home sweet home

OHMYGAWDTHATBRITNEYSHAMELESS.


sunset on lobster lake

the west branch of the penobscot

monkey children at ogden north

beautiful odgen north campsite - a type of gauguin-does-maine landscape


lil'claw of lobster lake - with katahdin in the background, maine's highest mountain and a terminus for the appalachian trail

the view from lobster mountain, a short 2 mile hike

beeches and birches on the way down from lobster mt.

goodnight lobster lake! if it's 8:30, it must be time for bed . . .


what a five days. dismayed at first and then daily by the mosquitoes [hordes. swarms. the children looked like lepers from their bugbites at the end], unpredictable high winds on lobster lake and the surprise! thunderstorm at the beginning, we managed to have a pretty good time.

on the second day, things turned around and after a full day of 5 hours paddling, we reached lobster lake, scudding across whitecaps from a tailwind.

ogden north was one of the most beautiful campsites i've ever seen. white sand, wind-sculpted pines and cedars, stony beaches for swimming. the children wore their hair down, forsworn clothing and frolicked around the beaches like south sea natives.

third day out, we canoed [literally] a 1/2 hour to jackson cove, where (5) kids and (2) counselors summited the very prestigious and challenging (2) mile hike of lobster mountain.

shallow bay was our [unnecessary] rest day - a full 14 hours of sleeping in the sun and reading out loud stardust by neil gaiman, editing out the more racy sections. too bad there were 6 inch leeches, lurking in the water . . .

AND we saw a bear! in all the time i've spent outdoors in maine, that was my first. it was on the road though, not while at night, which would have less exciting and more terrifying. still.


there is something so languorous about canoeing trips that i don't believe are found on any other sort of wilderness expeditions. unhindered by backpacking's strict weight limits and by kayaking's need for tetris-packing, we were in camp and set up by 2 pm everyday, leaving the afternoon for gentle exploring, lizard-bathing on rocks and reading.

but, then i come home and remember the luxuries of wearing inventive outfits and daily showers with razors and ice-cold white wine . . .

off off and away

packed [amidst other things]:

(12) gallon bags of customized trail mix.
(60) protein bars.
(10) cups of oatmeal.
(12) packs of pitas.
(30) gallons of water [no polar pure. boooo.]
(1) copy of neil gaiman's stardust
(9) campers.
(3) counselors.
(6) canoes.

practiced an alphabet of strokes today - j-stroke, c-stroke - and will be frolicking for five days on the beautiful west branch of the penobscot and the "little claw" of lobster lake.

distractions

a week has flown by already!

good ol'narragansett cabin has kept busy by going on the "snowgoose" for the day - the camp's lobster boat! a full day of sunbathing, fishing and lobstering . . . with only a few tears from the cabin's resident vegetarian who did not appreciate seeing fish flop to death in a bucket . . . pretty gruesome for an 11-year-old. contrasted to the boys who also go out on this boat, there was a chorus of little girls everytime a fish got caught, "ohhh can we let him go?! . . . he's so pretty!! . . . let's let him free!"

in addition, liza demonstrated that freedom is not free.

the very next day, cabin narragansett set out in the wild for an overnight primer trip - a short canoe jaunt down the lake in back. there were many s'mores which, coupled with hot cocoa, made for a raucous night of pants-off running around and speaking to trees in british accents. there was also much frolicking-in-the-water and singing-of-our-all-time-favorite-song/dance, of course substituting "lass" for "lad".



obama also has the 11-12 year old demographic in the bag, should he be worried.

29.6.08

it's been (5) days since my kids arrived - and it's been a busy almost-week.

this is the nice part of camp, when you've established rules and boundaries, and finally feel like you're no longer living with (12) little strangers - while not being sick of them. yet.

today was a lovely lazy sunday - roll-in breakfast, home-made donuts, "non-denominational" chapel service. i taught cooking class in the afternoon to (6) 10 year olds - we made cupcakes and frosting, and i nearly had a finger bitten off from offering an icing bowl up for licking-out.


now, i am enjoying an illicit diet coke on infirmary duty while the sounds of shrieking little girls waft across the cool night air . . .



scarf : simon's, mtl
sweater : thrift, mtl
shirt : camp, acquired
pants : lululemon, mtl
shoes : sperrys, thrift, maine

busy busy busy!

so, i have noticed that i just love to repeat words thrice over . . .

it's been a busy couple of days. we returned victorious from our staff trip, against fog and tides and wind. i had forgotten how GOOD it feels to paddle - i love absolutely everything about it, sitting above the water, feathering my paddle, racing around lobster buoys, riding waves, watching the fog roll away . . . just not solo-portaging.

a few excerpts

river-lunch on the first day


fog on the second day


who knew lobstermen had such a great sense of humor?



the closest i've come to wardrobe_remix in a couple of months. wilderness-chic.

wet hot

back at camp.
forgot how fluid and relative time is here.
i've only been back for a solid 24 hours and it feels like weeks . . .