Nametags for the 50+ Campers Returning to Camp

Back in July 1972 my parents sent me to Maine to a sleep-away girls camp called Medokawanda. I had no way to know how much I would grow to love this camp and the people associated with it over the next four summers. It doesn’t hurt that I happened to meet my future husband there. (Bonus!)

Zoom forward 45 years to this summer, 2017. My husband and I returned to camp a few weeks ago for Reunion weekend. None of my cabin mates attended but I loved being there. I loved meeting new friends and getting to know other campers that I didn’t know well. It was wonderful.

Walking up the hill at Senior Camp (now the Retreat Center)

The camp is now owned by my first year counselor and her husband, and it is thriving. Medokawanda is now a family camp – take your family there. I guarantee you’ll never regret it! Check it out … Medomak Family Camp welcomes twelve (and only twelve) families for each session.

Medomak “Junior” boys camp is now a camp for inner-city youth. The “Senior” boys camp is now the Retreat Center hosting several retreats during the summer including a conductors retreat, a yoga retreat and a fiber retreat. That is where we held the reunion.

Lovely, simple cabins have been constructed all around the camp and they’re simple but comfortable. When I was at camp we had indoor toilets but showered only once a week (on Sunday). Now there is “complete” indoor plumbing in the cabins. Sheets, blankets and towels are provided.

Half of our cabin … two beds, rockers, dressers, full bath. Totally comfortable.

The food in the old dining hall is still amazing! Look what we were served on Sunday morning with our eggs and fruit, etc! (Family camp has its own dining hall with equally wonderful food! Much of the herbs are grown on site and there are cows on the hill who provide wonderful fresh milk and from which cheese is made … yummy cheese!

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls – fresh out of the oven!

On Saturday afternoon, we all met at the cove for the traditional “Loon-athon event. It was a chance to revisit the beautiful lake that we swam in a water-skied on. A time for fellowship on the water. And an excellent photo op!

Loon-athon

Group Photo

My favorite traditions were always campfire on Saturday night and chapel Sunday morning. After reunion, they still are my favorite. Campfire was wonderful. Songs, the requisite laugh-out-loud skit and, of course, the campfire.

Synchronized Swimming … the ski

Lighting the Campfire

On the path to chapel

Chapel was moving and more spiritual that any “real” church that I have ever walked into. The tradition of camp is strong and lives on. The whispering pine tress still remind me of the wonder of nature’s creation. It reminds me that we are here for a short while and must act as caretakers of our world so that generations after us can enjoy the same blessings and beauty. I left chapel feeling grounded and refreshed.

Sitting on the porch with my knitting after chapel was lovely.

I leave this post with a picture of the place we used to have campfire. Under the Old Oak.

A few years ago we went to visit camp and found that the Old Oak was gone. I cried. So many summer evenings were spent there and I felt like I belonged and was accepted for myself. Today, there are new sprouts growing up out of the trunk of the Old Oak. A rebirth for the Old Oak, Medomak and Medokawanda, and for me and my camp friends. It may be 45 years after my first year at camp, but I feel like I am building a new life with a new husband and a new home … Post child-rearing, having mourned my first marriage and the death of my mother. I am happier today than I have been in years and for that I am grateful. The return to camp helped me to see that the past there was so special and that I can take those days and that feeling of being so blessed … it’s all a conscious effort to be happy. Today.

“If there were witchcraft I’d make two wishes, a winding road that beacons me to roam … and then I’d wish for a blazing campfire to welcome me when I’m returning home. Memories that linger …  Medokawanda of you.”

Gone knitting.

I’ve not had all three of my kids in my house since I got divorced. It’s been a bit of an adjustment for all of us. And I’m so excited that I’m going to have all three of them (and my grand-dog) for two nights and almost two days.

I won’t be knitting … for now I’m simply waiting for their arrival!

Summer has arrived. It was cool enough to have the wood stove on this morning but now, five hours later, it’s summer in Maine.

It’s been a busy, productive day here. New feet are on dining “room” chairs, the downstairs is vacuumed and two of the three upstairs bedrooms are clean with beds made. We still have to put back all of “Grandma’s” rugs and put the furniture back, but that’s easy enough.

With that, I’m going to finish up and get to my knitting!

I went to Windsor today to volunteer at the Fiber Frolic. This is the 11th year for the Frolic and my virgin foray … and Oh. My. God. I’m so sad that I didn’t got yesterday too.

Wonderful people, great exhibits … both fleece, fiber, supplies, animals, and what you can do with them. We watched a sheep and an alpaca being shorn. I’d rather be a sheep because they bound the feet of the alpaca. He (or she) didn’t appear to be particularly happy about it and was quite vocal. We saw a shepherd and his four Border Collies (and a Bernese Mountain dog named Sadie that he was caring for) demonstrate good, and not so good, sheep herding. It’s simply amazing what those dogs and their master can do. The “better trained” dogs can pick out white or brown sheep and know the difference between sheep and goats. He did have one dog who was young and green. She was very naughty but absolutely hilarious to watch. The vendors were plentiful and had lots of stock for day two of the Frolic. And I was in yarn heaven. It also humbles me because despite the fact that I’ve been knitting for twenty plus years, I know so little about where the fibers come from. I’d love, one day, to shear an animal, process the fleece, spin the wool and knit a garment.

