Camp update

Some of you dear Readers had questions about my camp adventure:

We have had a relationship with Sugar Pine for decades as the camp is owned by the American Baptist Churches of the San Joaquin.  We came here for family camp when our daughter was tiny.  She grew up and came back as a counselor and even camp director.  She met her husband here and was married out on the creek deck.  One summer, when hubby and I didn’t have any summer plans, I called and asked what we could do for the camp.  Lead counselors for junior high camp was the answer.  This year we are doing one week of junior high and one week of high school (!) because we did VBS at our daughter’s church last week.

The creek deck where our daughter got married.

As for our accommodations, we have the only room on campus that has a double bed.  Although a tiny room (about 160 sq feet), it works for hubby and me.  We use the top bunk as our “office,” storing our books, clipboards, stickers, computer, and all other stuff.

We have mice in the wall of our room this year and I think I have devised a way to keep them quiet.  I put a moth ball hanger in front of the outlet where they have been “scritching” and pointed the fan towards the outlet, blowing the smell into the wall.  The little critters were quiet last night.  This is the wilderness, though, so I have to make do with critters.

Camp

My address for two weeks

Junior High Camp has begun.  We are at Sugar Pine Camp, above Oakhurst, and below Yosemite.   Terry and I have the title of lead counselors.  Whatever that means.  We take sick kids to emergicare.  We check cabins every morning and make sure lights are out every night.  During the day we hang out with campers and counselors, staff and whoever else happens to come along.

Although cooler than the San Joaquin Valley, it can still get very warm.  The camp has a pond and a pool in which the campers delight every afternoon.  There is also a high ropes course and a paintball field.  Plenty to do after a morning of worship and games.

I am not a great camper.  I’m not even any kind of camper.  My idea of camping out is staying in a deluxe hotel.  But, for two weeks we will camp at the lowest denominator I am willing to go.  Our room is very small, very compact, and our food is supplied (except I have a bag I call the “kitchen”) at the staff dining room, just off the main dining room for the campers.  I always appreciate my house at the end of these two weeks.

Our 160 sq foot room for two weeks

Just doing God’s work

Our main reason to be in San Mateo this past week was to help with Vacation Bible School at the church where our daughter is the youth pastor.  We had offered to help last year when they had trouble finding enough workers and I guess we didn’t mess up too badly because they asked us to come back this year.  Actually, it is a lot of fun as this church is very well managed, and everything they do is top notch.  It’s a pretty easy job.  Praise God for that.

Terry operates the audio/video portions of the program and takes pictures during the day for the slide show that is shown at the end of each day.  This year’s theme was “Crocodile Dock,” with a taste of the Bayou.  Tied up to the dock, was a boat named for our new granddaughter.

Leeya Marie and Jen Marie at the "Leeya Marie"

My job was to follow a “crew” of kids to make sure they got to their various stations (and behaved well while at the station), but I was hardly needed as my crew had been assigned a couple of older “kids” who were really great with the little ones.  Marilyn will be a senior in high school and Kevin is in his second year of college.   They were so good at interacting with the kids and keeping them in line so I got to spend lots of time visiting with various workers.  I just love to share stories with other Christians and hear what God is doing in their lives.

There was talk of what we would do when we come back next year.  ”Next year?,” I would gasp.  ”Who knows if there will be a next year.  We will just have to see what God wants us to do.”

A quick trip into SF

Lynn asked if we made it into San Francisco during our week’s stay on the Peninsula…yes, for one afternoon, we did.  The whole family, including new granddaughter, took off after VBS and went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art to see the Ansel Adams/Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit.  This has certainly been my summer of O’Keeffe.

The SFMOMA has a new rooftop sculpture garden which is quite magnificent.  I was the only one of the family who made it up there.  These are the photos I took from that vantage point:

From the interior looking out at the garden

It was a cool, windy day, and I was able to get photos of the clouds passing over the rooftops:

The week went so fast

Terry and I had planned to do so much more while in San Mateo last week, but the days got away from us so quickly.  Our mornings were spent at Vacation Bible School at our daughter’s church.  (I will have another post about that adventure.) Last year we went back to our sublet in San Fran in the afternoons, but this year we spent our afternoons with our daughter and/or granddaughter and then had dinner with the whole family.

