Camp Papelousu July 2014

Camp July 2014 A few memories from our week at camp this year. Things started with a bang — in a bad way. Mom was visiting Philadelphia and the Thursday night before our trip started had to be taken to the hospital with some heart issues (she was expertly treated and is now home in the Keys).  Given that she was in the hospital, Steve and his family weren’t able to make their way north for their inaugural trip to Camp. Boo....but necessary.  They, along with my aunts, took great care of Mom. Kudos to the Paoli hospital for quality of care.

We postponed our departure until Sunday to make sure that nothing declined in Philly and when it didn’t, took the slow way north stopping by at a great farm stand north of Newbury. Blueberries, baby carrots, peppers, and tomatoes — yum!

Once at camp, we were greeted by the Potters who bridged our week and Henri’s. First activity of order was to make gazpacho since some of the ‘maters didm’t make it intact. Sun-blessed tomatoes, peppers, onion, and garlic all blended into scrumptious goodness. Then for a game of corn hole with our new set.

Monday, Anne gave me an impromptu yoga lesson on the front porch. It was surprisingly powerful and definitely worked my muscles. I may need to look into this… then we headed to the beach for a swim. The lake was definitely warm — that is, as warm as Averill gets. Monday evening I had the Quimby board meeting and Alan joined me for dinner and then the shareholder meeting. It was nice to catch up with old friends Warren, Phil, and Lorie over supper of shrimp skewers and pork ribs. 

Tuesday noon Laura and Mark and their boys showed up and thus began 2.5 days of boys play, complete with extended water play, er, battles. The adults also had fun, to be sure. Dinner was delicious salmon from Canada — fresh and simple on the grill. Wednesday was a rain day so Carole and Laura got baking — banana bread and raspberry pie (thanks to a gluten free crust by Mark). Both were yummy and quickly devoured. On Thursday, Alan led the menfolk on 187 mile tour of the north country using ATVs from Black Bear. Nobody crashed although there was one flat tire. They returned tired and filthy.

The Potters headed east to Maine Thursday evening, seeing two moose along the way. Then, the Gordons followed suit Friday noon. It was nice to have a little peace — as much peace as you can have with cleaning-dervish Colette in the house. I read on the beach, which was pleasant and then we had a swim. The two adult loons came into the cover fishing and got probably 20’ away from us as we sat on the platform. Very cool. I’m not sure their chicks lived this year as they haven’t been apparent. There are, however, an epidemic of goslings on the property. Wonderful — not.

Saturday we shopped for dinner with Jacques and Jenn, getting more of the yummy salmon. Fresh corn and carrots plus spiraled zucchini = good! On Sunday, we headed over to Parker Pie Wings for lunch and found, to our surprise, an air show! Very cool to watch the pilots doing their stunts but also a little nerve-wracking watching them plummet to earth with the engine stopped. In two more weeks, we’ll be back at Papelousu with Alan’s mom. Until then, we’ll enjoy our time in Canaan.