After 1030 posts over eight fun years; I
promised myself I’d quit blogging after the April 30 Day Challenge. First; because we’d be without internet and
even decent phone service for our second season in the woods working as
volunteers at a summer camp. And second; because publishing stuff on my blog just takes a lot of time.
Then
I discovered a comment from my neighbor, Feral Woman, a
few days ago on my last blog post--
“Leenie of the Great Mountains, I challenge you to post up some photos of the last few months, and tell us what you have done!!!”
Okay, FINE. Here is our summer in 27 photos.
We
moved our borrowed 26 foot travel trailer to camp in May. We were soon joined by the other volunteer
couples who would spend the whole summer there with us.
We
hoped we had moved in after winter was over.
We were wrong.
Weather
or not, we went to work preparing the camp.
Contractors and volunteers came and went as remodeling and repairs
happened everywhere.
The scenery,
such as the Grand Teton Mountains to the east, was amazing. But we had little time to stop and gaze as we
prepared for our first campers.
One
project was to drop a dead tree without damaging a nearby cabin or anything
else.
When
the dust cleared the tree was down exactly where the guys wanted it; between
two fence posts where they had removed the fence.
The
weather was still pretty cold when our first big bunch arrived. That didn’t dampen their spirit and
energy. They put on their sweatshirts
and danced.
Mosquitos
hatched by the billions. Finally we were
provided with a fogger to knock them down.
Every
week another party of around 250 girls and their leaders arrived to enjoy life
in the woods without benefit of electronic gadgets.
There
were much better things to do.
Cooking
and dining al fresco---
Making
quilts and other items to be sent to refugees and disaster victims---
Doing
service projects to help at camp, such as a bucket brigade to stock the
woodshed--
Spending
spiritual time around the campfire---
And
being very, very silly---
DH
and I worked with the other couples there to help make the camping experience
memorable.
We
taught beginning archery.
We
took them through some challenging obstacles.
And we
shared the wonders of life in the forest with the heat and the dirt and the
critters.
Several times we turned out all the yard lights for a few hours of star gazing. We had a nice dark sky to view the Persied Meteor Shower in August.
We
DID NOT join the hardy groups who arose at dawn to jump in our unheated pool
for bragging rights.
We warned
them over and over about the very real danger of bears in the woods. There were
several bear scares but we never saw any in camp.
But
we knew they were there. This is one of
the tracks I discovered in the mud just up the creek from camp. (that's my walking stick with a bear bell)
The
fun continued. Here is a group of
leaders reminding the girls that running a bra up the flagpole was not okay.
Our
resident frogs and snakes were part of a catch and release program.
At
the end of the week all the campers pitched in to clean the cabins and the
restrooms.
Then
they packed up their gear and some of our dirt and bugs and left.
When
the last group disappeared down the road we set to work to winterize the camp.
We put away the benches and tables and emptied the pool.
Then when
the temperatures dipped to freezing and aspen leaves turned to gold we hauled
out our houses and went home.
You can till check out what I'm up to with my watercolor paintings here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WatercolorsbyLeenie
You can till check out what I'm up to with my watercolor paintings here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/WatercolorsbyLeenie
