June 29 2024
We awoke to overcast skies with the promise of rain heavy in the air. While rain is unlikely, it is possible throughout the day… so everyone was very excited. You see, Greystone Girls Love Rain! They love the feel of the rain on their upturned faces as they walk to class. They love the adapted lesson plans (every class has a special plan for such occasions). And they love the slower pace (particularly the longer rest hour).
Weather affects all of us, but it is celebrated at camp. Without air conditioning, we never experience that abrupt transition from vehicles, homes, stores, and everywhere else in the “real world,” where we spend so little time outside we lose our appreciation of the seasons. When outside, every season is experienced deeply, and each day’s change is noticed. Fall is beautiful (the thousands of tourists who flock to the mountains is testimony to the beauty). Winter has a sharpness that accentuates the bare trees and the potential for glorious snow. Spring is marked by abundant life in every inch of the forest… thousands of dogwood trees in bloom surrounded by lush green grass, Lady Slippers, and Trillium under the white/purple/and pink blooms of the mountain laurel and rhododendron. All the seasons are amazing, particularly if you get out of the house or the car.
Campers “get it” and embrace the nuances of each day’s changing weather. It is not uncommon that we awake expecting one thing and getting another. Today it was rain (we assumed it would rain because it felt like it would rain… most likely, we will be wrong because mountain weather is notoriously hard to predict). No matter what, we discover that life is better when much of our time is spent outside, and most our buildings are not hermetically sealed from the elements. We end up celebrating the weather that we usually complain about. Every day becomes the perfect setting for memorable moments despite (or because) of their imperfections.
This Saturday, we also celebrate that many of you will not follow camp so intensely during the weekend. Many take a break from their daily photo scanning which can develop into an obsession. A concerned parent’s healthy appreciation of camp can quickly shift to worry when something “seems off” in a picture. “Why is she not smiling? What is that on her hand? Why is she wearing that outfit now? Why is she sitting with that group? Why is she sitting alone?” A thousand little things that grate on your heart as you miss her being around the house. You assume the worst and you worry. Parenting can be hard work, but at camp, we hope you will relax as you let your daughter enjoy the comfortable waters of our safe protected pool of growth.
Last night’s Vespers program at the Council Fire Ring was special. The girls gathered quickly by cabin groups and joined the singing of those already seated. In such a setting, the story was more special, the verses more poignant, the candles more bright. It was amazing.
Main Camp is a very hard session to explain. Thank you for appreciating, supporting, and celebrating “old school” camping. Were it not for you, we would have been forced to change the format of this session a long time ago. Old-fashioned, long summer camps are not generally popular; shorter sessions are what “the market” demands. But with your support, Main Camp continues to be our flagship. Jam-packed every year and a beacon to the world. It is a session that Glorifies God better than anything else we do. Thank you for making it possible.
- Breakfast Waffles and Bacon
- Breakfast Club Expect the best of people (be gracious, and forgiving rather than holding a grudge).
- Joke “Wood Eye/ Big Nose”
- Lunch Chicken Broccoli and Rice
- Dinner Flank Steak, Polenta
- EP Team Fires