Here in Augusta and nearby, there are many camp grounds that
are used by various organizations and during the summer many groups ‘from away’
come for summer camp session. Peter
talked about these camps as being set up for ‘rich kids from New York and New Jersey’. Well I suppose that may well be as he says
because every 15 minutes there was a Lear Jet
type plane flying overhead heading for the Augusta airport as we walked
down to Hallowell yesterday. At the
church picnic I remarked to one of the local members that there were a lot of
planes coming in yesterday and asked if there was any sort of explanation. Oh, yes, she said, those are the rich parents
of the rich kids who are here in camp.
They have come for the day to visit their offspring. It is quite fun to drive past the airport to
see all these planes lined up on the tarmac and all the pilots just sitting
around waiting for their employers to make the return journey. She went on to say that the planes all take
off about 15 minutes apart at the end of the day. I cannot quite imagine owning a plane. I also cannot see myself owning a boat,
canoe, sailing skiff, ice fishing shack, quad runner, dune buggy and the
like. It all seems like too much bother
to take care of once you own it because the government probably has rules on
how to operate it and a tax in form of a license to use it. I think I liked Cray fishing as a kid in
Australia where all you needed was a piece of meat tied with a string and the
game was to lower the meat into the water by the creek bank and lure the Cray
fish out of his lair and bring him up to have him drop into the nearby
bucket. No expensive gear needed here,
and a feast of crayfish at the end of the day.
I went walking this morning down to rte. 3 and as I neared
the intersection, I noticed a police car swing into the “reverse direction”
road there. The policewoman got out and
was searching around in the grass and then she took out a camera and
photographed something, she was searching other places as well. When I got up to there I asked her what she
was looking for and she said evidence because someone got assaulted there last
night. It is an eerie feeling walking
through a crime scene.
What was even stranger was driving through Hallowell on the
way to church to see the streets deserted except for some early risers sitting
over their coffee at Slates Bakery there.
The city fathers had put up American Flags on every light post and the
street looked ready for a new day of activities, but the food vendors were all
gone and the craft tables were missing and you could actually go up Central
Street. Yesterday when we needed to go
up Central Street to go to the picnic, we could not due to the street being
closed off and craft fair tables setting out.
They announced at church today that Elder Hill has received
his phone call that he is going to be transferred this week. He has been here about 6 months and is a part
of the ward family. Yesterday during the
picnic he took part in the ‘cowpie eating contest’ and ended up with German Chocolate
Cake frosting all over his nose and face and the children were ecstatic to see
the missionary elders on their knees at the table trying to eat the ‘cowpie
treats’ with their hands behind their backs.
Quite a few of the little kids were trying to eat the same way and we
had a lot of chocolate frosting faces at the end. In every ward where I have lived, the
children are drawn to the missionary elders and since he has been here so long,
it will be sad for the little kids, but there will be a new elder next Sunday
and I am sure he will fit in easily.
Our adventure for the day was our dinner at the Owens family
home. It was a festive meal that began
with the kids filling up the base of the basketball hoop and everyone, even 5
yr old Leila trying to sink a basket. Soon
the bar-b-q was ready and we all went inside to eat. There were 4 girls who are sisters, one granddaughter,
4 missionaries and the parents. That
makes for quite a tribe to eat one meal together. We had bar-b-q chicken, hamburgers and
hotdogs. For dessert we had ice cream
popsicles and Klondike bars. A good time
was had by all and the only sad note is that this was the last time Elder Hill
would eat with this family. Two of the
girls are going off to girls camp tomorrow morning for a week. Girls camp is a test for the girls in this
cellphone age – they are not to have cellphones with them and they cannot have
any I-pods or I-pads or any type of computer or internet contact. For some of them it will be complete withdrawal……………..and
no hair dryers, no curling irons and after a day there is no makeup and the
fingernail polish gets chipped off and no one cares. When we lived in Pennsylvania I was girl’s
camp director for two years and went to another camp as a participant in
Dillsburg, Pa. We were at a Boy Scout
camp there.
Our supervisor made one giant mistake last week, but I have
forgiven him in my mind and it is very freeing for me. He still has to be told what he did by Mr.
Cheever and I wonder if he will apologize?
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