly like surprises.

Anyway I have a lot on my plate today, so in the interest of time, I thought I'd join the Throwback Thursday Revolution and post something light.

That's me on the right, wearing braids and a blindfold and brushing someone else's teeth. Good Morning Campers!

They know who they are. They read here.

This weekend I'm headed back to camp. The place I spent many a summer first as a camper, later as a CIT, and then eventually a counselor. We used to on occasion have something called a counselor hunt, which was essentially a ginormous game of hide and seek. The way it worked was the counselors would hide from the kids and the kids would try to find them.  Relax...we weren't hiding to get away from the kids, we were hiding to avoid being caught, because if you were caught there was a penalty.

I was never ever caught. I had a most stellar hiding place and at age 18 was not afraid to squeeze myself under a building to avoid capture. Some counselors were always caught. Some didn't try very hard to hide, especially if they were with the younger campers, because they knew how much the kids loved finding their 'chief'.

Me, well my campers were teenagers, and I was all about not being caught. What can I say? I've always been competitive and teenagers love a challenge.

They never ever caught me.

Okay, I was caught once along with another counselor, and the picture above was our 'penalty'. We had to stand on a table in front of the group, I was blindfolded, and had to brush the other girls teeth.

I admit as a mother my first thought now is more along the lines of ewwwww, and picturing myself lying in the dirt under that building with all the creepy crawlies kinda makes my skin crawl, but...this is why camp is so awesome.

You do things like crawl in the dirt beneath a building and stand blindfolded on a table with a toothbrush in hand while campers cheer you on. You laugh and smile every single day, not because you're brushing someone else's teeth, but because you're just ridiculously happy to be in a place where you can spend your days outdoors, share life with friends, sleep under the stars, talk about the deep and not so deep, swim-sail-ride and pray.

Christian camp for kids and teens, and for the mostly college aged people who work there, can be life changing. For me it still is. We started these reunion weekends in the summer of 2010, and imagined they might happen every few years. As it happened though, that first one was so much fun we've made it an annual thing. It's a weekend I look forward to, and one I now view as a retreat. A time and place to reconnect not only with the people who knew me when, but also with myself.

Some of the buildings have moved and changed, and it all looks a little bit different not different. It's still the best place I know to sit in the middle of God's glorious creation and remember His goodness all those years ago.

...and His goodness still.

Deep and Wide

I've been on a mini hiatus from my blog for the past week or so...do you go on hiatus or take a hiatus? Either way, my blog has been too quiet and needs reawakening.

It's hard knowing where to begin so I guess I'll go with my usual, which means diving in any old place, and hoping somehow the words make sense when I'm through.

It certainly seems like I should have a lot to say on this Monday morning, but the reality is I'm feeling quiet and reflective after a weekend away in one of my favorite places on earth. This was my third year to attend a reunion of summer camp staff, people who shared summers on a little plot of paradise in Northeast Maryland, sometime during the 1970's. I've written about camp on my blog before-here, here, and here if you're curious, but the one thing you should know about it is this-you never come away from camp empty.

In the past I've always taken gobs of pictures, but this year I decided to just be. To free myself of that small distraction and give my tired head and heart the rest I didn't realize I'd been needing. I soaked in the quiet beauty of a pinky orange sunset and sipped coffee from the comfort of a camp chair.  I saw with my own eyes instead of through a camera lens, the osprey soaring high across a sun drenched clear blue sky. I hushed the noise inside my head, and heard the sounds of a guitar strummed beneath the light of a silver circled moon. I took deep breaths and inhaled the crisp fresh fragrance of a summertime wood, a scent that never fails to carry me back to those magical summers of my youth.

Deep and Wide. It's an old familiar children's song, and one we used to sing with our campers. There were hand motions, and it was fun because the kids could be a little bit silly too, but also those words?  They meant something then, and they mean something still, and this weekend I remembered what that was.

God's love for each one of us is deep. So deep and so wide and so high that I can barely grasp the notion of it. I get caught up so easily in the busyness of life, and weighed down so quickly by the heaviness of life, and sometimes I just need to go back to summer camp. To retreat to a place where the enormity of His love for me is impossible to miss.

