A Friend Comes to Call

This week, I was blessed by the visit of an actual person! See her? Way down there, right by the bright spot of orange.

This is Amanda at the bottom of the Thunder Express - her very first time on it.

This is Amanda almost all the way back up that very steep hill. She was a very obedient Thunder Expresser and always remembered to ring the bell to signal that it was safe for someone else to go down. We were the only people there, but it is important to maintain standards.

Amanda arrived Sunday evening and we optimistically ventured down to the waterfront for some star-gazing. This optimism remained unfulfilled, as the clouds covered most of the sky. Still, we survived going straight down the pathless hill behind my house with no injuries. That can only be a positive. Sadly, we also did not see the bear. I don't believe I will get to see it this fall. Maybe in the spring.

Monday is my day off. We spent the morning visiting the afore-mentioned Thunder Express and wandering through the woods. We made a brief stop at Crosscut Lodge, the most recently constructed building at camp, where we discovered a beautiful pile of mushrooms. Mushrooms are not usually what I think of when I ponder beauty, but the structured fragility of this casual heap is beautiful, in a way beyond standard aesthetics.

After Crosscut, we rambled down the old railroad grade to the north end of the lake. Clouds still blanketed the sky, drowning out the sun's rays and darkening the day, but gray is a colour too. It's a colour of contentment and serenity - of acceptance and calm. Shear Lake is lovely in every colour.

Amanda also discovered the perfect hiding spot.

I enjoyed every minute of Amanda's visit. It is great to be here at Barakel, but it can be lonely as well. Friends are scarce in the isolated Northern woods, especially ones who are unafraid of bears, beavers, and beeing beaten at Boggle. In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that I did not win a single game of Skip-bo. She is the champion.

Amanda stayed even longer than I had hoped, not leaving until Wednesday morning. She took me to town on Monday, helped me with my work on Tuesday, and always claimed to be having a good time.

Last night, PG was talking to me about Amanda, "So, she is a true friend, then?"
"Absolutely."
Thank you, Amanda, for being a true friend, for being what I have been looking for since the first time I read Anne of Green Gables - a kindred spirit.

Men's Retreat I

Men began to arrive Thursday evening for this weekend's retreat. There was no food provided in the Dining Hall at that point, so they lit their grills and stood in the Boys' Dorm parking lot laughing and talking.

Last night in the Trading Post, men streamed in and out fairly steadily for the first forty minutes. The crowd then disappeared, most likely to their first meal/snack at the Dining Hall. I was then dismissed from the Trading Post, since there was no need for me there, and scurried around the lake to East Side to help serve the snack.

This weekend, reunions abound. There are about seven summer staffers from this past summer either camping or working, and another from my summer in '09. Also, Grace is here on fall break, as is Lydia. And Amanda is coming to visit tomorrow! Such fun!

Laundry

Every Thursday morning I rule over the laundry room with an iron whisk - although I suspect it is some other, less firm, metal, since even whipping starch into water sometimes feels as though I'm asking too much of it.


It's a peaceful place, the laundry room, full of nothing more challenging than keeping track of which cloths and aprons belong on which side of the lake. A handy Sharpie and masking tape help me with that task. I fold rags, starch aprons, and wrestle rugs in and out of machines.

The second Ladies' retreat went well. It finally stopped raining and everyone was able to enjoy wandering through the woods on Saturday and Sunday. I worked in the Trading Post most of the time. As a result, I witnessed closely the single-minded shopping rampage that flooded through the Trading Post. Ladies shop intensely when they are here. It will be interesting to see the difference in a couple of weekends when we will be having Men's retreats.

Today I found more mail from Jesus - another anonymous gift and a check with a pledge for support. This pledge brings me up to 35% of my monthly support. I am so thankful.

The sad part about being here this weekend was that I missed my mother's birthday. It sounds like they managed to have a wonderful time without me, as unbelievable as that is ;) Happy birthday, Mum!