Wordless Wednesday: Spring Hikes

 

Happy Birthday to the Emperor

 

Happy Birthday to The Emperor!

Honestly, The Emperor and Zorg both had birthdays last month (weeks apart), but it's been pretty crazy.

But they both had great birthdays!

This is actually a pear upside down cake (with gingerbread as the cake part).  

 

 

 

This is the Emperor's favorite cake, and this was my favorite rendition of it.  I used a little apple butter mixed into the caramel part. Yum!

Guest Blog by The Emperor: Massawepie Round 2

Welcome to Part Two of Two, the part of the Massawepie story where I actually tell you about Massawepie!

Sunday morning, after Mass, we got to camp and unloaded. While doing so, Choclo, who was wearing sandals, cut his foot on a branch. We patched it up, thinking nothing of it, and went off to the MedCheck & Swim Tests, which are always the first two things in any summer camp.

But a surprise awaited us at MedCheck. They looked at Choclo’s foot and decided that he couldn’t swim that week (swimming was in a lake, not a pool). He was signed up for the swimming merit badge for his first two periods out of six, so obviously, he would have to be reassigned.

We went down to the lake and did our swim tests (all but him), finished unpacking, and had the

somewhat insubstantial meal the dining hall served. It was by far the loudest dining hall any of us had ever been in.

They kept us busy all day long, but at the end of the day was the “Drop/Add” session, where we tried to change Choclo’s Swimming badge. It was then that we learned Choclo was not, in fact, signed up for swimming. In fact, none of the boys were signed up for anything at all.

 They had received our order & sent a receipt, but hadn’t put any boys into

any actual merit badge classes. We had to sign the boys up for whatever was still open, stuffing them into already-overstuffed classes, whether they had requested them or not. The situation was not ideal, but there it was, and we had no choice but accept it.

 

Once it was there, though, it wasn’t so bad. Alex, our Assistant SPL, was put into a class of Swimming & Water Rescue, which is a certification rather than a merit badge, but that suited him just fine, as it gives him an edge in lifeguarding or even working at another summer camp in the future. 

The other boys were given between four and six merit badge classes each, ranging from canoeing and shotgun to white-border badges necessary for the Eagle rank, such as cooking and First Aid. During their regular classes, our scouts completed 33 merit badges and earned 11 partials.

One of the most exciting things about Massawepie was its “open program,” which encouraged scouts to come during their free time and try to earn extra merit badges. Our seven boys who participated in open program got 17 badges in chess, fingerprinting, scouting heritage, fishing, and collections, as well as two partials (which will likely be finished by August 20) in plant science.

Between the regular and open programs, then, the nine boys in Troop 740 earned an astonishing 50 merit badges and 13 partials. Oob, earned nine badges and four partials on his own, while Choclo, earned seven badges and three partials.

Now, there were two natural hazards to get around at Massawepie. The first were the mosquitos. Here in Maryland, our mosquitos obey the laws of chemistry and physics—if you wear DEET or burn a citronella candle, the beasts generally stay away; if not, you get bit by the nigh-invisible critters. Up north, it’s a bit reversed. No matter how much DEET, citronella, or other chemical you used, these particular mosquitos went right on attacking. And they were large. So large, in fact, that when they landed on you, you could feel it, and believe me, you could see them, too. The advantage to this is that their bulk made them so slow that you could hit them about 75-80% of the time. The bad point was that there was just nothing you could do to get rid of them.

The second hazard was the night time. It got cold—much colder than I was expecting, anyway. Here it was, July, yet one night it got down to 38 degrees Fahrenheit. I almost needed to put my sleeping bag in a sleeping bag, that night. (It did warm up after that.)

There were a few other shining points here and there, like Juan’s perfect model rocket flight on Friday morning, Ian’s painting of a troop sign to hang in the dining hall, D.C.’s gathering a crowd for his accordion performance, Alex’s eventual certification in Swimming & Water Rescue, and our roaring rendition of “Going over the Sea” (complete with rocking canoe) for the skit, but the week eventually came to an end, as all things must. We packed up and returned to Tupper Lake for their special Woodsmans’ Day celebration.

