I’ve been listening to parents say they are sending their kids to summer camp. Some kids are excited and others reminded me of myself (WHY do I have to go???).
Here’s a funny story from one camp I went to.
Upon arrival, we were greeted and toured the camp. That night after dinner we were told how FUN our experience would be. We sang some “rah, rah” songs to build team spirit and then the Camp Counselor explained that every day we needed to check the board to see what our camp duties were. Taking care of the “camp site” was part of team building.
Inevitably, we all got KP Duty (Kitchen Patrol). That meant we were responsible for serving campers their food, cleaning the tables, taking the dishes/glasses to be cleaned, stacking chairs on top of tables, sweeping, etc. Anything to do with preparing and cleaning the dining hall, so it was left in “pristine” condition for the next meal.
I think we KNOW that when counselors say camp is going to be FUN, that is a code word for “be prepared” for “anything and everything” to possibly happen – good or bad!
My first night there I was on KP Duty. Everything was going fine when loud thunder struck. I heard banging on the tables, loud singing and a camper looking embarrassed and running around one of the tables. This was horrible, WHAT was going on?!
An older camper explained. The camp leaders had a song they would sing if they caught you eating with your ELBOWS on the table. BAD NEWS if that happened. A camper would be “innocently” eating their hot dog when suddenly at the top of their lungs, the camp leaders would point to the camper who had their elbows on the table and start singing this song:
“Elbows, elbows on the table, this is not a horses stable, but a first class dining table!”
(ROUND the table you must go, you must go, you must go, round the table you must go, YOU WERE NAUGHTY!)
As the poor camper was running around the table and being humiliated, the ENTIRE group of campers would be clapping, singing and poking at the camper.
This was considered, “FUN.”
Did I put my elbows on the table… by accident, YES! Did I suffer humiliation, YES! Did I enjoy going to the cafeteria, NO! But admittedly, it sure did cure all of us from putting our elbows on the table, because we were too busy trying to catch some else at it.
AND to this day, I still remember the words to that song!
Summer camp — NOT FOR ME!
Come on… I KNOW you’ve got a story to share… the COMMENT section is waiting for you!
Let’s all have a laugh!
Have you had someone close to you pass away and then at some point you felt their presence constantly next to you?
I grew up swimming in Lake Michigan. Swimming in a Lake is carefree. You might run into some minnows, or step on a big brick – YES, there are bricks at the bottom of the Lake, but you would never run into a shark.
We also did a lot of boating on Lake Michigan, but I was not prepared for the boating they do in Wilmington. Wow – we went out on Saturday and there were boats everywhere. It’s “the” thing to do on the weekend. I felt like we were on a busy water freeway. The boats were very orderly, just like on a normal road, staying in their lane. Of course, there are always the “hot rods” even on the water.
There were the party looking boats with a lot of young people. They were doing water skiing and water tubing. There was a little island with a palm tree. As the day went on and the water started rising it covered the little island. We drove by a red Tow Boat, and later in the day hurried to dock the boat as we could see a storm coming in.
There have been a lot of thunder storms this summer. That day we could see the dark clouds coming in over the Atlantic Ocean. The lightning looked like fireworks in the sky, similar to this photo. Every few minutes behind the clouds we would see a flash of pink and silver. The thunder was incredible, so loud too. When I lived in California we had rain storms, but no thunder or lightening.
When I was a child growing up, we lived for the beach. We especially enjoyed thunder storms, which came without much warning. Suddenly the sky would become dark, the thunder, lightening and wind would start howling. We were on read alert for tornadoes.
Summer 2016 this book program was in Detroit. This summer they are in Florida. The program called, “Soar with Reading” was created to offer summer reading to children in communities where there are no books, which they call “book deserts.” The program has been successful in Washington, D.C. and Detroit. Children have started book clubs and parents/teachers say children have increased their vocabulary too.
Today I was taking a walk and something shiny caught my attention in the grass. I looked down and THERE I saw a LUCKY PENNY! It’s ALWAYS a good day when we find a Lucky Penny!
Not long ago I went to an art show. It was one of those shows where you walk around town stopping at different shops to see art galleries, clothing, antiques, furniture, etc.
Today is Sunday, a perfect day for a post about praying. Most of us know that airports have chapels, but how many of us have actually stopped in one. I confess that when I have been in an airport, even with a long lay over, I have never sought out a chapel. In fact, never even gave it a thought. My main goal was making sure I made my connecting flight.
So, it was a complete surprise to come across the “Cappella Madonna di Loreto,” chapel in the Milan/Linate airport recently.
I say this, because my mother was a born and raised in Florence. So, my next thought was that my Italian grandmother who is in Heaven (well, I am sure she is there and not Hell) was drawing me to the chapel, so we could have a sweet moment together. I admit I got a bit teary-eyed, because I miss my grandmother. She didn’t speak English, but when I visited her we got by. I quickly learned Italian and we sure used our hands a lot to communicate. She was a TREASURE!
My Nonina LOVED to play the game Bingo. She would go every Wednesday night. We always laughed when she came home, because if she had won, she would have either some olive oil or a big roll of salami under her arm.
For once, I was not irritated for the delay with flight check in. My little Guardian Angel had a surprise for me, the message was “slow down,” take a moment to appreciate my Italian heritage, sit, give thanks and send LOVE up to my Nonina! WHICH I DID!
For those of you who travel, you know it is hectic and after a long flight ALL we want to do is get our luggage and head to the hotel. When I landed in Milan//Linate Airport I went to Baggage Claim. It seemed like we were waiting forever for luggage to come out. That is when I thought, maybe I should find a place to sit. As I looked over to the bench area I saw what appeared to be a “book shelf.”
Suddenly, I wasn’t in a rush for the luggage, because I was in “exploring mode.” I love books and was pleasantly surprised to see that this airport had a “book sharing” post.
Sadly, this meant two things. First, the airport has not promoted the “Book Fly Zone” area enough. Second, maybe with most of us being able to read ebooks, people are not traveling with hard cover books anymore, so there is nothing to share or donate (hard to believe). What a shame! I would have LOVED a book from a different country/author to read while on my trip.
While exploring Dublin, I came across “Powerscourt Centre,” off of Grafton Street, which was a very charming looking house that had been converted into a shopping center.
Brilliant Viewpoint 