I can stand at the waters edge and see it.
Look up through a canopy of leafy green and feel it.
Sit under a blanket of stars He set in place and that He knows by name, and remember He knows mine too.

I can grow up and away and come back to this place.  I can sit on a wooden bench in a makeshift chapel in the woods and sing Amazing Grace...

...and be amazed anew.

Five Minutes of Song

I'm giving Five Minute Friday a try again this week. The instructions are simple-write for five minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word.  Link back to Five Minute Friday and invite others to join in too.  Consider yourselves invited.  Finally, be generous and leave an encouraging comment for the person who linked up before you.

Today's prompt-Song

It's that time of year where something in the air assures us summer is just around the bend. Growing up I spent my summers at camp, first as a camper and later as a counselor. I remember the welcome hush that fell over a cabin at nighttime. Girls in my care, full of words and laughter and questions, finally drifting into slumber.

Days were lived outdoors in the summers of my youth. We swam and sailed and paddled, made the uphill climb from the waterfront and ran to capture the flag. We yelled 'red rover red rover come on over' under a sun drenched Chesapeake sky.

I remember the exhale at the end of a day. Crawling in to my sleeping bag, the sound of night all around. Sometimes I slept on top because this was camp, and the only air conditioning was a warm sticky breeze inching its way through a tightly woven screen. The only night light, a summer moon.

It was a good tired.

I closed my eyes and let the day fall away. It was always in this space between wake and sleep that her song began.  Not a softly whispered lullaby suited to the quiet place where day ebbs into night and back again.  Her song was loud, clear, distinct...a single line repeated over and over, winging it's way over and under and through a night forest.

Whip-poor-WILL....Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL...

It seeped into your head and before you knew it you were singing it too.

There is no mistaking the song of the whippoorwill. She's a bird named for the song she sings.  Onomatopoeia. A lonely sound, ethereal... she calls but no one answers.

Mostly though, it was aggravating to an exhausted nineteen year old girl trying to sleep in a cabin in the woods. I'd pull my pillow tight around my ears, trying somehow to block the unblockable.

Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL...Whip-poor-WILL

Decades roll by and memory piles upon memory. Every once in a while she calls to me still...different woods, same sad song. When I hear her sing the years fall away, and I go back to that place where dreams were planted and roots took wing. The place where tall trees kissed the bay and God felt close enough to touch.

Where the whippoorwill sang on a moonlit summer night.

With Eagles Wings

I forgot I wasn't 19 still and stayed up gabbing long into the night Friday and Saturday both.

Ooops.

As it turns out I'm actually middle aged.

Not in my head of course, but the rest of me is saying that's true.

I spent the weekend with old friends from summer camp and when I say old I'm talking about the good kind. The kind of old that means a long long time and not the kind of old that means crows feet and small bladders.

Is this all too much for you today?

It's feeling like it might be too much for me.

I think I mentioned I'm tired. And middle aged.

Last year a reunion was organized on the property of our former campground and it was so much fun we decided a sequel was in order. The campground is still a campground but the girl's camp as we knew it has moved to another property site. The grounds have changed a lot since the 1970's, but when we're all together we fall right back into our old vocabulary. It's the Dining Hall, the Craft Shop, and the Lodge just as it was 3o-something years ago.

All my life I've struggled to explain how I feel about this place and these friends to people who were never there. It's a piece of my heart that remains tender, that when pricked spills out in both laughter and tears.

I've written a couple of posts in the past (here and here) in my attempt to put thoughts and feelings into words, but the finished product wasn't very satisfying. So here I am again-full head, overflowing heart, the right words still just out of reach. Perhaps there are some things in this life that aren't meant to be described, only felt.

Some forty years ago many of us were campers. We sailed and rode horses and ate in a dining hall. We sat on dusty cabin floors or atop sleeping bags laid across a bunk as we shared things weighing heavy on our young hearts. Moving into the college years we became the listen-ers, camp counselors to cabins full of campers unpacking their troubles along with their tennis shoes. We taught canoeing and John 3:16. We laughed and sang and prayed. We wrote letters to many of these campers throughout the school year and we pray for them still.

Thirty+ years have somehow come and gone since I was a camp counselor. The pool may be new and improved, the buildings painted or moved, our bodies older and our everyday lives separated by geography, but that thing that made camp camp?

It remains.

