Greetings from Hilltop. It’s yet another beautiful day on Orcas. Though nearly all of them are in summer, writing that never gets old. Talking about the weather isn’t the world’s most creative thing, but I will note here how grateful I am to run a summer camp in a place with such glorious summer weather. I have quite a few camp director friends that I keep in touch with, and I hear lots of things about oppressive heat, humidity, tornadoes, tropical storms, all sorts of things. I don’t brag too much about our beautiful days, warm but not too hot, with rare rain, just as easy as it can be.
On this beautiful day, everything is as it should be at Four Winds. Seniors are having big adventures on trips. The Juniors and Intermediates are enjoying a beautiful camp Sunday. They had a great Sunday afternoon activity, Barden Fair (a celebration of the Garden and Barn). Tonight, we’ll have a wonderful Evening Fire.
The time warp that I wrote about last week is still in full effect. Everyone is very much in the here and now. There is just a slight change in dynamic, where people are starting to realize that the end is close.
It will really kick in when the Seniors return on Tuesday and we begin our Final Four evening activities on Wednesday, but already, notes of the end are kicking in. The best bits are the ceremonies and Garbage Auction prizes. Both need to be scheduled, and as time gets short in the session, the options to schedule get a little thinner, and so people start to scramble a little.
Beyond that, both inject adventure and delight (in the case of Garbage Auction prizes) and appreciation for our friends (in the case of jewelry ceremonies) into the camp culture.
Garbage Auction prizes are essentially little cabin adventures, but instead of the counselor planning them, someone from outside the cabin does. This is great, because the person putting on the prize is usually really excited about it, and for once, the counselor doesn’t have to be the maestro of the cabin activity. In the middle of a normal camp day, we get to drop in baking cookies, VIP treatment at CT Ice Cream, or one of many creatively named and executed adventures (A very concise favor from Leo, Physical Therapy, Princess Pat, the Art of Fear, or the Fear of Art, to name a few.) All of it adds wish, wonder, and surprise into the second half of Second Session, and especially in the last week.
Jewelry ceremonies are an older tradition at camp. Like many of our old traditions, describing it is simplicity itself. At various points in a person’s camp career, we surprise them in a place in camp that’s special to them, sing one of their favorite camp songs (by this time, the person realizes it’s their ceremony). We go around in a circle and share what we appreciate about that person and why they’re an important member of this community, give them the piece of jewelry, sing another of their favorite camp songs, hug, and go about our day.
Both of the jewelry ceremonies and Garbage Auction prizes are lovely, and often lead to some of the best camp memories. From my perspective, what I love most about them is the cumulative effect. The practice of injecting dozens of moments of joy, fun, and appreciation into the camp community over the course of the session, and particularly at the end, has a wonderful effect. Longtime readers of this blog will know that I sometimes bristle at the use of the term “magic” to describe camp. Nothing supernatural is happening here, and I think it’s better to examine why this place feels great than to give magic the credit. But all that joy, fun, and appreciation is what makes it feel that way.
I’m off to Evening Fire. As usual, I can’t wait. Thank you as always for sharing your children with us. We look forward to this final week together, it’s going to be great. I’ll post here one last time on Sunday, likely from the airport when we’ve got most of the kids through security. Until then, be sure to follow our daily updates on our Instagram Stories.