I learned that there are several varieties of alpaca fleece. The youngest “Cria” alpaca provide the softest fleeces. It’s not unusual to have different quality fleece from different animals (obviously the thicker the fleece, the more valuable the animal.) One vendor had fleece blankets on display; not only could you purchase them but it enabled this relative novice to feel and learn. And crave!

Fiber people are such lovely people and are happy to share their knowledge. I spoke with a woman who has a Cashmere goat farm in Washington, ME (where we went to summer camp as children and were counselors together) and she was delightful to chat with and I learned a lot about Cashmere goats. I even held a one week old kid at the adjoining booth –

Baby Cashmere Goat

I was in love. Cashmere goats live to be about ten years old. When they get old, the others in the herd will pick on them and they are put down. The ones that I got up close and personal with were a beautiful silvery gray color and they all have the most beautiful eyes. Cashmere goats don’t give a ton of fiber every year … but they sure have a lot of personality!

I had a lovely day today at the Frolic and hope I can get there again next year … for two days (and take a class or two!) Yup, I’m hooked!

Gone knitting!

Simon

When I first saw this photograph, I cried. Real tears.

I follow a wonderful blog “The Bedlam Farm Journal” and I wish you would, too.

This is Simon. John has taken him in, so to speak, at his farm and is tending to his wounds. I think what touched my heart is the raggedy, damaged animal who is standing there and accepting wherever it is that he is. Animals don’t hate, they don’t hold grudges, the don’t get angry. They accept. They live in the moment, as John says so well. We may want to make them into humans and attach to them human emotion but they simply aren’t and don’t have the capacity.

I find I spend a lot of my time trying to figure out why (and how) people do things. How does a woman squat to pee in a crowded parking garage in Orlando, Florida after a graduation? How do people think they have the power to tell parents how to raise their children? How do people mistreat animals and small children? How can a farmer so ignore an animal that it nearly dies?

Animals are wonderful companions. They don’t talk back. They don’t judge. Yes, they can be trying at times (but so can our children or significant others). My sense is that it’s not about the animals. It’s not their fault that we can’t control our temper … when my dogs pee on the floor, I figure it’s my fault that I didn’t let them out. I am the one with the opposable thumbs! I believe that we, humans, have the power to control our tempers … we have the power to be the loving and kind caretakers, to think before we speak or act. We have the power, and the “superior intellect” that enables us to live in the present, reason at the highest levels, to do all the things that make us human … and yet at times, we behave as animals. The only thing is, that animals don’t behave that way.

I’ve been having a struggle (again) with a knitting block. It’s not unlike a writers block (I’m writing, I’m just not knitting) but with yarn. And needles. I have plenty of work to do but for some reason, I just want to read or watch TV (we don’t have TV so I watch the Internet), or communicate with friends and family on facebook. I just don’t want to knit. Is that my dogs’ fault, too? If I’m frustrated with me, can I take it out on them? Yeah, well, NO. Not acceptable. They give me unconditional love and tail wags and I owe it to them to be the best human I can be.

I love Simon’s face. He seems at the same time grateful and sad, pained and at peace. I’m so grateful for loving and caring people like John … and I hope Simon finds peace in his new home. God bless you John!

While we were away, the weather has made a turn-around. Coffee on the front porch this morning in shorts!

Happy Memorial Day! I have taken time today to read a lot of facebook statuses (is that a word, “statuses”?) and reflected on how lucky we are to be Americans. And I, personally, am grateful for those who have served our country, past and present, so that I can be free. I am the proud daughter of an American veteran and while my father’s been gone from my “earthly” life for 25 years, I still get emotional when I think of him.

I’ve finished another “Celebration” sock but have to stop before the pair is done to make a special pair of socks for my big brother for his 55th birthday! Yikes. How can my siblings be getting up to that kind of age? We don’t act like old people but I remember thinking that when my parents hit that 50 mark, that they were darned near dead! 🙂

I also finished the navy cowl which will likely see my Esty shop in the next day or so. AND! I made my first Esty sale … the Birthday party socks are going to a wonderful young woman in Louisiana tomorrow. Very exciting and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to knit and have people appreciate my garments.

S0, new on the needles are my big brother’s birthday socks and it will be time, after that to focus on the next Prima Dogma design… and getting the rest of the house cleaned up and ready for my girls to visit.

Happy Memorial Day … and blessings to our service men and women past and present.

My daughter’s email got hacked and “she” sent me a link that, fortunately, I didn’t open so it didn’t crash my hard drive or otherwise ruin my computer (and my day). I had my facebook account hacked once, too. “I” was spamming all of my facebook friends. And every time I put something up for sale on Craigslist, some jerk with ridiculously poor English wants to rip me off insisting that they’ll wire me the money and have a driver pick it up.

Grrrr. I hate hackers and thieves!

Why do some people have to expend their energy in negative directions? I would love to see these hackers getting the same “jollies” out of doing good. The world would SO be a better place! What is wrong with people these days?

Stepping off my soap box now. Thanks for listening.