How Hot Was It?

So hot I gave up wearing mascara by day two.

So hot everyone was carrying cloths to wipe off the sweat.

So hot.... well, you get the idea. And if you don't, I'm too busy being thankful for air conditioning to illuminate you further on this point.

The church I used to attend in WV, before we moved so far away, sends its kids (from 2nd-12th grades) to camp every summer for a week. This year they were short on staff and since I hadn't gone up in several years, I was eager to volunteer.





This year's group was pretty small, only forty-seven kids in all and maybe twelve to fifteen counselors. On top of that, I knew most of the adults (though some of those adults were kids I used to counsel who grew up in my absense! Always a shock when that happens, isn't it?) but almost none of the kids knew who I was. Not that it made them shy around a camera.









So, did I get any work done last week? Um, no, not much. Did I have a nice, cool, relaxing vacation? (Hang on while the hysterical laughter abates) Not so much of that either. What I did have, by the end of the week anyway, was a deep love for these kids so many of whom were smart and funny and so caring of each other.

I realize this blog isn't of my typical voice, but it's what you get for rushing me (Phil!!!) and I think some of what I experienced this past week cannot be put into words.

Granted, the part where Kev and I left camp at the end and drove to Mom and Dad's where my brother came in from Nashville and all of us went and played laser tag and raced go-carts together? Yep, that part you could put into words, all right. That was so great that I'm scouting out laser tag facilities here in Raleigh so I can take visitors there instead of to all the historic sites! Who wants to visit Civil War battlegrounds and plantations anyway? Bah! Laser tag is where it's at!

Obviously I'm still loopy and catching up on sleep (and coolness... again, thank you Lord, for air conditioning). I need to get back to work, back into the swing of things in the current books. Book two revisions look promising. It's always funny how much you can surprise yourself with what you've written.


So I'll leave you now with a few more pictures and a promise of more and better blogging in the next few days. Big smooch to you all who kept looking in on me while I was away in the woods! Enjoy the photos. And check out the new ones in my photo section on the main page, too.




These are two girls from my cabin. One of them told me a long ghost story about a woman who hung herself from the ceiling fan in her kitchen during the big war of the mid-fifties. Someone found her hanging there and turned the ceiling fan on sending blood splattering all over the walls. All this to explain a fresh paint job in the uppermost cabin on the hill. I still haven't stopped laughing about all that. Nor could I bring myself to explain the relative newness of ceiling fans or to ask WHAT war in the mid-fifties. She's got a great career in theater ahead of her.






Wading in the river was a MUCH better idea than playing kickball on the last full day of camp.



Two of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet.




My new teenage son, soundly asleep on a ping-pong table. This is about what everyone looked like by then.