There, we saw a parade I’d wager very few Marylanders have seen the likes of. For an hour and fifteen minutes, trucks (many of them logging trucks), cars, motorcycles, and even bagpipers came parading by, tossing double-handfuls of candy by the roadside at any kids they saw, including our scout troop. We ended up leaving piles strewn on the street; there was simply too much to pick up! Each boy ended up with perhaps a pound of free candy in his pocket, as well as a lot of laughter.

We then walked down to the Woodsman’s Day Festival itself, the main attraction of which was chainsaw art: wood carvings, made by chainsaw, everything from owls to bears to manta rays. Several people took selfies with Groot.

After getting back on the road, our final stop before Chenango Valley State Park was a funny little hotel, at the back of which was a steep slope of shale. But this shale was special: it was full of fossils from the Denovian era. Each boy was able to pick out several rocks with fossils ranging from ancient clams and snails to plant life. One even found a trilobite!

We basically collapsed at Chenango Valley State Park, then drove a couple of hours to a nice little

church for Mass. Well, it was nicer than we thought—they all insisted that we share breakfast with them, and we shared quite a nice conversation about scouting.

We even turned out to know some friends of one of them, and by coincidence, we had spent summer camp 2018 at their local summer camp, Bashore, a convenient conversation point. All told, it served as an excellent break for the Sunday drive back home.

It was the longest campout many of the boys had ever gone on. For some, it will be the longest campout they’ll ever go on. It was a multi-faceted adventure. It was alternately exhilarating and exhausting. And it was an unforgettable success.--

Guest Blog by The Emperor: Massawepie Round 1

Greetings from Camp Massawepie! Let me tell you about all the awesome things or boys have been doing and seeing here in Tupper Lake, NY.

We left Holy Redeemer on Tuesday July 2nd and drove about five hours to Schenago Campground in southern New York. The night was uneventful, except for the 1:30 siren at the nearby fire station that woke a third of the troop, some of whom had trouble re-settling.

Nevertheless, we pressed on the following day, and after another five hours arrived at the home of Mr

LaVoy's parents, Bruce and Jane. Getting to meet them, and to know them over the course of the week, was an honor and a privilege. We set up camp in their backyard and departed to climb Mt. Arab.  An old fire watch tower was on top, and we spent probably half an hour just gazing at the panorama from the tower--no photo could possibly encapsulate the grandeur.

That evening, we watched fireworks (yes, fireworks here are on the 3rd) over the lake, and all agreed that they were among the best, if not the single best, they had ever seen, with flashing, sparkling lights that set gold dust in the sky by double handfuls and sounds that hit one in the chest like the bass drop at a rock concert. It was really an experience.

On Independence Day (which took us a few hours to realize, fireworks having taken place the night previous), we toured lower Lower Lowes Dam , where Mr. Lavoy had done some enjoyable winter camping as a teenager with his brother (in the dam itself), and climbed Goodman Mountain. The more exciting part was descending! We decided to avoid paths and "bushwhack" our way down, sliding, bouncing, and frequently braking. Much fun was had, and we definitely pushed the boys' horizons. We then went swimming at Little Wolf Lake, where we had a simple hot dog lunch. 
 


Leaving the mountain, we went to a natural cold spring (about 55 degrees), and the water was so delicious and refreshing that some of us drank our entire water bottles right there and filled up again, wishing we had brought gallon jugs. At 9 pm, we boarded canoes for an eleven-mile canoe trip. It ended up taking longer than it had taken in previous years, as this was a moonless night. The advantage was a perfect look at the Milky Way in it's full glory. The disadvantage? While we could (mostly) see each other & the water's edge, or ability to navigate was limited by the heavy darkness, and we didn't get back to camp until a weary 1:30 am.

Even the morning larks in our troop slept in Friday morning. We deliberately took it easy that day, taking only one outing--a fifteen-minute canoe trip to an island. The non-swimmers of the troop cooked lunch while the rest jumped from the high cliff into the lake below. I'm among the non-jumpers, but I'm told it was quite a rush.

