Summer 2015 — First Two Weeks

This is the first of several reports from Mr. Wiff, which take you through last summer, a few weeks at a time.  Lots of things changed, and mostly for the good, as summer progressed.  For example, I could not resist showing both the “before and after” of the council fire area.  It sure was a mess at the start.  Anyway, enjoy the unfolding story of summer 2015.

Alice and I arrived at camp on June 3. My, how wet it was. You could not walk out to the council fire.

The geese had the run of the place, although those purple lupine made this photo a “tie game” from my view!

To be honest, we built that first garden at the council fire so that we could catch all the run-off water in a ditch below the plants. Our stone mason, Wally, was summoned to emergency duty so that people could avoid sinking when speaking to the assembly.

Oh, and here is the same setting 90 days later, when we hosted a wedding after camp ended. We really worked on the council fire project all summer long.

Five days before the campers arrived, Dan built that new road/pathway at Bubbler cabin. “It has rained 13 inches this month,” he insisted.  Kate accepted the ride, mostly to keep her feet dry.

But, when the campers finally arrived and Jacob did a great birthday bit for Saiku, we all knew that camp would be fun as always.

Klaus did his usual terrific job of making good cabin match-ups.

And then, it stopped raining and remained really bright and sunny all summer long. Jaden (center-left) climbed 29 mountains this summer, proof that it was a great time to hike.

I was happy to follow the baseball clinics, which used tennis balls at the start of the clinic week. My idea — let the boys get the feel of belting the ball into play.

That did not stop Mitchell from giving me a mock ejection for arguing with the umpire on BVT Day!

I raced up to the basketball court to witness the very first PGB round under our new lights. Fabulous camp.

The Fourth of July had all the usual features and attractions…

including the Kingswood float in the Woodsville parade. The official theme was “Home of the Brave” and you can figure out for yourself how Jack’s pitching figures in.

We all loved the Freedom Field scoreboard, so we planted it on the Little League field and even re-named it as such.

I took my very first “selfie” after the parade.

Rob and Mike performed their usual scheduling mastery…

The Guides, seen here being unusually attentive, turned out to be a tremendous bunch.
TO BE CONTINUED