Summer Flies By

The cicadas are in the midst of their rite of passage, emerging freshly formed and green from the hard exoskeleton of childhood. The one above was emerging next to the lowermost metal rung on a redwood tree down at our ropes course. I spent a lot of time ensuring that it didn't get kicked while the campers began their ascents, and just as much time photographing its first few breaths of adulthood.

Ahwanee the kingsnake tried to eat my arm, reminding me why I usually leave her in her cage. The campers were really interested in the process. Falcon, who was one of my counselors last week, took the picture.

We just finished up the first week of Trailblazers, which is a more science/natural history based summer camp. When one considers that three out of four (everyone but me) of my coworkers had never worked this particular camp option, the week went really well. We did an overnight, doing all of the things that the regular day camp does, and adding telescopes into the mix as well. That was a long shift, starting at 8:15 AM on Wednesday, and ending at 4:30 PM on Thursday. We did get some sleep in the middle of it, of course, and fortunately, the kids slept well. The only downside to the week was that some of the kids had behavior issues, ranging from not knowing when to stop talking to outright disrespect. We were also quite short on counselors (called "mentors" for this program), with only three of them sticking out the week. The fourth counselor was my stepson Nathan, known as "Manzanita" at camp, but since he has an actual job, he vanished now and then.

Plus, it was hot. When we woke up on the field before 7:00 on Thursday morning, it was already hot. Later that day, we came across a Northern Alligator lizard hanging out in the creek. So, it was lizard-in-the-creek hot.

Cedar, who works the Wild Things program, walked by my group at one point and showed us a Calisoga spider molting he'd found next to the freshly molted spider. He told me where he'd seen the spider, and we went and found it the next day. Calisogas are my favorite local spider.

At the end of the week, I had the kids contribute to a nature mandala on the forest floor, and then we used it as a centerpiece for the closing moments of our final hike as a group. Some of the kids got into the spirit of the moment, but there were a few who felt compelled to be the center of attention the whole time, which put a bit of a damper on things. It was a nice mandala though.

The week marked a couple of firsts too. Moonlight and I both played guitar in front of actual audiences (first in front of the campers, and then at the Wednesday evening campfire program, in front of both campers and parents). Are we very good? No, but we were apparently proficient enough to pass muster.

Also on Wednesday, there was a solemn tolling of the bell to mark the halfway point of the summer camp season (Insert cliche of your choice about the voracious tendency of the past to eat the future).