Bud sunset

One more great shot of Bud leading "Lion Hunt" at CIT Point in July.

opening campfire

Last night's Camp Wawayanda opening campfire at CIT Point.

perfect spot

Wawayanda held its closing campfire Thursday evening at a perfect location - at the eastern edge of Big Tree Field. I took this photo just before the proceedings got underway.

comes a time: camper to staff

CIT Point, Thursday night. Sky had partly cleared, Kam Kobeissi, Hird's director, kept adding big logs to fire. It roared and the campers and staff started into it, looking out over the quiet lake at dusk. They were asked to come in quietly, and did. Amazing. Session 1's CC isn't always the most sentimental. But this one had its many moments. Kam paid attention to a few key solemn details and it worked. Yes, it's true that the Hemlock staff did a skit-like song, in which, at each chorus, which was something about how we were going to do something "once again," two of them ran to the lake and jumped in (cold!). But even in this antic contribution, they finally all stood in the water, arm in arm, singing the chorus. Even the craziest non-CC-style stunt had its sentiment. The girls of Windsong, all of them in their final year as campers, sang a song by Youth Group called "Forever Young" (not, to be sure, the Dylan lyric of that title--also apt for CC). If you click here you can hear a recording of this good moment. Afterwards, the Windsong and Pac campers and staff went up to the old Wawayanda chapel for a vespers during which many of them spoke individually about the big transition ahead. Good stuff. It makes you want to be forever young.

Forever young I want to be forever young,
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young,
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young,
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, forever
Forever young, I want to be forever young
Do you really want to live forever?
Forever, forever...

where have you gone, lean-to?

For years and years, long past the kids in the picture had grown to be adults, this postcard was sold at the "canteen" and later "the camp store." I can only for the moment identify two people in the shot: one, at far left, a camper, is the young Pat Ricciardi. And the counselor stirring the big pot was Lynn Garrison, from somewhere down south (I assume Mississippi). Lynn was probably the VC at the time of this Devil's Hole overnight. Later he was the Program Director (I'm going to guess in '67 or '68). I'll guess that this shot was taken in '66 or '65.

Indeed it was at the Devil's Hole camp site. Today's campers and staff will immediately notice that cooking was being done here from the big pot. Not something done these days. Indeed one probably can't get such a pot to take on an overnight. (Not that I'm recommending the return of these clunkers. I ate too many bad meals from the insides of them in my time.) Since Lynn's stirring the pot we can assume that it's not merely boiled water for hot dogs. I'm guess it's either a big mess of baked beans or some kind of beef stew. About the site: these days the hole area itself - the big flume - is referred to as "Devil's Hole." The hole itself is on State of New York land. So way back, presumably in the late 50s, the camp site was built about 100 years on the camp side (to the west) of the hole, on Frost Valley property, next to a beautiful and less dangerous swimming hole and little waterfall. The whole site - the flume and hole; the camp site just to the west - was called "Devil's Hole." Now the first site is called "Brothers' Hole" and only the main hole (the real attraction) is called "Devil's Hole." Not sure why or when this name change happened. There's a cable bridge at Brothers' Hole, so one can cross and use a new-ish trail to get back to Devil's Hole. In my day there was a nice lean-to built at the camp site. It's long gone, and is a fabulous spot for a new one to be built. (Any volunteers out there wanting to re-build that old lean-to. Excellent for rainy nights out.)

Can anyone identify others in the postcard?

I've been afraid of changing

Last summer, at a closing campfire, six girls who've gotten to know each other at camp over the past five summers sang "Landslide" together. They're all now 14 years old, having met at 9. They're feelings for each other are very, very strong. Saying goodbye each summer is hard for them. They stay in touch all year but it's not the same. They count the days until next summer. They really are afraid of changing, because they know inevitably that while friendships last they cannot remain just what they were. Some of these girls will drift off summers--summer school, family trips, the early need of jobs and a little income to help out. They climbed a mountain and turned around. Can the child within their hearts rise above?

I happened to catch their singing of the song on my recorder and here it is.

I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
till the landslide brought me down

Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love
Can the child within my heart rise above
Can I sail thru the changing ocean tides
Can I handle the seasons of my life

Well, Ive been afraid of changing
cause Ive built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Children get older
Im getting older too

Oh, take my love, take it down
Climb a mountain and turn around
If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well the landslide will bring it down

If you see my reflection in the snow covered hills
Well maybe the landslide will bring it down

went to the doctor, went to the mountain

At 4th session Hird opening campfire, we witnessed a reunion of the three fab singers who in '07 formed the group called "The Assorted Favorites": Chrissy Mohle, Chris Harper & Lexi Cariello.

