Georges Pond

This post is long overdue (seems to be the story of my life lately), but better late than never, right? I'm sure most of you have seen my photos from my week of vacation at our camp on Georges Pond in Franklin, Maine. I've included some of the photos here, but I also wanted to write some thoughts about the place and the week. We've been coming to Georges Pond for nearly my entire life and I am incredibly grateful to have spent my childhood summers here. As we were sitting around the dinner table Saturday night, Mom, Marc and I enjoyed a little trip down memory lane as we shared stories about summers at camp - Megan is a real trooper for listening to us for hours!

Here are some of my favorite memories:
* Taking baths in the lake with Marc and Amanda (my friend Amanda used to spend every summer at camp with us) - we originally had no shower or bathtub in our camp, so my mom would send us into the lake in our bathing suits with a bar of Ivory soap and a bottle of PertPlus shampoo/conditioner. We would swim out to the raft and lather up and jump in, over and over again. And the best part was when we would lather up the dock with the soap and shampoo and then run and slide off it. It was so fun!
* The time we came back from Bar Harbor and there was a bat in the camp - we all stayed outside, in terror, while my dad climbed into the rafters and went after the bat with a canoe paddle
* How our weeks at camp were the only time Mom would let us have sugar cereal, so it was a really big deal!
* Going up to Cadillac Mountain in Bar Harbor for sunset and always talking about going up for sunrise someday, but never actually getting up early enough to do it (I still haven't seen sunrise at Cadillac!)
* The week I spent at camp with Marc and Nicole and how Nicole and I would spend every morning kayaking around the lake and picking blueberries on the island - so peaceful and relaxing

Here is a very incomplete list of things I love about Georges Pond:
* The view of the lake from the deck of our camp
* The colors of the sun as it sets behind the island
* The smell of the inside of our camp - it just smells like camp and is comforting
* The sound of the loons calling to each other across the lake - there were 8 loons this summer!
* How each of us always calls out when we spot a loon and everyone goes to look for it and what a big deal it is for us, no matter what our age
* Sitting on the reading tree and looking out over the lake

And this summer in particular I loved:
* Watching Ralph try to catch ducks in the lake, and fail miserably every time
* Kayaking with Mom and pointing out the camps that we like, and would love to own some day
* Eating yummy corn and green beans from the farmstand in Ellsworth
* Playing ongoing games of Scrabble with Mom and being proud of ourselves for using bigger and better words as the week progressed
* Watching Ralph be so excited to swim in the lake
* The "dumb duck" that Mom and I fed one day - he didn't even notice the bread until we threw it at his head - not very smart!
* Swimming on the one day that was warm and feeling like a little kid again

More Joy

I had a great weekend in NH, which was really nice since I'll be moving up to Maine on Wednesday to live at home for the year. It started out with Saturday night, when my Wanakee friends and I met up for dinner at Zampas in Epping. It was really fun to see everyone - we haven't all been together since Sean and Victoria's wedding (I think it was in 2003). And Lisa provided us with a great surprise - Kristina! KB lives in Iowa, but was home for the weekend for her sister's birthday (she was a surprise for her sister too) so she was able to come to dinner too. The 11 of us, including Eric and Meredith's 1.5 year old daughter Lucy, took over the back room of Zampas and enjoyed hours of good food, good drinks, and good company. It was fabulous!

Sunday was a day of family for me. I went to Old Home Day up in Wilmot, NH with my grandparents. My Papa and his family are from Wilmot and my Mimi grew up nearby too. Mimi and Papa always go back for Old Home Day and I've been with them a few times, though the last time was 1996, so it has been a while. I always love going with them and seeing them with all their old friends. And I definitely feel a strong attachment to the area - I'm way into family history and I love seeing the old houses and cemeteries and hearing my grandparents tell stories and make connections for me. Old Home Day was held at the the Wilmot North Church (see photo) and it was a beautiful day. And, to my surprise, a bunch of my extended family showed up. My papa's sisters Althea and Jean were there with their husbands, my uncles Chet and Henry. And Henry and Jean's sons Randy and Steve were there, as well as Chet and Althea's son Kent Michael. It was great to see my cousins and great aunts and uncles and catch up with them. And it is always neat to see my papa and his youngers sisters all together. Kent Michael reminded me of Old Home Day in 1983 when he and his now-wife Chris asked me to be the flower girl in their wedding (their wedding is one of my favorite childhood memories) - he said he remembers it perfectly - they took me for a walk to ask me and he even remembered that I was wearing a white dress. It was really sweet of him to remind me that day. Good memories at Old Home Day!

