Eric Blum's camp diary, 2007, part 2This is another installment from my time up here at "The Valley". Unlike my last update this one will take a little bit different direction. I had plans on giving a very detailed update, then I realized that I can't remember all the great things that I have witnessed during my time up here. Instead I will give a general overview and piggyback on some of your blog reports. I am once again amazed at the magic of this place that we call Frost Valley YMCA, which after 22 summers it would seem that this magic would wear off, but instead it just keeps getting stronger. The final week of third session was just as amazing as the first. I witnessed campers and staff from all walks of life being brought together to create the wonderful environment where people are free to be themselves. The highlight of third session has to be the absolutly amazing job done by the 3 program directors in creating an all camp event that I think will go down in camp history as one of the greatest ever-this will be a big suprise to anyone who has been here for the third session all camp event before. My recollection after seeing 21 previous third session all camp events was that for some reseason it has never had an identity. The first session is the 4th of july-every one is full of energy and it goes very well. 2nd session is of course the Olympics another mainstay. 4th session is of course our day of peace, love, and social justice known as Hirdstock-(former staff have actually been known to return to camp just for Olympics and Hirdstock). Third session has never had this type of loyalty-one year it might be a Renisance fair another year it was record day, and generally everyone has hit the "proverbial wall". This was only reinforced when I spoke to Al on one his visits the last few days of the session and he agreed. This year however the theme was a Harry Potter take off and was "Wizard School", and it was run by Kam one of the Assistant program directors. I got a chance to get out to Big Tree Field to witness this event for a little while-the entire time I saw campers and staff alike engaged in activity, and every one was having fun. They set up a Quidish match and had a tourniment, there were booths of the usual carnival type games, and the as the teams worked thier way around they found magic and other suprises. The hard work and time that went into planning, setting up,, running, and finally cleaning up the event is hard to comprehend-the banner alone was a true testament to the sucess of this event. Again I didn't see one person not having fun the entire day. Could this become a new camp tradition? Other amazing things that I witnessed I had the priviledge of hearing another story told by Al on wednesday night-"The Cornman Identity"-if you have never heard a story by Al you are truly missing one of the greatest times in camp. Picture this: A cool clear evening up on a hill, with a campfire blazing, and a village full of campers sitting transfixed on 1 person telling an amazing story,with the storyteller weaving various camp people into the storyline. If you haven't had this pleasure I strongly recomend that you take an opportunity to do this. At the close of this story the whole village began to filter back to thier cabins in absolute silence, in aw of the beauty of not only the event but also the stage on which it was presented. Just another day here in the valley. I have also have had the pleasure of working with the waterfront staff on a number of occasions, these folks are down at the waterfront in all types of weather providing a fun and safe place for the campers and staff to cool off or just hang out on the dock. On the last full camp day while I was 'guarding for I believe susky/forest the last buddy check was called and as the campers were exiting the water, a group of susky girls realized that this was thier last time to jump into the green section for the entire season-as they were approaching the the dock to make that 1 final jump into lake Cole I had to stop them, since it was time to go, I did my best to stand my ground in enforcing the "rules"-however in the end not even I could deny these kids one last chance to take the plunge and I conviently "turned my back" (keeping the campers in my peripheral vision of course) while they "broke the rules" and laughed about it the whole way back down the dock to get their buddy tags-does camp get any better than this. Thursday night as always was closing campfire, for Wawa and the HIrd, I unfortunately had to be out of camp for most of that time and missed the actual campfires-however I did make back into camp in time to see the villages making thier way back to thier cabins, as campers have been doing for over 100 years. It never ceases to amaze me the emotions that are displayed-I witnessed a camper who had been bound and determinded to go home at the begining of the sesssion who was now crying