Family Camp memories

For several years I was the Program Director for the legendary week-long family camp at the end of the summer. After four sessions of resident camp, this wasn't the easiest assignment, I have to say. I was tired and the Family Campers - families that came every year and really knew the place and loved it and anticipated a full fabulous week - were ready to push me hard. But I quickly fell in love with the regulars, including the Hildebrands, the Schnaufers, the Abrams and the Merinos.

We played an intensely competitive game in the lake called "Yak Ball." I'm sure I've described this somewhere in this blog. We took street hockey goals and put them inside rowboats, and anchored the rowboats at either end of a "court" area in the lake, in the area in front of the boathouse. We gave one team yellow helmets and the other team white. Each player got into a little red kayak (a playak), with those long plastic two-sided kayak paddles. And a volleyball was tossed. Abrams led one team and Hildebrand the other. I and several other staffers really got into it - no spectators we.

Paul Merino was one of the avid players. And for that matter, one of the avid fathers of a longtime FV family. Soon the Merino children, including Donny and Rachel, were campers and then staff. Well, yesterday: whom do I see in the dining hall but Paul Merino! And his daughter and his grandkids, who had just finished session 1 at camp. The Merino tradition continues.

Paul and I shared a few wild Yak Ball memories, you can be sure.

Simon Says

Occasionally at Challenge Night I will pull out Simon Says. I'm a rough master of the game, but at least I apologize in advance. Inviting the judges to be persnickity is one of the things that makes the whole thing so funny. Anyway, Sandy Shapiro Bohn took this shot a few nights ago - at the Farm. Simon says put your hands up over your head.

Geron is back

Geron Blackman was a camper of mine, when I was camp director, in the 1980s. Now son Cameron is coming to camp, all these decades later. Amazing. At check-out it was quite a reunion, as, at first, Geron knew who I was but I couldn't quite place him, and then the memories of this activity or that, this incident and that, this counselor or that one, flooded back. I don't have words for what it's like for me to see these "kids" as adults and indeed parents themselves. One thing doesn't seem to change: the memories of their FV summers are precise. Now Cameron has his own.

Zabriskie redux

Zach Zabriskie ("ZZ") had a few homesicky days at the very beginning of the session but then got really into it - and in the end announced to his parents that next summer he wants to come for two sessions. Dad John (now called "Lance") beamed with the pride of someone who himself was a counselor here (in the 80s). We'll see lots of ZZ here in the future.

more on the triumphant return of Tucker/Gordon

Josh Tucker and Ellie Gordon's son Mattie made a huge hit with the Pokey-Totem staff, as you can easily tell from this photo of him and some of them saying goodbye at check-out yesterday.

And here are Sasha and Mattie along with their parents, after the latter made a nice donation to Project 332.

happy staff at the close of first session

another alumna sends her child to camp

Karen Krop was a camper/staffer for many years starting in the late 60s. Now she and her partner were ready to send their son Eli Krop-Siegmur to Frost Valley - and chose to register him for the Farm. He loved it. When they picked him up in the East Valley at the Frost Valley Farm, they didn't need to travel back into the West Branch Neversink valley, to what the Farm kids call "main camp," to sign him out, but they did....to see us. And here they are. Another significant re-connection.

the Schechters, a Frost Valley family

David (now a Pokey-Totem counselor; the little kids love him!) with Liz (just finished her 2014 session as a Windsong camper) and Jeff and Cindy, happy FV parents and consistent donors to our campership fund. We love them all!

Bud Cox: "Lion Hunt" once more

Bud Cox took us all on a Lion Hunt - at closing campfires for Wawayanda (at CIT Point) and Hird (at the end of the Big Tree Field). Here are two shots of Bud, up on his usual ladder, in mid-gesture. One photo captures a classic "TALLLLLLLLL GRASS!" and the other gives you the moment of "hu-MONG-us one"!

the man surveys the scene

Jerry Huncosky reflects for a moment. Responsible for taking good care of much of the land he's seeing here.

counselor and camper reunion

Ellie Gordon (and husband Josh Tucker) visited us last night. And we ran into Erica Kaskel. Well, it turns out that Ellie was Erica's counselor - not once, but twice - at camp. So here was a reunion of a counselor and her camper all these years later.

cool Pokey-Totem cats

It must be Too Cool for School day in Pokey-Totem! (Here they are, preparing to lead Wawayanda in grace.)

an extra pair of hands for the Lakota staff

Marissa and Bridget, Lakota counselors and already good friends, happily assert how Lakota staff lend an extra pair of hands.

Moira Poe visiting

We were all so pleased to spend a day and overnight with Moira Poe ("Mo Poe" to some). She got the full FV dose - wept as she drove in on the road from Claryville, and found it hard to leave a day later. She judged Challenge Night at the Farm and got completely into the thick of it. Nothing really has changed, even though so much looks different and new.

Here she is with various old friends.

What do you do if you are a CIT and waiting for action at the waste station?

What do you do? Well, you percuss - that's what.

A.'s performance: affection flowing both ways

This amazing and brave guy - we'll call him "A." - sang a song for us in the dining hall last night during dinner. The entire place was mesmerized by the deep feeling in the performance. He felt total support and affection - so much so that when he finished he cried from the overwhelming feeling of acceptance. It was "in the room." One of those moments that doesn't translate easily elsewhere. A. knows he has a home here.

hoopla: "The Hill"

Susky and Lakota live on what they call "the hill." That would be cabins 41-50 (or, for "Girls' Camp" veterans, cabins 11-20).

