Beginnings

I love the beginning of camp (not as much as the middle part, but it is really great). We have traditions and routines that have been honed over the years to a keen edge… these tradtions and routines are a comfort to me and a delight to the campers.

It begins with Breakfast. Always the same menu, a combination of flavors that awakens taste memories in Greystone Girls for a lifetime. Pan fried ham and apples, served with creamy grits and flaky buttermilk biscuits. This is how we begin the first day of camp, and we love it!

Breakfast Club Joke today was funny, but nobody laughed: Custer’s troop is riding toward Little Big Horn with their indian guide by their side. Suddenly there is a sound of war drums in the distance and a soldier says “That doesn’t sound good”. The indian guide says “It’s not our regular drummer”!

This will be an important day for it will validate the high expectations the girls have about camp. All winter long they have anticipated the “things to do” at camp, the “friends to make”, the food, the fun… we have a lot to live up to! Each class plays a part in setting the mood for the summer: some classes will be quiet and intense (glass beads, metal jewelry fabrication), many will be full of laughter, all will be very active. We hope that after this day every camper will have the confidence that she can do lots of things and that camp is going to be GREAT! experience of that particular activity and promise lots more to come.

Lunch comes late in the day (1:15 PM), so everyone pays a great deal of attention to the exhaust from the kitchen. About the time we have Apple Cart (Laura delivers apples to every camper and counselor in camp around 11:00), the bread is going into our steam injected, top of the line, Italian 5 deck baking oven. The smell of fresh baked bread, especially when you are getting hungry, is an experience that is not forgotten. Add to that aroma that of “Dorothy Chicken” roasting, rosoto steaming, and cookies baking… and that doesn’t include the fresh sugar snap peas and giant salad bar! Satisfaction awaits!

After lunch is just what you want but never get (at least in America)… REST HOUR! You might think that your daughter will never go for this; but believe me, she will! We deliver mail as everyone lies quietly on their bunk. As they settle down they often are surprised to find themselves enjoying a short nap. Your letters gain significance with the fact that they are read over and over during rest hour so believe me when I ask you to WRITE LETTERS often!

When the bugle blows at 3:30, the camp immediately comes to life again and everyone runs to the watermelon table. We serve watermelon in the afternoon as a fresh taste of summer every day. It is a tradition that started last year and immediately proved itself to be beloved by all. Classes begin at 3:50 and go till 5:10, we go back to our cabins or stroll around camp enjoying some free time. Cabin clean up, Flag, Dinner, then EP (tonight is the Tentalow Lip Synch… Taylor Swift and One Direction will be well represented).

After today the anticipation of tomorrow will be even greater. We have an every other day class schedule, so MWF classes are different than TTS classes (thus they try lots of new things). Our hope is that they will have had such an over the top day in classes, with over the top food, followed by an amazing EP, and finally a deeply satisfying devotion and tuck in by her counselor. Each girl will go to sleep thinking “wow”… this really is a great place to spend a few weeks!