That evening, we had a guest for dinner, local professional storyteller Roger Hastler, who regaled us with multiple narrative, humorous poems in his memorized repertoire. He mentioned two favorite poets, Robert W. Service and; "this guy Anonymous, who seems to have written quite a few."

On Saturday the 6th, the last day of our pre-camp adventure, we went to the Anarondack Wild Center.

Being from Washington D.C. and accustomed to the Smithsonian, we weren't expecting anything special. Just goes to show you--this little town has a truly world-class museum about both the natural world and the life of Native Americans in the Adirondacks, and a lot of it (especially outside) is interactive. Or favorite parts were probably the otters, the storyteller with the live porcupine, and the play web outside. 


 
Following our trip to the museum, we tried to do some rappelling, but it quickly became evident that it was too wet and slippery to do so safely, so we switched gears and went early to our third planned location, the natural water slides at Bog River Falls. The swimmers had a ton of fun in the drink, and the non-swimmers explored the area and got some fantastic photos. 




That evening ended up being "pizza night," and after a few more poems--these from Mr. Lavoy's own (smaller) repertoire--we went to bed for the last time in his parents' back yard.

But there was still one more surprise in store for us. The next morning at Mass, whom should we meet but Bruce's old scoutmaster, Dick Preemo, still kicking around Tupper Lake this many years later. What an honor to meet one of the men who had brought his father up in scouting, when Loren is still influencing young men in scouting today.

In a later post, we'll tell you about Massawepie itself!

Travels

 The Emperor and I flew down to Memphis to spend a few days with our friend Fr. Mark.

He's from New Orleans, but we've known him since he came to our area to get his doctorate in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

We had a great time talking about everything from religion to history to science to politics to movies!

Then we were off to Arkansas to visit our Aunt Toni!  This is my dear late MIL's sister.

The Emperor had brought along a huge pile of family photos and slides full of people for her to identify.

We had a fantastic time talking about family pictures and old stories and just being together.

She's the only one who still calls me Baby Girl, something I value more than ever as I near 50!

And we got to see our cousins Dave and Barb.  Barb is a master weaver and she's trying to get me started (with a suitcase full of yarn!)!

It was a lovely trip filled with lovely conversations with truly some of our favorite people that we never get to see. 

It was squeezed into a jam packed summer, but it's something I wouldn't have missed for anything!

Best Blog by Choclo: 13 Trip!

So I went on my 13 trip, and I had lots of fun in  Disney World, Florida with my dad.

I went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
Both of the two kingdoms were fun.

 I wore sunglasses, and  had fun with that, too.


It's odd that there are no bird photos here, cause  there were a lot of cute birds there!





My favorite thing at Disney was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was super fun!

I really liked how it was fast and fun and told a story at the same time.

 Now I want to see the movies!



I also really liked the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. 

It was the wild mine cart ride with lots of twists and turns, some of them going incredibly fast while making 90 degree turns!





And I liked the Haunted Mansion a lot. 

It was spooky in a fun way and it had a lot of surprises.

Best of all, Dad was with me for every ride, and we had a great time!

Happy Birthday to the Emperor!

 He was given this very elegantly wrapped gift (it's plain white paper decorated by Klenda).


And this not so elegantly wrapped gift (I just draped some fabric over it)!

And we celebrated with family and friends and all had a marvelous time!



Happy birthday, dear Emperor: I'm sure I could come up with a list of that many things that are wonderful about you, but it would take too long to type it up!

Scout Camp

 This was actually the first week in July, and the Emperor, Zorg, Choclo and Oob all went together.

It was Oob's first scout camp and Zorg's last scout camp.  Zorg ages out in September, but from May until then, we have three boys in the troop!

They went to Bashore this year, and, despite some brutally hot weather, they had a fantastic time!

Choclo learned to really swim!

 They camped, and they climbed, swam, did archery, and got a ton of merit badges.