Last summer I put up an mp3 recording of this trio singing "There For You": check it out.

where have all the campfire agendas gone?

Closing campfires, no matter how beautiful they turn out, are hastily put together. After all, for the director this is a day when luggage tags must be made available, bus lists checked twice, next session's cabin lists prepared, parental phone calls to be returned, holdover arrangements to be made... and then suddenly one is expected to put on a meaningful last event around a campfire. Here are notes showing how a closing campfire during the summer of 1973 was put together. Jim Ewen was the camp director. We began to three loud shouts of the word "How!" to make an echo along Wildcat Mountain. The late Mark Selig told a serious story. George Zimmerman's endless tennis awards were scratched in favor of Al Siou's ping pong awards (ping pong was huge that summer; Al, a Lenape counselor from Singapore, could defeat anyone in camp any time, rarely allowing the opponent a single point). Jim as director had the honor of giving out the Wawayanda "W" patches, which everyone cherished. And we all sang "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" to close, peaceniks in those years to the end.

look on the sunny side...

Here's a video recording of the version of "Look on the Sunny Side, Always on the Sunny Side" John Butler and I did at opening campfire a few days ago. Ah, the pie in the face. The oldest funny joke in the book. Kudos to Harry McCormack who did the camerawork, and of course to John and Theo who each took a pie.

old songs

I've been leading old camp songs here and there. I've done "Father Abraham" and "Deep & Wide" at Camp Wawayanda's opening campfires, and "The Hoola Hop" (old-style) too, and led the younger kids in a revival of the "Waddat-'n-chew" cheer. At the most recent opening campfire for Camp Hird that camp's director, John Butler, and I did a rousing version of "Look on the Sunny Side." I hope to post a video of that in a few days.

Here's a photo of me at the most recent opening campfire, leading "Deep & Wide." The photo captures me apparently at the moment when I'm doing the widest of wides.

CIT point

I don't know exactly when "CIT Point" got its name, but I suspect it was quite early, maybe even during the first year Lake Cole existed (1959). (Someone who goes back that far should email me with this info.**)

Last night Camp Hird had its session 1 closing campfire at CIT Point and it was one of the quietest and nicest closing campfires I've attended in recent years. It had been a clear dry cloudless day and by sunset the temperatures started dropping. The moon rose, and the stars came out. What a perfect setting for a campfire!

**Bill Sonsin was there in '62 and does not remember any reference to "CIT Point" then.

singing in the rain in the snow

Go to YouTube and watch camp director Bob Eddings lead his version of "Singing in the Rain" at the recent session of winter camp. While you're there, check out the "related videos" on the menu to your right.

winter camp

It's never too late in the year, or too cold or snowy outside, to have a good "Opening Campfire." Yes, it's Winter Camp 2007. Campers and staff gathered in front of the fire in Geyer Hall and sang "The Moose Song." "There was a great big moose... [repeat after me] there was a great big moose!" The photo above, the handiwork of Dan Panorama Weir, depicts the moment when they sing, He went to sleep....

Amy Rosvally is leading the song in the pic.

And Dan Weir adds: "We had some great 8 core value skits from our CIT applicants. Bobby lead a fun version of Singing in The Rain that will eventually make it to our podcast. Jeff lead a skit of who can get into a hot tub the best when the crowd knows they are really competing to show how they sit on the toilet the best. We did this skit for a number of years (1997-2001), but telling the competitors that it is a motorcycle impersonation instead getting in a hot tub."

Today is the annual Winter Olympics. And tonight it's Challenge Night!

A better version of the photograph is here.

former camper makes horror cult film from FV campfire stories

Martin Kunert (a recent photo is at left) was a camper in Totem (in '73), Forest ('74), Outpost ('75), Lenape ('76), Hemlock ('77), Sequoia ('78) - and then was a CIT ('79) and then FCC ('80), and loved hearing scary stories around the campfire. His specialty emerged during Challenge Night. He would always do his dog-bark impersonation...and it won every time. And here Martin--who found this blog late last night, surfing the web--picks up the story:

I remember your telling of the toboggan run story, which I heard several times.

Speaking of hearing stories in FV, you may get a kick out of this.... I heard so many scary stories around the camp fire while at Forest Valley, that ten years ago I made a film called... surprise, surprise... CAMPFIRE TALES. It's become a sort of horror cult film. Take a gander here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115813/

Every single one of the stories in that film I heard in Forest Valley.