Camp was always a refuge, a safe place to learn and grow, to speak without fear from the deepest part of your heart. We united as staff members way back when and shared life in all its multi-layered glory and despair.

We still do.

Cleaning Latrines and Other Life Lessons

This heat has made my brain feel a little bit like mush. Or maybe its the cleaning products? I've been scrubbing woodwork, emptying cabinets and drawers, scouring my frig, matching Tupperware containers to lids...that last one will turn your brain to mush quicker than anything, won't it?

Anyway, it's hot and it's Thursday and since I'll be spending the weekend with friends from my days as a camp counselor I thought I'd link up with Thursday Thirteen and post a list. Do those thoughts add up? I don't know if Point A + Point B = Point C but I said it was hot and I've inhaled a little too much Murphy's Oil Soap so here we go...

Thirteen Life Lessons Learned as a Camp Counselor

1. The proper way to execute the Draw stroke, J-stroke and Forward Sweep in a canoe

2. Alllll the verses to Madalina Catalina

3. The essential ingredients to the world's best campfire stew

4. How to make a candle in the sand

5. That bug juice contains no actual bugs...most of the time

6. Cleaning a latrine builds character

7. How to cultivate and nurture friendships that will last a lifetime

8. Money doesn't equal happiness

9. Dough + stick+ fire+ jam=deliciousness

10. How to step outside my comfort zone

11. Poison ivy is wretched

12. The song of the whippoorwill

13. Jesus Never Fails

Skies so blue, friends so true...

I know I need to recap the weekend but how in the world do I recap the weekend? I went to summer camp this weekend.

Really.

Back to the place where I began life as a camper and ended up as a 'chief'. That's what counselors were called at my summer camp-chief. Occasionally I was referred to as Princess but only because I liked to wear real shoes on my day off.

Something like that.

It might seem like this would be a simple post to write but its not. I'm pretty sure its one of those 'you had to be there' moments in a person's life. I do know this much-I laughed a lot this weekend...we all did. And we all agreed that adults need to laugh more. We also saw ourselves as we were at eighteen-nineteen-twenty years of age. Mirrors were few and far between (thankfully!) so we almost believed we were still standing on the brink of adulthood instead of 30 years down the road and looking back.

We sang and walked and shared and prayed and took a million pictures and we talked. Boy can we talk! We dined on doughboys and smores and our world famous camp stew cooked over a fire like it was meant to be cooked. You might think I'm exaggerating about the world famous part but I can assure you, I'm not. Campers and former staff alike are scattered to the four corners of this earth and we all remember the taste of that stew.

We remember lots of things.

One of the 'kitchen boys' joined us for the weekend and our former camp cook was there part of the weekend too. There were former counselors and CIT's, waterfront staff, girls who worked with the horses, helped with crafts and who registered the campers at a picnic table on Sunday afternoons. Even our fearless director who influenced so many lives for the better, managed to be there.

fyi-she is still fearless.

My point is, no matter what role you played at camp, no matter if you were there two summers or ten, there is a special place in your heart reserved for this camp and these friends and those memories.

Camp was a place of absolute beauty..a place to discover and know for a fact that God is love because you had a front row seat to that love in action. Camp was a place where you stepped (or were sometimes gently pushed) outside your comfort zone and into something new so that your confidence grew by leaps and bounds. Those experiences became the building blocks for your adult life in a way you can so clearly recognize in hindsight. Camp is where you learned how to truly be a friend, to trust in Jesus, and to love unconditionally. It's where you learned to embrace the silly and the fun but to also be still and hear God whisper your name.

There's a song called Circle of Friends written by Steven Siler and Douglas McKelvey and sung by Point of Grace that captures what I'm trying to say-

"..If you weep, I will weep with you

If you sing for joy the rest of us will lift our voices too

But no matter what you feel inside

There's no need to pretend

That's the way it is in this circle of friends

In a circle of friends

We have one Father

In a circle of friends

We share this prayer

That we'll gather together no matter how the highway bends

I will not lose this circle of friends..."

I never imagined when I stepped into my first cabin as a camper all the way back in 1972 that I'd still be talking about it some forty years later.

So thankful for the experiences.

So happy to sit around a campfire under the stars once more.

So grateful the circle remains unbroken.