not because she missed her home and parents, but becuase she knew how much she was going to miss camp and all the new friends that she had made. AS I watched the processionals I couldn't keep myself from humming "Four Strong Winds" while watching the moon rise over Wildcat. Another highlight for me was when I fired up the grill for staff lounge and cooked up some hamburgers-these were not the usual camp burgers. Jeff Daly let me go to town and get "real" food-I'm not sure if it was actually the food, or if was just the fact that it wasn't camp food on soggy hamburger buns-either way, out of about 17 pounds of hamurger meat there was only enough scraps left over to maybe make 2 burgers-no cook could have been happier. Session 3 ended just as it began-raining. This time though it wasn't a torrential downpour but instead a cold steady rain. Melissa Pauls made an early morning run into Liberty to get the luggage crew coffee and bagels because the luggage trucks started to roll at 08:00 and the chaos of the last day of a session was on. It wasn't much different than any of the other 50 or so last days that I have witnessed, councelors, VC's, and directors trying to keep the campers occupied and still get them on the proper bus or into the correct car. Maintence staff, program staff and CIT's moving luggage then loading it on the right bus, and the enitre time everyone wore that great smile that can only be found in camp. Campers hugging each other and promising to keep in touch through out the year. The tears of sorrow about leaving camp and the tears of joy when they realize that it's only 11 more months until they are back. Then all of a sudden it's over and camp is quite-the campers are gone, the staff is filtering out to places unknown for rest and relaxation in anticipation of 4th session-it's holdover weekend. I know how I like to spend my holdovers now after so many years and living 423 miles away from this place-just staying in camp and surrounding myself with the quite and solitude of the place, and reflect. On friday night I had the opportunity to just hang out at a campfire with Bud Cox, Al and Hannah Filreis, Mark Gottdenker and few other staff who had decided that a quite camp is the best way to recharge the batteries. Imagine a clear evening up on the hill by Hyde Watson Lodge looking at the stars and talking about camp history with 2 legends of camp (Bud and Al). They had stories of the old days that just amazed me to no end-the memories just flowed-ask Al or Bud about the "White Rat". Saturday I did find myself out of camp for a few hours eating some really good food and playing some really bad golf-I was part of that crew of the 90's who played golf as much as possible on our days off and even sometimes with the permission of the director of camping on our days on. Sunday I found myself just raring to get 4th session started, and start it did. Unilke 3rd session check in the day was a dream come true-clear sunny skies and a nice comfortable tempature. Before all the activity started I got the chance to catch up with Milton Pittman-who was a "legend" by the time I arrived here in 1986 and I had the pleasure of working with for many summers. Bill Abvbott was also on camp again another chance to reconnect with the Frost Valley of "my era". It seems that you just can't keep people away-they almost always return, if not in the physical sense then definately in the spiritual sense and the reaction is always the same: the physical structures may have changed but the spirit remains the same. I spent my day down at the luggage tent, helping the program directors keep things moving along. Towards the end I made my way back up to the dinning hall and was pleased to find Andy Wiener dropping off his kids-another chance to catch up with a long lost friend. 4th session has really been great so far-I had the chance to again do "Mind Over Media" this time with a brother/sister cabin group from lenape/tacoma. The highlight for me was at the end when a couple of campers said that it got them thinking about the way they "steriotyped people", what a great success. I of course apoligized for "sneaking" a lesson into something that at first they thought was "just going to be another fun activity"-but isn't this what camp is really about? I have also have had the chance to lifeguard at tubing and NAT JAC a few times-again how much better can camp be, lazing around the 'ole swimming hole floating on a tube and hanging out with your friends-no worries in the world. It was at one of these times that I was 'guarding-for "Baby MAC" that one of the campers broke my "cardinal" rule for Eric's Lifeguarding, this is the rule that Eric must remain dry (since a good day for a lifeguard is a dry day). A young camper was floating in his tube on the otherside of bisquit creek and he fell through his tube-he wasn't a strong swimmer-as I was making my entry into the water-with a perfect tube