One evening, though, we decided to make it an early evening (in other words, we were tired) and stopped at a restaurant in Belmont for dinner.  It is an interesting eatery, specializing in crepes, but also Mexican food, breakfast, and even a small bar.  I wanted to share a few pictures of the place with you, dear Reader.

Terry with Whispers' menu in the background.

Whispers Creperie & Cafe at Glen Davey Road and El Camino in Belmont, CA

End of a busy day, and I'm tired.

Life returns to a little normal (whatever that is)

The best message on the answering machine when we arrived home today was the one from the Apple store.  My MAC was fixed and ready to be picked up.  I almost flew out the door to get it, but I did take long enough to unpack the suitcases and sort laundry.

My wonderful computer is home with a new battery, track pad, and back door, all ready for me to catch up on email, photos, Flickr, and this blog.  I have missed all the stuff I can easily do on this machine.  My iPhone is great, and I really am glad to have it, but it doesn’t take the place of this machine.

So, dear Reader, in between loads of laundry, packing, and catching up on mail and newspapers, I will jot a few posts here to fill you in on what and where I have been.   Even without my beloved computer, it was still a great week.

Eat a good breakfast

Proper nutrition helps the brain and body and it’s good for one’s mood, too.  I find this with my high school students who don’t eat properly…they are grumpy, tired, not very interested in anything.  Many of them are obese because they don’t eat breakfast and then come to school with a bag of chips and a soda.  Where do kids get the money for the junk?

Yesterday, while working with elementary age kids at Vacation Bible School, I saw the same thing.  A little girl, who says she does not eat breakfast, is lethargic, behaves badly, is non-cooperative, and complains about being hungry.  I think mom may just be too rushed in the mornings to feed the child.  Perhaps VBS needs to do what we do in the public schools, feed the kids breakfast.

110 and still no pictures, so bear with me

Today was a scorcher–110–but we didn’t break the record for the day which was back in the late 1800s of 111.  Even Yosemite Valley is 100 degrees.  We will be close by there for the last week of July, first week of August, at a camp that does not have air conditioning.  I am hoping for a cool-down before then.

But to stop the grumbling about the heat, if not my computer, I am going to the Bay Area for the next week, so dear Reader, you may get more cheerful posts from a cooler clime.  Maybe my MAC will be all well by the time I return next weekend, and I can upload some pictures to go with my words.

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This blog post will be boring, written on a PC

All of my photos are on my MAC (which is still in the Apple hospital), and I have no idea how to download photos on this, my husband’s desktop PC.  Oh, as a multimedia and yearbook teacher I’m sure I could figure it out if I wanted to, but I don’t.  It will be 107 degrees here today and I am saving all my energies (physical and mental) to just do the basic chores.  So, dear Reader, you don’t get a photo of my darling granddaughter today.  And I have a really cute one, too.

I will be seeing my darling granddaughter every day next week as I will be working at my daughter’s church, helping with Vacation Bible School.  Although she is only two months old, Leeya is brilliant, and I want to start reading to her.  I went this morning to one of my favorite places, Barnes & Noble, (they don’t pay me to say that, but I wish they would) and bought three books for her.  Two are cloth books, very soft, and the third is a softcover paper book that she will probably rip to pieces when she’s about nine months old.  Or chew to pieces.  All three have rabbits in them.  Seems like a theme I have going there.

I found a book on my shelf this morning that tells stories about familes, with the most wonderful pictures (gosh, I wish I could take a picture and show you) and it’s in English and Spanish.  Leeya’s parents speak Spanish and I hope they are going to teach her to be bilingual.  I’m going to read the Spanish parts to her.  By the end of next week, the child should be ready for school.