Happy Campers descended on the St Francis’ campground in droves on a crisp, foggy, ephemeral twilight summer’s eve this past Thursday, June 27. They were met with the scene of a warm and blazing campfire encircled with blankets draped over rickety camp chairs. Ken performed an admirable and vigilant job as fire chief though, while sweating profusely, he was heard to mumble, “Oh, I wish I had a HATCHET!”, all the while trying to wedge logs that were too long into a too-small fire pit!
The adjacent camp table creaked and swayed under a cornucopia of hot dogs, buns, and s’more ingredients, including graham crackers, marshmallows, and dark and regular chocolate (for those campers with discerning tastes).
The forty-odd campers, many strapped up with camping gear, swashbuckled their way to the lemonade stand to quench their insatiable thirst. Then they ducked their way into the Parish Hall where they all gave their offerings to the potluck feast, which included everything from baklava to KFC!
and….quite an array of salad and chip choices!
The campers huddled together for warmth and formed groupings of comrades whom they had never had the chance to get to know previously. New friendships were sealed as they persevered and braced themselves against the cold San Francisco night.
As for the children/young adults, the young girls were seen flitting through the courtyard wearing beautiful butterfly capes as they danced in the midst of a cloud of bubbles spouting from a bubble machine, coaxed into operation by Ron.
The preteens and teens transformed the Guild Hall into a 10-foot by 5-foot movie theater with Patrick at the controls, and enjoyed the crashing Dolby sights and sounds of a Spiderman movie while snugly tucked into their sleeping bags.
Then the clock struck 9, the camp directors blew their whistles, and magically… many hands put the sticky marshmallow mess that was revealed under the bright lights into a place that was cleaner than when they arrived.
Finally, they bid each other farewell, wished each other good health, folded up their tents, and headed down the path to their warm homes.