throw, follwed by a few strokes of "heads up freestyle", The counselor who was also watching and was closer had actually gotten to the campER first (just another example of the dedication that these couselors have), we got the camper back in the tube, and I returned to my duties-a little bit wetter and little more humble; however this time I changed the position from where I was guarding-just shows that we are never to old to learn, and in the words of Helen Corman "we are all teachers and we are all studnets". The first week of 4th session the weather was absolutely perfect and the all of the activities ran without a hitch, or so it seemed to me since sometimes I only look at the first few layers-not really wanting to peel back those other layers at that time; instead I can get a "full report" from the camp directors at a later time, this way the rose colored glasses can stay on just a few moments longer. On saturday the weather turned down right cold-I had to put jeans on in the middle of the day, not something that I look forward to at all. The weather has remained much the same-cool and rainy. To top it all off because of a switch in Hirdstock to sunday we actually ran the sunday shecdule on saturday, all day long the staff was confused-however the campers just kept plugging along as if nothing out of the ordinary was going on-talk about "GUMBO". Sunday of course culminated with the all afternoon and evening event of HIRDSTOCK. I can hear the old timers saying "Hirdstock on a sunday, it's always been on the last wednesday, what's going on?". Yes HIrdstock was on sunday, and it was absolutely amazing. This all camp event was organizd by one of the assistant program directors-Melissa Pauls. There were 2 stages, 4 local bands, with our arts & craft director Natalie headlining the whoel event by doing 20 minute "sets" all day long. The spirit of Hirdstock was of course alive and well-instead of each cabin group getting up and presenting thier issue on the stage as a mass group-they went high tech and video taped thier own Public Servic Announcements which were then broadcasted throughout the entire day on a "giant" screen. My duties for the day consisted of supporting the feeding of the entire camp, yes that's right all of camp including farm camp and the Tokyo partnership. Both Jeff Daly and the Chef from chartwells said it couldn't be done. Myself and Kam set up 10 grills outside of Geyer Hall and began cooking at 3:30. The area became affectionately known as "The Ring of Fire" the only thing missing was Johnny Cash singing the song-although we did bust out with an off key rendition from time to time. Once we got the grills fired up and the burgers started, Both myself and Kam realized that we needed reenforcements-so with a quick call over the radio we were knee deep in grillers. Brekke the waterfront director, and Gail Morris, the CIT coordinator, both proved to be a super star grillers-running from grill to grill, through the smoke and heat, flipping burgers and dogs and reloading the empty grills with more meat (and for those vegatarians-veggie burgers on the 2 dedicated veggie burger grills). A whole host of others also showed up to help with this project. My highlight out of this surreal experience was when it was all over, the professional kitchen staff couldn't believe that a bunch of camp counselors (translate to not 1 chef among us) could feed over 700 people and the enitre time smile and have so much fun. As I thought about it for awhile I realized that this is kinda of what camp in general and Frost Valley in specific is all about-everyone pitching in to make sure that everyone is taken care of and is having a good time. Hirdstock culminated late at night with the fireworks show over lake Cole-again I can hear the old timers saying "fireworks at Hirdstock", yes it's true and it was a spectacular show. It sure beat ringing the lake with ballons and popping them all at once as we did one summer many years ago. This last week on summer 2007 has been cold and rainy for much of the time, some waterfront periods have been cancelled, actvities have been moved indoors, and VC's have had to rearrange entire schedules. But it's all been done in that crazy Frost Valley way-so that campers just don't have a clue to behind the scenes-it just magicly happens. One last highlight for me was last night's staff lounge (2nd wednesday-the last staff lounge of the summer)-it had been decided early in the session that it was going to be a blowout. After consulting with Jeff and Bobby it was decided that we would do a true Bar-B-Que. SO myself in conjunction with Mike Miskelly (our camp paramedic) put together a menu that the likes of have never been seen in staff lounge. The preparation for this event actually began on monday when Mike went and got the stuff to make real slow cooked BBQ-4 pork shoulders, the ingredients for the rub and a North Calollina sauce. Mike did all