From Old Home Day, I went to Wanakee to see Jean, Mike and the kids one more time before I head up to Maine. It is always great to be at camp and to spend time with Jean. We spent Sunday night cleaning the showerhouse, which was not part of our initial plan. We went into the showerhouse to fix a broken toilet and were overwhelmed by how disgusting the whole place was, so we rolled up our sleeves and got started on cleaning. Nearly 3 hours later, the showerhouse looked better, but still needs work. I"m always amazed at the things I will do at Wanakee - things I wouldn't do anywhere else - like cleaning boys toilets and washing mold off walls. But I love doing work at camp - it makes me feel like I am accomplishing something. After all of our work on Sunday night, Jean and I treated ourselves to a nice day on Monday. We lounged around with Emerson and Eloise (Alex is a camper this week) in the morning, then Jean and Eloise took me out to lunch at the Common Man. Jean and I have been talking about going to the Common Man all summer, so it was nice to finally make it. We both love it there and it brings back good memories of being on staff at Wanakee and going to CM on Saturday nights. It was fun to be "ladies who lunch" and we had a good time with Eloise. I love the picture of her and Jean above. So beautiful!

Joy Anyway

As some of you know, this hasn't been the best summer for me, for a variety of reasons. My teen camp job has been extremely challenging and I haven't been able to find a teaching job for the fall, along with a million other things that are just throwing me for a loop. I've been seeing a counselor since I returned from Peru and my work with her has been helpful this summer. She challenged me to find "joy anyway" in my life, even when things seem like they are going horribly, and I've luckily had some moments of joy to keep me going, including hanging out with Ralph, the wonder dog.

You've seen Ralph's adorable picture on this blog many times and I couldn't resist a few more cute shots. Marc was helping replace the headlight in my car and I was loading things into the back and Ralph loves the car, so he had to show us how adorable he can be. Right after this shot, he proceeded to get out of the back of the car, go around to the front where Marc had the hood up, and jump up onto the engine. Not the sharpest tack, but he sure is cute!!

Ralph is quite the rock star of Hedding. Whenever any of the kids see him, they yell his name and make a beeline for him. He is usually very good about taking all the attention he is given and he loves to be loved. And he never gets tired of hearing people say how beautiful he is and what a good dog he is. It is a rough life!

Eggplant Parmesan

As most of you know, I am not a good cook at all. I wish I enjoyed it, but I just don't. I appreciate good food, but I have no desire to create it myself. However, yesterday I was inspired. Actually, it was thanks to my brother, who knows how much I love eggplant parmesan and planted eggplant in his garden this year so I could have it. He was very proud of the eggplant and anxious to cut it and give it to me, so we harvested it the other day, which meant I needed to do something with it. So last night I made eggplant parmesan from Marc's fresh, organic eggplant and it was great!! I was so surprised and pleased that it turned out so well. My mom was down at the cottage and I think she was a little nervous about eating it, but she ended up loving it too. I wish I had taken a picture of my creation, but we were hungry and just dug in. I don't think I am going to turn into a cook by any stretch of the imagination, but it is nice to finally discover something I can make, and that I actually enjoying making.

Nicole and Sierra

My dear friend Nicole, who I have been friends with since first grade, called me last week and asked me to come down and visit this past Sunday. I had met her 3 month old daughter Sierra once and had a wonderful time with her, so I was excited to see them both again. We had a nice, laid back visit - lots of time holding Sierra and chatting with Nicole, and Nicole and I even made it out to see "Mamma Mia". Here is Sierra in the bathtub - she is so cute, even when she has her serious face on!

Nicole is a wonderful mom and it is fun to see her in this role. A lot of my friends have had children and I love watching them be parents, but it is extra special to see Nicole, who I've known for so long, take on the role of a mother so naturally. Sierra is very lucky!

Footnotes

This post is long overdue, but I was waiting for photos of the concert from my mom's camera, so better late than never!

I spent an amazing week at Wanakee directing Footnotes and I couldn't have asked for things to go any better. This was my first year of directing the entire event and I was nervous, but it seems like it was just meant to be. Sue Rudolf has directed Footnotes for the past 20-something years and she had always told me that she wanted me to take over when she was ready to give it up. This year was the year and I am so thankful that Sue entrusted Footnotes to me. She has built an amazing program and it is always one of the best weeks of the summer at Wanakee. Because it is so well designed, it was easy for me to just step in and take over. I was a little concerned that the kids would be disappointed that Sue wasn't there, but I didn't hear a single complaint. The kids were amazing and I had such a great time standing up in front of them every day. It was honestly the most fun I have had all year!!! The volunteers and staff were incredible and it just made for a perfect week.

There is always a Variety Show at Footnotes, which gives the kids and staff a chance to show off their various talents. Here is the Footnotes Staff and Friends singing "I Looked Up", a beautiful song Sarah brought to Wanakee years ago. I LOVE singing with these women. I don't pretend to be a good singer (I like to sing the melody down in the tenor range), but nothing makes me happier than singing with Jean and Sue and other Wanakee folks.

Sue has always said that God is smiling down on Footnotes since it has never once, in all these years, rained on the Saturday morning concert. I was a little concerned this year, since my karma and luck haven't been so great lately, and it did downpour Friday night, but Saturday morning was dry and sunny. Hooray for another beautiful Footnotes concert!!

I'm so thankful I was able to spend this week up at Wanakee. It was everything I needed right now. I could forget about looking for jobs and dealing with life and everything else that was going on and just make music with kids and enjoy being at Wanakee. It reminded me that life is good, even if it might not feel like it all the time. If only I could just stay at Wanakee forever...