FLASHBACK FRIDAY ~ June 19, 2015 ~ SUMMER FUN AT CAMP PAGWEAK ~

FLASHBACK FRIDAY ~ June 19, 2015 ~ SUMMER FUN AT CAMP PAGWEAK ~ I really have to thank incredibly amazing and talented loomers extraordinaire, @AMANDAANDMONICARLOOMY for providing the inspiration for this weeks post. They recently posted a picture on Instagram that reminded me so much of a skit that used to be performed at Camp Pagweak (pronounced "Peg-We-Ack") almost every year.

In the skit, called "Helping Hands", one person wears an over-sized raincoat or something similar and another person sits behind them, hiding underneath the coat. The person in the back, blind, acts as the arms for the person in front. Whether the skit is eating food, (something messy like cereal or spaghetti), or putting on make-up, (especially amusing when the performers are both boys, who haven't had much experience at all with make-up), it is always hilariously funny and great fun for both the audience and the actors.

My husband, son and I were recently talking about summer camp for my son. He has never been to an overnight camp and is, understandably, a little bit apprehensive. I tried to reassure him, telling him of the many years and great experiences that I had at Camp Pagweak (but I didn't tell him EVERYTHING ~ even though it is a church run Christian camp, I do have some secrets to keep)!!

All told, I went to Camp Pagweak a total of 16 times, if not more. From when I was just 7 years old until I was 16-17 years old. I know that mathematically that doesn't add up properly to equal 16 years worth of camp. However, I loved going so much, that there were several years that I went three times a year. I  attended Summer Camp for a week each summer starting when I was 7, and when I was older, the Youth Group at our church would spend a long weekend, one in the in the Spring and one in the Fall, at Camp Pagweak.

Some of my very best memories and very best friends were from camp. I am truly so very thankful and grateful to my parents for not only encouraging and allowing us to go, but also for paying for all those camps for so many years!

As I said, I was 7 years old the first time I attended summer camp. I believe that was the only all-girls camp that I ever attended. I was fortunate enough my first year there to have our next-door neighbour as the counsellor of the cabin I was in, limiting some of my homesickness. (Although, to be honest, I had such a great time that I'm pretty sure I didn't think about home once that whole week).

The following year our family vacation happened to coincide with the girls camp for that year and after bending a few rules and pulling some strings, I was permitted to attend the co-ed camp for kids aged 10-12, a few years older than my 8 years of age. (I never did attended another all-girls camp after that first year).

As I mentioned, some of my favourite memories are from the years I spent at camp. A few in particular stand out. I won't go into great detail, it being a Christian camp, after all, but my first real kiss and boyfriend happened at camp. I remember the kiss clearly, his name was Dana and we were sitting on a lower bunk in my cabin, playing a game on Merlin. Does anyone else remember that cool, hand-held, red, electronic game?? I wonder what ever happened to those? 

Another great memory is from 1984, the year that we argued and won the right to have a dance at camp. Being a church run camp, dances had never been allowed up until that year. It did not hurt our cause any that the movie "Footloose" happened to be released in February of that year (probably what prompted our idea for a dance in the first place) and in fact, was the persuading factor in our argument!

During my younger years at camp, long before kisses and boyfriends and dances, I thought one of the very best things about camp was Tuck. Tuck was a canteen that opened every afternoon during our free time and using tuck money that our parents had left for us, we would line up and climb the three or four steps up to the Tuck window and place our orders. I usually always got a bag of Salt and Vinegar chips, 5 red licorice, a chocolate bar, Mars, of course, and a can of pop, sometimes Rootbeer, sometimes Coke. I hate to age myself by admitting that my daily allotment of Tuck money was only $2.00!! Can you imagine?? All that for only $2.00????

For many years I had a crush on a boy named Mark who attended the same camps that I did from the first time that I went to mixed camp when I really wasn't old enough to be there. (Mark is also the reason that Salt and Vinegar is my favourite kind of chips! I tell people the same thing that I heard Mark say, "I like that kind because not many other people do, and that lessens that likelihood of my having to share")! 

The boys cabins were on the left side of the driveway as you drove into the camp, (not ironically, I don't imagine, closest to the adults and leaders cabins)! The girls cabins were up at the top of a slight hill to the right as you pulled into the driveway. We were all on pins and needles in anticipatory excitement as we watched our friends from the years before get out of their cars. We would have to wait patiently (or not so patiently, I know there was a lot of running around and screaming) as each new camper pulled up, got registered, gathered their luggage and sleeping bags. Im sure we all held our breath, all the while saying a silent prayer that our girlfriends had been assigned to our cabin this year. 

