A Pickle Roast

Pickles showed up at camp on June 13th and 14th to help out with a couple of Council events - a special program for girls who sold a lot of cookies, and a camp open house.  Yes, it’s true: Pickles is still a dedicated volunteer at Timbercrest summer camp and other events.  What she didn’t know when she arrived to volunteer is that this open house would have an event in her honor…  The council would award her the Thanks Badge.

Pickles, Donna, Marlene

She was probably wondering why so many of her old friends were on hand on such a rainy day for “just another” Camp Open House.  As the afternoon was winding down to a close, Marlene made the announcement that something special was planned to honor Pickles and Gwen came out of the kitchen with pickles on the end of barbecue skewers… so that we could start the “Pickles” roast.

Michelle, a former camper who had Pickles for a counselor, related a story about how she had insisted that they try to cook pizza over a campfire.  Pickles was skeptical, but wanted to empower the girls, so she gave in.  They made the dough, covered it with sauce and cheese and attempted to cook it over a campfire.  When they deemed it done, Pickles raved about how good it was.  Michelle confessed that actually, it was awful.  Still, Pickles had the girls convinced that they had achieved total success!

Binky was on hand to tell a story that probably should not be related here…  Suffice it to say that when Binky started working at camp and found out how cool the other counselors were, with Pickles as ring-leader, she knew she had made the right choice for a summer job.

Pickles and Binky

Burnsie couldn’t be there.  Instead, she sent a story which Pickles was asked to act out as she listened.  We were all in hysterics.  It seems one day after a cookout, Pickles was getting ready to toss the dishwater.  Apparently Pickles was well known for throwing out silverware and scrubbies, and all sorts of things when she dumped the water.  This time, she thought she’d reach in to see if anything remained in the dishpan…  Her hand squeezed around… A DROWNED MOUSE!  Pickles even re-enacted the scream that still echoes through the woods around Keyser Lake!

Donna told a story about a Girl Scout trip to Washington DC during which Pickles got into all kinds of trouble… opening doors that were supposed to stay shut… having her jackknife confiscated at a security check…  Oh, Pickles!  Can’t you behave?

 Joanne Nelson added a serious note about how Pickles and all the counselors that worked at Timbercrest have made it a very special place.  She put Pickles in the top ten counselors she has ever worked with.

Joanne and Pickles

When all the roasting was over, Pickles was pinned with the last ever Girl Scouts of Southwestern New York Thanks Badge.  (Our council has now merged and we are part of Girl Scouts of Western New York!)

Lisa, Pickles, and Marlene

We love you Pickles!  You certainly deserve this award!  Congratulations!

 

Monday Hike at Timbercrest!

Monday was the only day in this week’s forecast that showed sun. Since I didn’t have to be to work until 2:00pm, I decided to hop in the car at 7am and head for my favorite place in the world: Girl Scout Camp Timbercrest. I thought I’d see what was blooming and take advantage of the wonderful early morning light. Here are some of the photos I snapped:

Pin Cherry (Prunus pensylvanica)
There are several of these lining the road between “Three-Bay” and Bellinger Lodge.

False Hellabore (Veratrum viride)
Keyser Lake is a little higher than usual which put these right in the lake. I loved the reflections of the surrounding forest around these plants. This photo was taken near the bridge over the creek that feeds Jackman Bay.

Early Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium)
I knew about the patches of this at “Lakeview” - that flat area past Sunset that looks out over Keyser Lake. I guess I never paid attention before to how many of these are out on the Peninsula! Why, the ground is nearly covered with them. How come I never noticed before?

Sessile-leaved Bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia)
The Peninsula has fairly harsh living conditions. The beavers keep the trees short so there is little shade out there. The wind whips over most of the time. As a result, the plants out there are often dwarfed. This Bellwort looks normal in this picture, but it was soooo tiny compared to others I find in the woods.

Large-Flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
I found Red Trillium, too, but none of my pictures came out particularly well. I forgot to go up to the road behind Sunset to see if the Painted Trillium were blooming. Darn.

Wintergreen (Gaultheria procumbens)
Oh my gosh… I found the BIGGEST patch of Wintergreen sporting the BIGGEST, ripest, most delicious berries ever! (Yes, I ate some!) You have to get off the trail and go close to the lake over in Beaver Bay. Yum.

