Sooooo good to hear from you, Peter!

Dad and I were just saying at supper how much we miss you in Addison County, even though we weren't in your company all that much. How often will you be able to get to the Fairlee Free Library for Internet connection - or have you found another place to plug in? Your reports from the library were great fun.

Thanks for the photos. That's a spick and span kitchen 260 eaters! I'll be thinking of you.

Are you homesick? Do you remember the story about Patty's first time away at camp? a week at Tamarack Notch, a Girl Scout camp in Mendon. This is the one letter we had from her:

"Please send Kleenex.
The girl next to me gets a letter every day."

It was tortuous, I guess. She had a terrible cold, for one thing.

I know I said I was going to be better at tending to posting to this blog once the Rhubarb Festival was history, and I regret not having made good on that promise. The Festival was a huge success. When it was over I realized how much energy and time I had put into it. Now I've gone into resting mode, enjoying freer time.

We have been expecting to see or at least hear from Elena and haven't any clue as to what has detained her. She is supposed to be on the Aloha staff in some capacity and Marusa was to be a full-time camper at Hive. The last I heard from her she was off to be the keynote speaker at a conference in China - Shanghai, I think - but would be getting to this country 6/24, 25 for the summer at camp.

We are anxiously awaiting to hear that the sale of this house will go forward. We should have that word by the end of the week. We had supper on the deck tonight and couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic as we took in the views. Speaking of homesick! But change is all about opportunity, right?!

Also, missing the grands. Four of them are in Addison County, at least. They aren't posting here either, so I'm not going to suffer from too much guilt.

Love and hugs,
Mom

Camp Start Tomorrow

Tomorrow's breakfast is our last meal for just counselors.  Campers arrive tomorrow after breakfast and we are expecting to serve 260 for lunch tomorrow!  I think we are ok but it will probably take a couple of days worth of mistakes to figure everything out.  We had a wonderful get together last night with the staff from all the camps.  It takes place at Aloha Hive which is the young girls' camp down the road a piece from us.  After a chicken picnic everyone gathers and sings camp songs and listens to the directors talk about the history and the magic behind the camps.  I stood in line for dinner with a girl who just graduated from Middlebury, (she had seen my Middlebury Crew hat earlier).  She said she kind of knew you Cailin because she had a friend on the crew team.  One of the captain's maybe?  Her name was Jamie Rosenfeld and she is going to be doing an internship at the Whitney Museum with the woman who is the mother of the twins who are coming to camp for the first time who Renee asked me to write to to reassure and also got Grady her art teaching job.  Small world!

Tonight Don MacIntosh has invited me to go along with some of the senior staff for dinner at a restaurant in town.  Everyone has the night off before the start of camp.  It should be fun.

Yesterday I was able to swim 100 yards and tread water for 5 minutes so I am allowed to jump in Lake Morey.

The day before Don had to give me the road test to allow me to drive camp vans if need be.  It went something like this.
Don:  See that van?
Me: Yeah.
Don: Kick the tires.
Me: Like this?
Don: Yes.  You pass the road test.

Here are some more pictures showing my kitchen, some of the campers tents and some of the counselors helping with a chicken and ribs barbeque we had a couple of nights ago.

Stewart is from Australia

Andrew is from Oklahoma

Not sure where Ross is from but he likes corn.

Trey is from Brooklyn.  Maybe you know him Grady.

Don Macintosh and Addizu Hodes.  Addizu is from Ethiopia and is the one whose father is good friends with the author of Cutting For Stone.

I think it's only been a week since I've been gone but it seems like forever.  Looking forward to seeing Cailin, Connor, Patty and hopefully Bo and Marley on the Fourth!!

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter.

All Charged Up

So here I am back at the Fairlee Free Public Library.  What is Fairlee Free?  You only have to pay sometimes?  Just what seems right?  And who decides?  Anyway it being Saturday they closed an hour before I got here.  Luckily the bench out front ain't too hard and is close enough to the Whistlestop Cafe's internet signal that I am able to broadcast and try to get up to date.

All the kitchen staffs from all the camps got together this morning to go over policies and procedures.  Definitely have fun.  Definitely do not clean the slicer with your hand while it is running.  I met my staff which consists of my Asst. Chef Chris who is nice enough but a little jumpy-everything cool-I'm down with that-can we get a CD player for the kitchen kind of guy.

