DC Trip - Post #1

Time is limited here for blogging and so I'll just post as I can.


Monday evening we visited four shops in Williamsburg: The Millenary, silversmith, bookbinder, and wigmaker. Each one gave us some interesting tidbits, some of which I knew but had forgotten about, others that were new.

The milliner got its name from the French word for 1000 because they carried so many different types of things. One of the more interesting items was false hips, which were worn to make a woman look plumper because that was more attractive in that time.

Another item was a padded hat for babies called a puddin’ cap. This was to protect their heads from injury which could make them “soft in the head” or a “puddin’head”.

Post #3 from the Great White North

I've not had time to write because there has been much to do. I have been working diligently on my part--The Amazing Race setup. Each day I have gotten all the materials together for each leg of the race, which has consumed a lot of time. It takes a lot of thinking, planning and organizing to put this whole thing together. So yesterday and today, the kids who are here have been running legs of the race as I set them up. It has allowed me to work through some of the kinks I find, change things that don't work, and generally see if they think it's fun. It's been pretty successful so far. I probably will be sending them more things even after I leave as I think about how it will work for them. It has been hard for me to think about designing the race and then not being here to coordinate everything. It's hard to write all the stuff down that others need to know. It's like having to leave plans for a substitute teacher :(

I have had some other jobs too. There is always something to cook or clean. I help in the kitchen every day, however I can, but it is not my natural habitat. Today I cleaned up and stocked the tuck room. In Canada, snack is called tuck. So they have a room with snack and souvenirs that campers can buy. Last week I helped sort and stock sweatshirts that had arrived for this room.


We all eat our meals together, and in the process we have become like family. Mealtimes are leisurely with lots of good conversation and good-natured kidding. Each day the number ebbs and flows from meal to meal. Tonight we will be having a big fish fry courtesy of Phil and the other fishermen. Yesterday and today he has taken two of the other men out on his boat. They said it is the best fishing time they have ever had.

The weather here has been pleasant, although we have had several rainy days. Phil says they are better for fishing, so he hasn't minded. He has the gear for the wet weather too. The temperature has been in the 60s for highs and the 40s for lows. It has been chilly, but that hasn't stopped the kids here from swimming in the lake. I haven't even put a big toe in. And on the coldest mornings we've been greeted with a blazing fire in the lodge.



It is a good place to be. It has been a time of making new relationships and helping in an important work. It has been a time of refreshing and renewing too. I am so glad we are here.

Post #2 from the Great White North

We have had a couple of very relaxing days. Phil says the past two days have been the best fishing days in his life. He has brought home his limit each day, and caught and released an amazing number of fish. On Tuesday he caught 41 small mouth bass. Amazing!

The weather has been great! Beautiful blue skies dotted with white puffy clouds, the lake water so blue it almost hurts your eyes. It is late spring here and much is in bloom. I have read about arctic lupine (remember Miss Rumphius, Kathryn?) but had never seen them before. They are gorgeous.





While Phil has been fishing, I have been working here at camp. The theme for camp this year is "The Amazing Race." As soon as I heard that, I knew that God had this trip all planned out. I have been designing legs of the race for them, each day centered on a different continent. I have a couple of the days all planned out and am now working on gathering all the materials they will need to complete each leg. I love doing it and am very happy to be able to lend my help to their efforts.

Yesterday our friends John and Fawnda arrived. John is the son of the founder of the camp and grew up here. He was here when Phil was here in the 70's. We also went to Temple together, so I knew John from college days. We were actually debate partners. It is so good to be here with them.

We have had some amazing meals here. The ladies here just know how to get it done. "How many of us will there be tonight? 14? No problem." And off they go, mixing and measuring, stirring and baking. The results are wonderful.

Fawnda loves all the things I do not-- cooking and gardening. She moves about the kitchen with ease, has just the right tool for every task she needs to accomplish. Of course, she has done this for many years, so she has become very good at it. And you have never seen such a spic-and-span place in your life. Everything clean from top to bottom, every nook and cranny swept and clean as a whistle. What a pleasure it is to see it all!

I will be helping some with the weeding and planting the flowers in the beds around camp. Mary will laugh at that. I say that next year she needs to come and spend a week putting her touches around these parts. I miss her!

Phil summed it up like this: "This is my childhood dream come true. Here I am in Canada with my own boat and catching loads of fish. I come back and you are here to greet me. We have a great meal and interesting conversation with good people. We come to our cabin and watch a movie. Then we go to bed." How could life get any better?

Post #1 from the Great White North

Yesterday we crossed the border and headed for camp. We arrived in Dryden in time for lunch at the local McDonald's. Then we traveled the final leg of our journey to camp.

Later on I'll post some pictures of the camp and the buildings. We found our cabin, called "The Loon's Nest", to be extremely cozy and very much nicer than Phil had expected. After unpacking and introducing ourselves to the caretakers, Johnnie and Becky Bates, we headed for Lake Minnitaki to get our first taste of fishing. It was a beautiful day and the temperature was about 67.

We drove about 30-40 minutes to Moonlight Falls. It was beautiful and pleasant and we started catching fish immediately. A bald eagle soared over our heads. Later we saw one sitting on a branch nearby, watching us fish.

I don't think we had been fishing an hour when the weather changed. The sky turned dark and ominous. It was very hard for Phil to decide what we should do... we didn't have good options. We could make for bank and get out of the boat, or we could ride the 30 minutes back across open water. We decided to head back. We donned our rain suits and headed out. (By the way, Mary, your rain suit worked GREAT!)

We raced across the water with rain pouring on us all the way. Thunder rumbled nearby. About halfway back, I saw a streak of lightning strike the water about 100 yards from the back of our boat. And then I did some serious praying! I'm so thankful that God protected us from the bad situation we were in. (Just want you to know that Phil and I both decided that there are worse ways to die and that we've had a good life and are ready [but not anxious] to go.)

On the way back to camp I witnessed the most brilliant rainbow I have ever seen. I could see all the ROYGBIV colors distinctly, and it was a double rainbow too. It was gorgeous!

This was not the introduction to fishing that Phil had hoped to give me. He was quite stressed out by the situation. But we got back to camp and this was the view from the back of our cabin.






That's hard to beat. So things are going well here in Canada.
More later.