The Longest Day...

As you know, this is the longest day of the year (nod knowingly, of course it is). The official “First Day” of summer! Let the party begin.

We are celebrating with some hot weather. The high is projected to be a balmy 92 degrees, the hottest day of the summer! Whoo Hoo! Not a breath of wind right now, that should change as the day goes on. Not a cloud in the sky and not much chance of one entering the room. Perfect for a full day of activities and a big EP… so that is what we are doing.

Today will be the last “regular” day, regular schedule, regular EP… tomorrow will have regular classes but an amended Rest Hour (as we begin to pack our bags and get organized for closing camp on Friday). The girls are really pumped up, good energy all over camp and attentive ears at assemblies. We will not squander the time.

Cabins: we have lived in close proximity to each other for a long time now. “Friendship Circles” are important camp lessons; it is a blessing to have a little bit of disharmony in a cabin so that the lesson of restoration and forgiveness can be experienced. Very sweet to see how this works out… last week was a big one for such moments, we make everything right in order to finish the session well.

Activities: As mentioned before… BIG day of classes. Goal setting is encouraged at Greystone. Decide what is important to your summer and work toward achieving that goal. There will be a lot of intense pushing to pass tests today, and that is a good thing. I do not like “busy” daily schedules. Busy schedules are the defining trait of the “real world” and we live in a bubble. Goal setting is not busy work, it is being intentional about your life. It is “fruitful” and as such, worthwhile. Not every goal is reached, and that is also a good thing. We strive and do the best that we can do, the effort is rewarding in itself… and when we pass that level that took several years to perfect it is genuinely satisfying. Greystone teaches High School level activities: June Campers will not generally perfect skills such as Diving, Tennis, Sailing, Kayaking, Landsports, Riding, Metal Jewelry, Beads, Knitting… Water Park and Dog Camp might be a different story. It is good to have depth of skills understood at an early age. It gives us something to work toward and strive for as we get older. I love this fact. Life never is boring because there is always something more to learn!

EP’s: Tonight is the Play. BIG EP. This summer we will be treated to a 5 act masterpiece, “Aesop’s (Oh So Slightly) Updated Fables” by Kip Esop Wylie. Literally 100 girls have been working on this production for the past two weeks. It will have a short intermission in a solid 1 hour production… that will knock our socks off! This is always a great night, I can’t wait.

Taco In A Bag: The picnic dinner tonight is worthy of special recognition. Taco in a Bag is an invention of my father’s dating to the 1980’s. Get individual bags of Frito’s, add taco stuff (sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, gound beef)… now the bag weighs about a pound and a half and is overflowing with creamy stuff that gets on your hands and makes you hold the bag away from your body and squeal with delight. Fantastic kid meal. REALLY EASY… you can provide this meal for your daughter’s entire class; just make sure you serve it outside.

One Last note… our staff is very good. Very, Very, Good. One of them (Meg Murray, she teaches guitar, zumba, Greystone Groove, and leads Praise and Worship in the morning assembly… she is the counselor in the guitar pictures above) wrote me a note yesterday. She gave me permission to share it with you. It speaks to the camp experience in a beautiful way.

“Dear Jimboy, Margaret, Kelly, and Laura,

I just love this place. I wanted to take the time to tell you this b/c there really is not another place that makes me feel as ALIVE, ENTHUSED, BALANCED (! gotta love feeling balanced in today’s world!) & ALIGNED W/ PURPOSE as Greystone does.

At the end of every day, I’m just like — Man! What a blast! I’m tired and ready to rest, but eager to get up and do it all over again the next day. It’s rare to find a place where one can give/share his/her gifts but GROW EQUALLY as much, but Greystone is such a place for me.

Thank you for providing an atmosphere that I’ll always think of as some part of my home. I love it here.

Sincerely,

Meg Murray”

Good Stuff.

Jimboy

PS Notice the clouds in my photo’s? Nice fluffy ones that drop the temperature about 5 degrees. Nice breeze has also come up. Actually a very comfortable day, as it turns out. Lunch featured smoked chicken, polenta with sun dried tomatoes, pan fried frest corn, and yummy “grasshopper” brownies. The chicken was incredible, smoked this morning (I wish I had gotten some pictures, it is quite a sight).

PPS Gave everyone in camp a present at rest hour— big posters of camp with lots of space for messages. The idea is to get your friends to sing before you pack tomorrow afternoon. The posters come in heavy duty tubes, so they can be taken home and put on the wall… should be fun. Some will be worthy of framing!