It's finally starting to feel like Autumn around here. Yesterday morning there was a light dusting of frost on neighborhood roofs, and the heater has come on a couple of times. Trees are shutting down for the winter and the air is full of falling leaves. It's breezy and cloudy outside, and the air still smells of the rain that fell overnight. I love this time of year.
Despite the crispness in the air, my hiking group found four Garter snakes on the trails around camp this week. Pictured here is the first find. We also had a minor run-in with Yellowjackets when one of the kids got to close to an underground nest. It might have been much worse if the weather had been warmer. As it was, one boy got stung on the side and one girl got stung on the tongue. I administered vinegar to the wounded and flicked a few wasps off of hats and jackets. It's funny to watch them busily stinging clothing. Talk about wasted effort.
Then, on the same hike, my cabin leaders (teen volunteers) forgot to check to make sure the kids picked up the backpack containing camp journals and the tote bag with the extra water, costing me an extra forty five minute round trip hike to retrieve them. It actually ended up being kind of nice though. It has been awhile since I've gone on a hike without being followed by a big group of kids. I love leading kids, of course, but the solitude of the solo hike helps me recharge batteries drained by the constant chaos of children.
All of the schools this week were private catholic schools. Students from three of the four schools were dropped off by parents rather than by bus, so the week began and ended with a severe parking crunch. On Friday, I actually had to guide the one bus in because there were about two inches of clearance on either side of it due to the sloppy parking jobs of the mobs parents who felt they were entitled to park wherever their SUV driving little hearts felt like. Apparently one parent parked right in the middle of the one road leading up to camp. I've seen this behavior while dropping off our own kids at school, and while manning the bus stop during summer camp. A certain percentage of the population seems to operate outside the realm of common sense and common courtesy.
On the bright side, while talking to the catholic school teachers, we learned that the Pope is now cool with the concept of evolution, at least to a degree.
I ended the week by actually getting to go out and see a movie with Jen - Stranger Than Fiction (which is both the name of the film we saw and very descriptive of our actually getting to go out on a date together, given all of our various commitments and perpetual lack of funds). Very good film.
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