the prep work for the pork on monday and tuesday then spent the enitre day wednesday, along with his other camp responibilities, tending the smoker. My part in this was to do the grill food, which consisted of ABT's (jalapeno peppers, stuffed with creame cheese and wrapped in bacon), Blue cheese stuffed portabello mushrooms, grilled pineapple (dressed with lime juice, cinnimon, and honey) grilled onions and red bell peppers. The staf began lining up around 10:00 the official start time of staff lounge-however being that we all work on "camp time" the food wsn't actually ready unitl around 10:45-my bad-but it was fun to see the staff just watching the production and really fun to run them off until it was all ready-that way everyone could experience this as a whole. Think about a nice pulled pork sandwich with all the extra's. Again the biggest compliement a cook can receive isn't the thanks you's but the sight of empty serving trays-which all were empty by the end. As a side note this morning both AL and Bobby mentioned to me that while the food was great and that they ate alot of it-their delicate systems couldn't really handle it, both of them woke up in the middle of the night realizing that they had ate to much and were feeling it-again no higher praise can be handed to a cook. Andy Weiner who is and alumnus from the 80's-90's was also on camp to witness this event and was wondering if staff lounge was like this all the time, I can say that would be a definite no. As I realize that this is getting very long and I have just returned from the HIrd closing campfire, which means the only thing left now to do is wastch the busses and cars roll in for 1 last time as the campers and staff leave this summer behind physically to return home to their normal lifes, I will leave you with these few final thoughts from an "old timer" here at the valley. Many changes have occurred over my 22 summers here-some I like others I'm still on the fence about and still others I must say I don't care for. This past sesion I have had the opportunity to catch up with some alumni from my years as a counsellor, MIlton PIttman and Andy Weiner, to name a few. Both of these guys haven't been back to camp while it's been in session for many many years, I could see it in their eyes and hear it in their voices that even though the camp has physically changed the spirit of this place remanis the same from generation to generation. SOme of those physucal changes have been: there is no longer the girls dinning hall, which was known as the Old Dinning hall when I first came to the valley, then it became the ODH, then McClean HAll, and now after a phenominal "make over" it's Geyer hall. Riccardi cadin is no longer-it was replaced with the new LakeView lodge. We no longer climb mount Hayden, instead there is a brand new "Y" climbing tower (the pictures on the web site don't do it justice-it must be seen to believe). Bicycles have left camp many years ago. They have renovated the Ad Office. They switched sides in MArgertts loge for the camp office. and the list goes on and on. Tonight at closing campfire Andy and myself couldn't help but to reflect on how closing campfire has changed-in our day it was a very quit and emotional time. Now there is loud clapping and cheering going on-this is not the way I remember closing campfire, Andy reminded me that the people who we considered "old timers" during our stay here probably thought the same about the way we did things, and that it wasn't our camp experience anymore, but these campers' experience, so it was alright that this evolution has occured. I did take notice that the same songs were sung and thet the camp fire ended with the singing of Four Strong Winds, and the emotion was still there. I would be remiss in not mentiong the great job that all the staff has done this year. Bobby and Jeff as co-leaders of the whole summer camp, Dan Weir and Heather Bowman as director and assistant director of Wawayanda, Kelly Zigone and John Butler as the director and assistant director of Henry Hird, Brian Sense and Keven Terril the adventure gurus, Tempest and all the CIT coordinators, STeve Parsely, Kam, and Meliisaa Pauls who were the Program, and assistant program directors, Brekke the waterfront director, Natilie the arts & crafts director and all of the VC's, counselors, and program staff that made this summer possible-it truly was amazing summer, one of the best that I have had. As I close this I am foreever reminded that even though the physical structures of camp has changed, the spirit and the magic remains the same as it always has for the past 100+ years. So rest assured that summer 2007 was a hugh success and 2008 promises to be even better. "When I die let my ashes flow down bisquit river, roll on the water the color of sky, I'll be half way to heaven at a new Wawayanda saying Wawayanda spirit it never did die". Build strong Frost Valley.
Eric Blum
1986-?