Later, I created a reality show for MTV called FEAR, where six contestants take cameras into haunted places and scare the hell out of themselves. I'm sure the seed of that was planted in my head during my time in FV too. Funny how life works.

I've never seen Campfire Tales and have just ordered my copy through Netflix. My kids and I will build a virtual campfire here in Philadelphia a few nights from now and have a watch. A Netflix reviewer (a viewer) wrote: "These stories are the the stories of childhood camping trips and sleep overs when you were able to make yourself scared over stories simply for te fun of being scared. This movie brought back that being frightened for fun feeling. You will know how the stories end long befor the climax, but it's still worth watching if you can approach it with that nostalgic feeling of childhood fright and fun."

More recently Martin has made a film called Voices of Iraq. Here is an interview with Martin and his co-producer about that film.

I hope you had the time of your life

Green Day's song has become a closing campfire standard, with its sense of now being a turning point and its perfectly easy articulation of how good, really, it can be to say goodbye.

Another turning point,
a fork stuck in the road.

Time grabs you by the wrist,
directs you where to go.

So make the best of this test
and don't ask why.

It's not a question
but a lesson learned in time.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs
and still frames in your mind.

Hang it on a shelf
In good health and good time.

Tattoos of memories
and dead skin on trial.

For what it's worth,
it was worth all the while.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

It's something unpredictable
but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.

Now listen to a group of campers singing this song. Musically not the best, of course, but how can you fail to be moved? In the end it's right.

"Old Wawayanda" dedicated to the '07 staff

The song "Old Wawayanda" is alive and well--its spirit never dies, indeed--and we've been singing it all along, but finally two nights ago had a chance to record it. Here is that recording. The preface is my dedication of the song to the 2007 staff. I asked three other FV generations to help me lead it: Jeff Daly, Chris Harper and my daughter Hannah--and attempted to convey to today's campers and staff that there's a lot of you folks out there who would have given eye teeth to sing along with us or at least to convey the same feelings. That spirit never does die.

An earlier entry includes the lyrics to this song.

saying goodbye (and thank you) to Mac

Matt and Lexi were among the leaders of Mac this summer. Readers of this blog, even those whose era precedes that of the Mac program, which began in the mid-80s, should by now be familiar. "MAC"=mainstreaming at camp. The campers in Mac village (really, three or four connected villages) have one or several disabilities and range very, very widely in abilities, but one thing they all can do is come to camp for at least two weeks and love every minute of it. Frost Valley has become justly famous for the almost total integration of able and variously disabled kids. They play together, they get to know each other well, they love each other, and, on the last night of camp, they all join together singing and crying at the closing campfire.

Back to Matt and Lexi, shown above. Matt wrote a song as a means of expressing his and Lexi's and the other Mac staff's thanks to the Mac kids for how much they teach and give to them. If you listen to the song, you will believe that this is truly the feeling most if not all Mac staff have by the end.

I've edited the audio recording of the song together with Lexi Cariello's short village chief speech ("VC blurb") which she and the other VCs gave at the very end of the campfire. What Matt and Lexi sang earlier and what Lexi says at the end go beautifully together.

Yes, the sniffling you hear in the background of this audio is just that: the stifled sobs of a group of Windsong girls who were sitting behind me as I held up my little recorder to catch this great moment. Surely the sobs add to the aura.

I hope you know I'm always on your side,
and I hope you know you shouldn't have to hide...
Everythhing I've done for you you've done for me
in so many ways...

"The Hird Song" on YouTube (go figure)

So far as I know there are two recordings of "The Hird Song" out there on YouTube. Here's one from last summer (2006), recorded at the second session closing campfire: WATCH & LISTEN. Another one was made in 2005, recorded by Tacoma at the end of a Challenge Night: WATCH & LISTEN.

listen to Kenny Abbott sing a song

If you click on this link you will be able to listen to a recording of our Kenny Abbott singing a song he wrote called "The Grass Down Below." In his musical heyday at camp, Ken sang a beautiful version of Lennon's "Imagine" (accompanying himself on keyboards), "No Woman, No Cry," and of course was always on hand to help me with various standbys such as "The Hird Song" ("Easy Chair"), "Four Strong Winds," and occasionally a Dylan tune (such as "You Gonna Make Me Lonesome When I Go") at closing campfires. Twin brother Bill--funny thing about twins--could never keep a tune, but Ken sure could can can. Thank goodness, for he saved my spirits a number of times. The photo of Ken above was taken in '84 on the porch of the Castle. Click on the image for more.