I will never forget the year that the boys challenged the girls to a pillow fight. It wasn't really a camp sanctioned activity, but the leaders and counsellors kindly pretended to not know what we were planning. Just after dark, the boys crept from their cabins and we all converged on the hill leading to the girls cabins. The counsellors did a great job at pretending not to know what we were up to. I distinctly remember seeing a several of them from both the boys and girls cabins, pummelling each other with their own pillows!

The pillow fight never did get to the point that we are familiar seeing on television (I'm not sure any really do) and we didn't have feathers flying all over the place, sticking to hair and clothing, making us all look like we had been tarred and feathered. (Would have been nice though)! I'm pretty sure the fight ended in a draw, which is how it should be. Nobody got seriously hurt, everyone was laughing and burning off excited energy, and it was great fun for everyone.

Somehow, I ended up getting tackled during the pillow fight and my ankle was sprained. I was in a lot of pain but it hurt far more that I was going to miss out on the dance the next night (yes, dances had become a yearly event, thanks to the Mixed Camp of 1984).

It was probably just wishful thinking on my part, but I'm pretty sure that Mark just may have had a little crush on me too. He showed up at my cabin door with his good buddy Jack, and insisted on carrying me down to the dance. He even brought his own pillow to prop up my sore ankle! He and Jack "borrowed" a wheeled chair from the office and we danced by him pushing the chair around the dance floor. For my first slow dance ever with a boy, Mark held me up, my feet resting on the tips of his sneakers so that I didn't have to put any weight on my sore ankle (although he probably didn't have to hold me up at all as I'm pretty sure that Cloud 9 was supporting me the whole night)!

Every year, each cabin was assigned a task, whether it be cabin checks with the counsellors, groundskeeping, cooking, dishes or what have you, we all had responsibilities. The songs we sang during campfires still remain in my head, as does the morning grace ~ "Oh the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the Apple trees, the Lord is good to me, Johnny Appleseed, let's eat!" (And yes, we always had to sing it a second time to say "Amen" at the end). 

A favourite mealtime occurrence was catching people with their elbows on the table. You would get two chances, during which, if caught, everyone would sing "Connie, Connie strong and able get your elbows off the table" and on your third strike, this line was added to the end of the chant "round the cabin you must go, you must go, you must go, round the cabin you must go, 1, 2, 3, . . ." The sooner you got back meant the less minutes that you had to spend eating your meal under the table!!

Carol was THE best cook any camp ever had, anywhere, EVER!! She also happened to be the cook from my high school cafeteria. We got to know and love each other pretty well over the years, both at camp and school. Everyone always looked forward to the evening meal, because it was the only one not prepared by campers. The most memorable evening meal was a surprise "Utensil" meal.

As we walked into the lodge, the leaders were there, holding a huge bowl above our heads. We had to reach a hand in and grab whatever utensil we came upon. I think I came out with a spatula, but my brother, (who attended almost every camp with me) pulled out an eggbeater. Not an electric one, but the kind that had a handle you wound to spin two beaters. There were other such cooking utensils that the kids grabbed as well.  Two-tined forks, mixing spoons, wooden spoons, measuring cups, tongs, pie servers, etc. and we had that, and ONLY that to eat with. Good 'ol Cook Carol, whom I am convinced was in on it from the get-go, made spaghetti that night for supper!! You can imagine the mess that we made!

I just noticed the several times that I easily slipped from past to present tense in the above paragraphs. Really, truly, those were the days!! So, thank you so much Amanda and Monica, for sharing your post and promoting my very memorable jaunt down memory lane!!

Not to mislead anyone (Mom, Dad), camp really was more than just boys, pillow fights and dances, REALLY!! We had great fun sharing stories and learning of God's love. I learned how to play the piano, sort of, more or less. (More less than more actually). But I cherish the time I spent sitting on the bench beside Mark as he taught me how to pluck out this tune, which unfortunately I don't know the name of, just the keys that I play, (and by "play" I mean tap each key with a single finger ~ I was after all kicked out of piano lessons when my instructor told my mom that she was wasting her money on sending me there). Here are the keys that play:

F, A, C, D, D#, D, C, A

F, A, C, D, D#, D, C

C, E, G, A, A#, A, G, E

F, A, C, D, D#, D, C, A

There were also wonderful crafts, quiet time, swimming and campfires and fellowship with friends. And also a yearly midnight trek along the beach cliffs, guided only by our flashlights. (Ok, so that last one wasn't exactly a camp sanctioned event either, but it was a lot of fun! Albeit very scary at times)! And I wouldn't trade a single, solitary moment of any of it for anything in the whole wide world.

(Somewhere, I still have my old, purple sleeping bag that has been signed on the inside many years over, by friends and fellow campers. If I can find it ~ I'm hoping I have it here in Ottawa with me and not at my parent's house in Nova Scotia ~ I will post some pics of it, raggedy as it must be)!

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