Lots of friends and lots of memories.

Lots of fun!

Except when it got too hot to use the slurpee machine.

 And now Choclo is a Tenderfoot, and Oob achieved the rank of Scout!

I know because I just sewed on the patches today!

See, it's not all catching up, sometimes we have breaking news, too.




After camp, Choclo and Oob came home with the troop while the Emperor and Zorg went on to Philadelphia to attend the Memorial service for the Dad of one of the Emperor's oldest friends.

Gardner was famous as an editor who gave a lot of famous writers their start, but I also knew him as a man who was funny and unfailingly kind.  He and his wife, who passed on last year, were close friends of my dear MIL.  I'm so sorry for our friend who lost both his parents, but I'm also deeply grateful for this generation of giants who brought so much joy to so many!

Happy Birthday, Dear Emperor!

Happy birthday!  You're older than I  am!
For the next 8 months.

We actually had a birthday weekend since the Emperor, as part of his birthday present, was in and out all weekend attending the Gokhale conference.

We ended up celebrating three times, which was delightful and tasty!

A Few Great Things About the Emperor
1. He answers the hard questions that I never could.
2. He does DoCat with the kids after dinner.
3. He is the Comma King! (Hurrah for the Comma King!)
4. He can make an A plus feel like a slap in the face and a C minus feel like a gift from God.
5. He got me started exercising again!
6. He shows me all the funny stuff from Twitter without me actually having to wade through it all.
7. He's my favorite political wonk.
8. He makes beautiful children.
9. He makes me laugh!
10. He can whistle really well.
10. He reads to me.
11. He's the world's best partner for adventure games.
12. He's a dab hand at crosswords.
13. He'd always rather know the truth.
14. He's an ideal Lay Dominican.
15. He's the perfect person to talk things over with.
16. He has a cool head in a crisis.
17. He's interested in all sorts of things.
18. He has an eye for good art.
19. He has a growth mindset.
20. He's good at encouraging people.
21. He goes along with virtually all of my crazy ideas.
22. Except when it's a really bad idea!
23. He makes really good enchiladas.
24. He really likes my cooking!
25.He knows a crazy amount about comic books.
26. He writes excellent poetry.
27. He can talk in iambic pentameter.
27. He's a great driver.
28. He's a great (and patient!) driving instructor.
29. He's good at figuring things out.
30. He prays with me.
31. He sees potential in people.
32. He likes to park backwards, but he never runs over my bush.
33. He likes Gilbert and Sullivan.
34. He has a very nice singing voice.
35. He speaks French (although he says he's forgotten a lot).
36. He's got a quirky sense of humoor.
37. He stands tall (and glide walks)!
38. He is a great Game Master.
38. He's happy to try new things.
39. He knows a lot about Dr. Who.  Old Who, New Who, Non Canonical audio books...
40. The people at Big Finish send him Christmas cards! From England!
41. He's a great Dad!
42. He's the night time parent.
43. He's got a talent for quickly learning new things, and then teaching them more clearly.
44. If you ask him, he will draw you a sheep (the right way).
45. He cares about fairness, even when it's to his disadvantage.
46. He believes in lost causes, just because they're right.
47. He's my favorite.

Spelling City

We've been living in Spelling City for a while now, but I haven't thought to blog about it.

Spelling City is an actual program, although we've modified it a bit.  It doesn't seem to be related to the Spelling City website which provides spelling lists and games.

Our Spelling City is a logical method of teaching spelling rules.The general idea is that words live in families (with similar spelling) in their own houses, often forming streets of related houses.

Naughty words that don't follow the spelling rules live in the jail!

Believe it or not, this is the first time we've ever directly taught spelling. Most of our kids just seemed to pick up how to spell as they went along, but we have a few who were having a hard time, and this seems to be a fun and effective way to learn.

It does require a dedicated wall in your house, someplace the kids see often, but seeing your city grow is part of the fun!

What actually got me to blog about it was the Emperor's idea of making  pictures out of the homonyms!

Brilliant!!