Saturday, July 24, 2010

Scary storm!

This week there was a very scary storm! It knocked out power, brought rain ALL the way into our cabin, made whitecaps on the lake, and downed trees all over the place. It was scary and awesome at the same time, and me and three of my cabinmate/coworkers all huddled in my bunk together and took it all in. After the worst had passed, it brought this amazing sunset!


More child creativity

On the last overnight the kids came up with a game involving shops and pine cones (pinos) as the currency. I think this tree stump became the central bank. Letting kids just PLAY is the best thing to do, they come up with way better games than we as counselors can.
And of course, more fairy houses!

Productive day

2 sessions down, one more to go! This summer is flying by, and as much as I am loving it, I'm glad to put a challenging two weeks behind me and get some new kids on Monday. Today has been a productive day off! Not only did I manage to watch the second half of the Wives and Daughters miniseries AND The Bodyguard, but I also

Collected lilies
picked TONS of blueberries
did all my stinky camp laundry from the week
and made a bunch of cute little bound books, some to keep and some to send to friends.

Looking forward to the few weeks ahead, and enjoying the amazingness that is Vermont!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Path of Life Adventure Day

For our second session adventure day, we ventured to the Path of Life Garden in Windsor, Vermont. It was fantastic! Following the cycle of life, it has 18 sections, each representing a part of life.


So so so very beautiful, and the kids were enthralled. Complete with a maze made out of hemlock, it was a great place to explore.

From "Tree of Wisdom" by Chard di Niord:
"I am taken in by it's stand and breadth
marveling at its brawn and reach of branches
studying each leaf like the page of a sacred book,
embracing its trunk like a void"

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Can I have one please!?!?!

Pretty much ever since I can remember, I have wanted a border collie. Perhaps it was the early influences of the movie Babe, but I have a serious hankering for one of these pooches. I plan on naming mine Banjo and having it herd my goats!
So of course I was all for it when my mom suggested going to the sheepdog trials at Merck Forest. After a long drive we arrived to a pretty magical spectacle.
They are SO SMART! And fast...
I plan on learning all about it before I actually get myself one, cause these dogs definitely need to get worked. I'm about ready to send in my membership to the NEBCA (Northeast Border Collie Association)!
(And a plus, we got to see a hilarious sheep shearing demonstration)

A Fairy Visit

At the BDC, we have 2 week sessions. The last night of the session, we have a group overnight. To these kids, they are in the WILD, even if really they are less than a mile from camp. We had our first overnight of the summer Thursday, and after hiking to our shelter, the kids decided to build a fairy city behind the shelter.
complete with houses build on mushrooms,

and treehouses.

In the morning we awoke to find the fairies had visited!
A girl who lost her tooth the night before found herself sprinkled with fairy dust and "mulberries" (which are the fairies favorite food) in her shoe!
And all the rest of the city was sparkling, too!
Needless to say, an excellent overnight. Hopefully the kids will never forget that even if you are 19, you can see a fairy :)