RHODE ISLAND - Harry Potter made me cry

So, after last week's not so much fun happenings this one took a considerable upturn for the following reasons:

1) Contact from many favourite people
Amazing how a few e-mails and one great big parcel can make a day better than it was. Darling Nicole, after a week or so of silence, suddenly typed off seven pages of wonderful e-mail which I got just before dinner on Wednesday. She's so lovely... And this was after receiving a massive package from the delightful Merry containing not only Harry Potter but also all sorts of random promotional bits and bobs. I ate the book in about six hours and got all sniffly at the end. (J.K. Rowling has repaired a lot of the damage from the snore enducing Book 5. All the major ommissions from that book are repaired, gone are all the fatty sidetracks to nowhere and the last incredible few chapters are the reading equivalent of being punched repeatedly in the gut. But pretty much in a good way. Can't say I agree with all her character choices in this one, but my faith is restored that she knows what she's doing with the series)

2) Getting to be all Mr. Centre of Attention
Nothing gets you noticed like a great big cast, y'know. I've had it for about twenty four hours now and it is, of course, as irritating as any great big piece of white cast can be. But, gotta say, it's better than the splint I've been wearing since at least now I can actually use some of my favourite features of my right hand. My thumb has been immoblised which means, evolutionarily speaking, I'm back to the level of apes. Except I can't swing through trees on account of my broken wrist.


Most popular cast. Ever.

3) Campers
Basically the make or break of the week given last week's little terrors. This week I was back to being a normal member of staff instead of a director and I think that makes a big difference. Directors have to constantly watch the clocks and check all the tiny behavioral details of their charges. Counselors get much the same but are generally as clueless about the schedule as everyone else and, ergo, don't get the blame when things go wrong. Program(me) staff get even less blame, just as long as the program(me)s are good. So I was in a better position anyway to begin with. But I also had the privilidge of working with Laura's wonderful Adventure Camp. These guys spend their whole week in the woods, putting up their own shelters and cooking all their own food, coming down just for program(me)s and occassional washing. I was with them for the best part of three days, setting them challanges and seeing how they responded. I had them running through the trees, balancing on logs and wires and capsizing canoes. Eventually, Laura decided we should give them the ultimate challenge: transport their entire food supply across the lake via canoes and row boats. Challenge was set, responded to and completed spectacularly. I was proud of all those guys (and we're talking young early teens here, mostly girls with only one guy among them) If I ever need a tarpaulin put up for me, I'm giving them a call.


Adventure camp on their latest mission. What you can't see from this picture is the level of panic rising in the furthest boat and Laura, closest to us, veering wildly across the lake. Rowing's trickier than it looks, first.

Next week I'm back directing. And it's the soccer camp. Bah. My plans, beatufully completed in incomprehensible left handed scrawl last Monday, were thrown into doubt with the news that I will probably only have six campers. That's six campers. Not even five a side teams. This could be one long week...