Then I have 4 college-age kids from overseas who have little or no experience in the kitchen. (The cheese goes between the two slices of bread for a grilled cheese sandwich?)  I will fill in more details as I get to know them but for now they are Alan from the U.K.  Maybe you know him Cailin?  Ekaterina from Russia.  Anita from Hungary.  And Olga from Ukraine.  Beet soup for everyone!  We start tomorrow with a dinner called the Big Kahuna which is a gathering of all the unit and department heads.

Some pictures.

Conn Man- Not at camp, I just miss him.  (Pre haircut!)

My cottage.  Pretty rustic here at old Camp Lanakila.

The view from my front porch.  Are you sure this is a camp?

The backside of the mess hall.

Some of the tents and clubhouse of the Brookside Unit.  8,9 and 10 year old boys.

My room.  Just as rustic inside.

A beautiful rainbow over Lake Morey.  Aaaah.

Well that's it for now.  I better go check on my charges.  Olga stop!!  Turn the mixer off before you scrape down the sides.  No Alan, sugar is not the same as salt.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Hello Madda, Hello Fadda

Here I am Camp Lanakila.  There is no internet access at camp so my posts may be few and far between.  Right now I am sitting in the Fairlee Free Library surrounded by a gazillion books and 4 little old ladies getting ready for a book sale.  Thinking I'm all set to get caught up on my blogs and e-mail and online bill paying and Facebook and I realize I'm down to 12% power and no power cord.  I'll try to type fast.

So far camp has been basically me.  People will start coming in tonight and tomorrow.  The only real thing I've done in the klitchen is make myself a salami and American cheese sandwich.  And put an order away. I meet my staff tomorrow and we start cooking on Sunday.

Some pictures.  And then I'm afraid I will be out of power.  Well this is ridiculous, my camera is also out of charge.  I stink at this.  Going home to recharge.  I will try again tomorrow.  If the book sale doesn't get in the way.  Ladies, ladies ladies.  It's OK if Abraham Lincoln's Biography gets stuck in with History.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Yay!

Thanks Peter for that wonderful post! Thanks everyone for coming to celebrate with us! I can't wait to hear about all of your adventures Peter. (and everyone else too of course!)

Well Let The Games Begin

So as probably everyone knows, my days in the employ of the Middlebuy Inn have come to a close.  Tiring of the long hours I have decided to go in search of adventure.  My immediate plans involve going to camp for the summer.  Well actually that's it.  I have no plans other than my immediate plans.  So I guess my immediate plans should include making long term plans.  Long term for me as most of you know is 3 months from now.  But I get ahead of myself.  Must remember to live in the moment.

Those of us within shouting distance of Cider Mill Road, Cornwall got to attend Marley Mi's graduation party on Saturday.  Dad, Patty and I set the tent up on Friday without checking the directions more than 4 times.  (That's 2 long poles made up of 3 short sections and 8 short poles made up of 2 long sections and 10 stakes.  Whack the livin' bejeezus out of the stakes and stick the ends of each pole in a hole.  Pray for no wind.)

Me whackin' the livin' bejezzus out to the stake.

Patty yelling directions across the tent.

Dad supervising.

Marley and a few of her friends were there to help as well.  But first they had to decorate their caps.  

Marley, Jane and Mariko

Mariko on the left, Jane on the right.  I think.  You can tell them apart by their giggles.

A shot of the girls helping set the tent up.  Oh darn, must have had my lenscap on.

The next day it rain.  And rained.  And rained.  But no one cared because it was a wonderful day and 8 or 9 or 10 graduates and their super wonderful families all came and had a wonderful time at Patty's house.  Even Bo and Bob who got assigned to parking cars and keeping out the riff-raff had fun.

Slicker than...

Even the veggie burgers got along with the real thing.

Congratulations!!!

I was supposed to spend today, Monday moving all my stuff to storage but all the storage companies that are open on Monday are full.  I have to try tomorrow.  If that doesn't work we've got a problem.  Maybe I should have done a little more planning last week.

Love you all.  Peace.  Peter

Grady, how do you make a gin ricky?

Revived!

Thank you, Peter and Grady! Great writing, reading and photo-ing! When the Rhubarb Festival is accomplished this Saturday, I will return to the land of the living, too. Now I must go make another pie.

Love to everyone,
GrAnn