Fiddlehead
I’m not sure what kind of fern this is… Haven’t tackled ferns in earnest, yet. It was right along the shore of the lake in pretty soggy ground - in fact, the stand, I’m sure, is sometimes IN the water. Anyone out there want to take a stab at species?

Golden Saxifrage or Water Carpet (Chrysosplenium americanum)
There was just enough of a breeze to make photographing this tiny plant nearly impossible. I spent several minutes on my knees on a rock on the side of a creek. I snapped dozens of photos. This one was the best of the lot. Oh well… Isn’t it tiny and weird?

Toothwort or Crinkleroot (Cardamine diphylla)
There were tons of these all over the place, but this was the only one I found blooming. I also found tons and tons of Spring Beauties, but not a one with blooms open… Guess it was just a little too early in the morning.

Prickly Gooseberry or Dogberry (Ribes cynobati)
I found this one up behind Strawberry Hill. The breeze challenged me on this one, too, as did the closing canopy. But somehow I managed a couple of shots that were fairly well focused and in good light.

It was the perfect morning for a walk. Started off cool, but warmed up quickly. Well worth the drive to camp. (This is cross-posted at my WinterWoman blog.)

 

Spring Cleaning!

This year’s Camp Spruce-Up will be on Saturday, April 26th.  Your help would definitely be appreciated!  This is the day that the platform tents get set up.  Other ways you/ your troop can help are to clear trails, clean out the lodge, set up cots and mattresses, etcetera.  Anything you can think of, really!  If you plan to go, be sure to call Scott, the camp ranger, ahead of time so he knows you will be coming and can plan for lunch.

 

 

Calling all camp alumnae!

Attention Camp Timbercrest alumnae!

This is Emily, aka-Butterfly speaking.  In case we have not tracked you down yet, my friend Rachel, aka-Spoot and I are in the process of compiling a camp history, and we need your help!  We have both been going to camp for as long as we can remember, and we are currently counselors there.

We are looking for any stories, traditions, memories, pictures, and the like that you might have concerning Camp Timbercrest.  If you have a favorite camp song, we want the lyrics.  If you got married at camp, we want to know about it.  If you know when the treehouse was built and when it fell down/was taken down, we’d love to know.  Anything you might remember about camp, even if it seems insignificant, please share it with us!

Drop us a line here or at our respective blogs, http://summerbutterfly.wordpress.com for Butterfly or http://murmurationofstarlings.wordpress.com/about/ for Spoot.
Or, look us up at the next Camp Open House.
Or, track down my mother, Jennifer Schlick or the current camp director, Mariah Kramer.
Or, look us up on facebook.  We’re both members of the Camp Timbercrest group.
Or, be creative!

Really, we could use your help!  Thanks so much!

Butterfly on a Camp trip to Virginia

Spoot on a Camp trip to Virginia

(We’re a bit goofy, but that’s no reason not to help us out!)

 

Picking up the Kids

When you go to pick up your girls at Camp, you will first be entertained with a song or skit from each of the camp units for the week… or in our case - for the month!  Since Sugar was the only CIT (Counselor in Training) this summer, she did not put on a skit.  But she was congratulated and invited back to finish the summer as a counselor.  Sugar is pictured here with her Unit Leader for the week - Skip, from Australia.

Here are photos from the other units’ program offerings:

On my honor I will try…

On the first day of horse camp…

Bazooka zooka Bubble Gum!…

A coochi-cha, a choochi-cha, a choochi-cha-cha…

After the program, I had to wait a bit for the counselors to cleanup and have their end-of-week staff meeting.  So I snapped a few nature shots around the lodge:
  
Boneset on the path to the boats; Monarch on Swamp Milkweed near Keyser Lake

Finally, you can sleep easy tonight:  The Postcard Rumor has been proven false.  The rumor was that the last Timbercrest postcard had been sold. You know the one. We’ve had them in the Trading Post since… well… since I was a camper…  and well… that’s a long time.  But have no fear.  More were found in Loki’s office… so you can still get one, if you need one…  or several…

I wonder how many they ordered originally?