Written by M.J. (camper)
I woke up yesterday morning to a beautiful rendition of Laundry Day, a song written a couple years back by a culminated camper. I gathered my things out of Forest Dell, the communal sleeping area, and went to get ready back in my cabin. At breakfast, J asked me if I would be interested in writing a blog post. I already knew I would be MC-ing for tonight’s talent show, so I happily agreed. We then had Check in and Community Meeting, followed by Advisee Time. The thing is, this was a special advisee. My group and most others at camp had been planning to band together and prank the one other group out of the loop. Blake’s advisee, the prankees, were also in on throwing their advisor into a mad flurry of pranks. So, my group set out with the Block Rocker, blasting Blake Boles’ podcast and marching towards his meeting space. When we got there, our fellow campers were shocked to find Blake already gone. We checked the room ourselves, and feared our prank had failed. Until, out of the mist, came Tilke’s advisee. With buckets of water filled to the brim, they splashed all participating advisees until we were soaked to our core. As this happened, Blake ran by, hoping to escape unscathed. Tilke and Blake had formed an alliance! Now wet and filled with even more determination, we chased Blake, eventually catching him down by the entrance to the woods. With as many arms as possible, we dragged Blake down to the creek, preparing to thrown him in. He put up a valiant fight, but was unable to escape. Blake was successfully thrown in the creek.
Following the good natured but absolute madness of advisee, it was project time for those who were participating in one. I didn’t do a project this session, so I decided to take the entire two-hour chunk for self-care. I showered, did a face mask, painted my nails with friends and listened to music until lunch. It was the exact break I needed as we were approaching the end of camp. After lunch, my friends and I went back to the field to do henna. This lasted until the next workshop slot, when I decided to go on the John Jones walk. The hike was led by the former site staff for Camp Myrtlewood, and was truly one of the most fantastical things I have ever experienced. We wandered through the woods, led by John, as he described the site’s efforts to increase habitat for salmon, how they fell and thin trees to help the forest flourish, and the work they want to get done in the coming years. The hike lasted about an hour and a half, ending at John’s garden. John gave us a tour of the various plants and fruit he grows, including blackberries, apples, grapes and honeysuckle. We saw deer, heard stories about his dog and life in Oregon, and left on a cable bridge he and some buddies had built together. With the bells on the bridge ringing merrily as we stumbled across, our souls felt replenished from the event we had just experienced. We made our way back to camp, eating the bunch of grapes we had taken with us and giggling down the whole stretch of road.
After dinner and community meeting, it was time for the talent show. Everyone not performing left the lodge, leaving the performers and me to set up the space. We stretched out Christmas lights, hung black tarps and turned down the lights. I quieted everyone down, and the show began. Numerous talent show acts were performed, including magic shows, beautiful covers of songs, and stories from camper’s lives. Following the talent show, I was invited to play a game of Mow. Mow is a card game similar to Uno, but has secret rules only some players know. Your job is to figure out the rules and get out of cards. The game was really fun but eventually I sent myself to off to bed. The day wrapped up with a lovely sleep in my cabin, dreaming of my adventures tomorrow.