Rainy first night, but two wonderful indoors Opening Campfires. I sang rousing versions of "Father Abraham" for both camps, and they seemed to like the old standby. I tell a story to introduce it: Gavin MacLaren, the international counselor from the early 80s, lived half the year in Lebanon and half the year in Scotland, and we nicknamed him Abe, and so sang the song in a Lebanese-Scottish accent, which I proceed to do, oddly. Anyway, that was fun, and threw off my voice. But no need to preserve the voice this session, as I'm heading away for most of session 3 on a real vacation. Pardon the semi-hiatus here in the blog. Day 1 of session 3 dawned perfectly, and it is stunningly blue-skied and sunny today, with temperatures in the 70s. Perfect. I'll
lead Geronimo for Sacky-Hemlock and then drive off down the road, staring ever more attentively at the glorious beauty of this valley. The session 3 kids are remarkably familiar with camp and our ways. I saw forms where, even in the younger villages, so many kids are here for a 2nd, 3rd or 4th year. Excellence is paying off: kids come back every summer, grow up here, and so there's a great deal of continuity, more than ever. Session 3, way back, used to feel a little different - a bit like the customs needed to be re-explained each time. But not here. It's a remarkable feeling. Onward, session!