The two villages who live as neighbors on the hill have a cheer together - and naturally it's called "The Hill." Watch the video above for a wonderful version of it performed just today in the dining hall.

theme day in ascendency

Theme day in one of the villages (Outpost?). It's Decline of the Roman Empire Day!

distance from Frost Valley is no obstacle

Liam and his family lived in the New York area and he spent his summers here at Frost Valley. But then they moved to California. Now what? Should he go to a camp out there? He wanted to try to return all the way East to see his camp friends. I asked him, "Are these friends you knew from home and brought with you to camp, and these are the friends you want to see at camp?" "No," he told me, "I met these people at camp here. They are camp friends, and I wanted to be with them here." He persuaded his parents of the importance of this, and--praise them!--they agreed to arrange for the travel. His mother, I think, flew east with him, and is spending the two weeks visiting her family in the region. She'll pick him up on Friday at the end of the session. Meantime, Liam is with his old FV friends and has gained new ones in Hemlock. This morning, as Hemlock and I played Geronimo together, I found myself sitting next to Liam. Here's a photo.

2014 Challenge Night t-shirt

Ryan Haffel, long-time many-session camper, is now a CIT. And this is the week of his 4-week CIT stint when he is (as they say) "in cabin." He's been assigned to Outpost and the campers adore him. Last night he won a staff-only challenge, and in addition to points won for his team (toward the prize of an ice cream sundae party, which in the end everyone shares as winners) he received this new 2014 Challenge Night t-shirt.

July 6th fireworks!

We celebrated the 4th on the 6th here. Yes, tonight Frost Valley's fireworks display was launched from the end of the lake, as always. Campers and counselors were at CIT Point - great view from there. Jerry Huncosky, at the CEO's house, held the annual gathering there, also ring-side seats. Here are some of the folks I saw at Jerry's.

what happens when people just like each other

What happens when you spend a spree of continuous unbroken days, separate from the world, intensely together? Do things fall apart? Not here. Rather, the opposite. I can't quite explain it, although in this blog since 2007 I have tried. Today I attempt an explanation through visual instances. Look long enough at this photos and see if you can figure out the social magic.

son of former camper and staffer

Preston Sickle is a camper this session in Forest. His dad, Jason Sickle, was a camper in the 1980s and a staff member in the 1990s. I had a chat with Preston at lunch today, telling him about his dad's years here, and he was impressed—but the other boys in the cabin were even more impressed by their new friend Preston's long FV lineage.

Preston is at the far right in this photo.

Rick Kaskel on the absence of Fenn Putman

Rick Kaskel (as I have mentioned recently) is here for two weeks. Volunteer dialysis medical director of our dialysis unit, trustee, long-time parent of campers and staff. Rick really felt the absence of Penn Putman the last few days, and wrote something about that:

Check in at Frost Valley this past Sunday for Session 1 was missing the familiar smiling presence of Fenn Putman, our endeared Board member of many years. What Fenn bought to our community of mutual commitment to Frost Valley was a persistent beacon of engagement and respect for the Core Values so dear to us all. I can still hear Fenn talking about "the kids, families and staff" and how grateful he was for the staff's devotion to Frost Valley. What I hold dear is the memory of a wonderful and caring human being who helped hold the course during times of challenge while providing us his wisdom to see the big picture as we move forward. So Fenn is still here at Frost Valley and will remain a part of its essence forever.

self-image in this valley

I very rarely enjoy seeing photos of myself. I'm more likely here to like such an image, but still it's rare. But already this summer there are three photographs of me (or my activities) I have to confess I enjoy. Here they are.

contorted and proud of it

Last night: Challenge Night with Sacky, CITs, and Mac Girls. One inevitable challenge is "weirdest body contortion" (a summer camp staple, I think, that must go back to near the beginning of camping). Here is one of the Sacky girls doing her thing:

Forest cabin

With James, their JC, a cabin of Forest boys gathers for a breakfast photo today. Such expressive faces first thing in the AM!

technology basket: put your cell phones here

At the recent first weekly VC meeting ("activity meeting" for planning the week's schedules for each village), on Monday night, I was sitting at the table getting ready for the start of the session, whipped out my cell phone (because I knew Geyer Hall had a wireless network and I had the password to it). Just as I was getting my phone connected, a basket appeared under my nose, along with the polite encouragement of someone: "Put your cell phones in the technology basket, please." And so I did. As did everyone else. This prevented any of us from succumbing to the temptation (let's say, during someone's announcement about making sure kids wear bathing suits down to the waterfront) to reach into the pocket and sneak a look at texts or emails. The basket was pretty full! No one fetched his or her phone from the basket until the meeting was finished - and then, of course, they left the building and wandered back to their villages, on the side of a mountain in a valley where there is still, thank goodness, no cell service.

Well, no one removed their phones from the basket during the meeting except yours truly, who guiltily removed his own phone from the basket in order to take a few photos of it.

In the first photo, the close-up of the basket, you might notice Dan's daughter Ruby on his phone. He made sure Ruby's adorable visage glowed on the phone when I took the pic.

dear camp friends

They've known each other forever - camp friends! Shannon Crane (now a CIT Coordinator) and Nikki Goldschein (now the VC of Mac Girls).

a whole village of painted staff

Earlier I posted some photos of counselors after the campers had painted them. Well, here now is a photo of the whole lot of them (from Lakota).

another Zabriskie

Recently I mentioned that John ("Lance") Zabriskie's son Zach is here this session - his first time at camp. Here he is with Forest village friends this morning at breakfast.

counselor outfit match

Tyler from Outpost. He bought the backpack and then sought the shirt and shorts to match!