Curious Bird

homeward bound

hello, hello, friends

another kooky summer camp season is complete and we're returning home with stories to tell and plans to make. with the wedding two and a half weeks away, I'm trying to breath deep and take one thing at a time.  more on all of that later. for now, here are a few photos from the kazillion taken this summer. {these are all from my trusty holga}

I'm a fan of this guy.

poison ivy grows up trees.

I really love the stillness of this photo

molly and I are bigger dorks than you could ever know.

more soon,
l.

looking forward...home in a week

Hope all is well out there. I'm looking forward to landing back in Philly soon.

Until then, more camp fires and good times to be had.

leya

camp is sweet. I'll let the photos tell the story...

my home away from home.

Hello there,

As promised, I'm checking in to say hello and give a little update. The last week has been wonderful here at camp. The campers don't arrived until tomorrow --geeeesh!, but we've spent the last several days preparing, getting to know and love the new people on our staff and  reconnecting with staff from  last year and/or years past. We've had camp fires and turns on the ropes course. We've swam and played music {this year has been coined the summer of the drummer since we have a shiny new Ludwig drum kit to play}  We've cleaned and reorganized our supplies and really tried to have as much fun as possible before 200 teenagers arrive and create a different place entirely --mostly in terms of volume.

I hope to check in again soon, but I'm in the woods and loving the time away from the computer, so only time will tell how that plays out.
here are some snaps to show what my world looks like lately.

my home away from home.


just after taking this photo, I saw the largest black water snake I've ever seen. whoa.


I love how the sun shines in the dining hall in the morning. you may recognize the chairs from this photo from last year.


more soon,
leya

sunscreen? check. parasol? check. clipboard? check.

I'm all packed up and ready to hit the road for another sweet summer camp season. I can hardly believe I've been doing this for five years...good grief that's a lot of camper talent shows (my favorite thing about camp) and cannonballs into the pool.

I'll be away for five weeks, but plan to check in every so often (hopefully weekly) with photos and a few tidbits on how my life at camp is going.

As always, thanks for dropping by and I'll be back with my usual rambles in late August.

Be well out there,
Leya

gamers

Hello,
After a little unplanned hiatus, I'm back to say hello.  Sometimes an unexpected and unplanned blogging break is such a good thing for me.

This week is going to be a busy one. I'm leaving for summer camp very soon and there is SO MUCH to get done. You know, like wrap up several wedding plans and pack for five weeks away! Actually, the wedding plans are coming together with very little stress, well, mostly, there has been some.  The invitations were mailed out last week and RSVPs are already floating back to us, which is really exciting.
I'm hoping to post the invitation design sometime this week (life permitting).

Just for fun, I wanted to list a few of my recent favorite things.

Page France and Electrelane are on heavy rotation around our house
Raspberries
Saltwaters from my childhood
Thai Sweet Basil recipes
Funny or Die.com
Sudoku

missing camp a little

After spending the morning going through and getting all of my camp photos organized (I've been doing tons of organizing actually. it feels good), I started missing that kooky place and all the wonderful people that spend time there every summer.
So before I launch back into craft projects and non-camp daily life in a new city, I thought I would share some of my favorite camp photos (part one of my favorites is here) . Sort of like one last "I heart camp" post...until next year, that is.


the chair mission

new tipi

evening activity

homemade prayer flags

me and my boy at the staff party (we don't drink until after the campers all go home and then we have a par-tay, just so you know).

have a great day.
more soon, L.

pranks and raids

Did you ever go to summer camp?  Well, if not, there's this thing that happens called raiding. To raid means to go into other bunks and do silly things like switch all the beds around so when campers come back their bed is not where they left it. Pretty funny, huh?
We don't have all that many raids at our camp mostly because our campers are teenagers, not younger kids and personal space and respect of one's personal space is very important to this age group.  At least that is what we've found. Anyway, we do have what we call "missions".  A mission can be as simple as an entire bunk taking water guns out at night and spraying people 'ninja style'. It can also be more subdued, like going out as a bunk to look at the stars or constellations, OR it can be something a little more involved, like taking every single chair (250 or so) out of the dining hall and arranging them on the front lawn, up the road to the cabins, and all the way down to the pool. I found the chair mission to be quite beautiful. The sight of it as I walked to breakfast that morning made me run back for my camera. Perhaps it was the colors and how they stood out in nature?  Or the sheer silliness and work it took to pull off the whole affair?  What I do know, is if anyone had ever told me I would someday be involved with a funky summer camp for teenagers with a penchant for creative chair missions, I would have never believed them.
Have a good Sunday. More from the Philadelphia move saga to come shortly. Have fun.

it's just not camp without a campfire (or 5)

Here are a few of my favorite full moon campfire photos from camp. That moon was out of sight. Check out D, too--what a sweet campfire lighter he is.

No real time to post today....we're all moved in. No, what I mean to say is we've moved all our stuff up the stairs. We now sit among a world of unpacked boxes. I must admit that moving right after finishing a highly rewarding albeit highly exhausting summer camp is not really that easy. I'm exhausted to the point of unpacking a box and then having to go lay down for a while. Getting settled in could take a while...

Thanks to each of you for all the welcome back comments. I'm so glad to be back and the fact that each of you noticed leaves me quite pleased.  Thanks for checking back in.

More soon,
L.

goodbye camp, hello philly

I can hardly believe it but my summer camp adventure has come to an end. What a fantastic five weeks spent with great friends and wacky teenagers -- definitely my best camp experience yet.  Today, after packing up the kiln and sports equipment, and shutting down the camp kitchen and main office for another year, D and I landed back in Philadelphia where tomorrow we will move into our new digs and settle in -- this time unpacking, which sounds exhausting...I'm surprisingly still very motivated. A new place in a new city, how very exciting.

In case you're curious, Mortimer and Motown made it through summer camp too. We had somewhat of a close call during the last week of camp when Mort decided to sneak out of our cabin spending a night in the wilderness and leaving  me in tears for several hours. It worked out okay after he returned the next morning with only a few burrs stuck in his belly fur. He came back just before a camp wide search party was assembled. I can only imagine what kind of critters he met that night...Dustin called my attention to the fact that the owls (there are several around camp) probably could have mistaken him for a bunny....eeeeek!

So...I'm still very scattered and am nowhere near getting my camp photos up on flickr, but below I'm posting a few of my favorites with more to come very soon. Enjoy.







we got a kiln this year and it was amazing. I made a wonky little dish and quicky became addicted to the whole process. I don't have room for a wheel in my new apartment...or I would already be saving up.






closing ceremony on the last night.


me and my best lady.

More updates soon. Ah...it feels good to be back.