Normally, August is one of my least favorite months mainly due to being incompatible with the weather. This August, however, was awesome.
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It started with my friend Josh visiting from Switzerland, where he currently lives. I hadn't seen him in person since 2008 and he remains true to form in his Josh-ness. At the same time Rew and Rebeq stopped by on their way back to Florida, from Maine.
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For a whole week I got to dance, sing, swim, eat wonderful food and hang out with even more wonderful people while at Pinewoods English and American Week.
My days looked a little like this:
7:15 - Fish cellphone cum alarm clock out from under my pillow, find clean(ish) clothes, attempt to get dressed without waking up my roommate, suspiciously sniff my washcloth and towel, but bring them to the bathroom anyway.
7:40 - Pick up the pace in the bathroom when the first breakfast bell rings.
7:45 - Arrive at breakfast as the second bell rings, fumble around with getting juice with a foggy brain.
7:50 - 8:35 - Breakfast with my lovely tablemates, posture awareness moments, noticing the zombies among us.
8:35 - Calling last call for tea and coffee, reminding people I just clean it up, not make it, almost getting a good rhythm for the job but not quiet making it perfect by the end of the week.
8:55 - Forgetting or almost forgetting to fill up my water bottle.
10:00 - Walk from Newbiggin to C# Minor - encounter people along the way and have short, strange, fun and silly conversations. Swing by C# to fill up water bottle even though it's the long way to go.
10:15 - English Country Dance Caller's Seminar. Talk, dance, talk dance, talk about dance, talk about talking, talk about music, talk about talking about dance, talk about talking about dance music. Laugh. Learn boatloads.
11:15 - Gathering - silly games, demonstrations. Lots more laughing.
11:55(ish) The great swim migration - everyone to the docks! Continuing the silly games on the raft or soaking sore joints. Maybe going to the bookstore.
12:25 - The first lunch bell - WHAT?! Where did the time go?
12:30 - Rushing up the path to the dinning hall, finding a remaining seat. Going begging for veggies, or salad or bread.
Post- Lunch bubbles, "editing" the menu on the whiteboard, catching up, sharing supplies.
1:45 - 2:45 Nap time, photo taking time, ECD caller's seminar homework time, icing ankles time.
3:00 - Morris with Jim Morrison means learning it 4 dances, sometimes in 3 different ways, in 5 days. Attempt to save knuckles. Decide with classmate that "The Happy Man" is a Hobbit Christmas Carol. Discover your best corner/partner combo for corner-cross dances ever, just in the nick of the for the show and tell on Friday.
Tea - please more food? Impromptu demonstrations in Ampleforth, continuations of several conversations from earlier that day or week or maybe it just feels like a continuation of a conversation?
4:30 - Harmony Singing by Ear (not watching the frisbee off the dock/raft game going on). Trying out the low part, slowly migrating to the high part as the week goes on because that section is rapidly dwindling. Goosebumps while we wander around and sing and hear each others' voices.
Pre-dinner Swim - Always, always, always a real swim, struggling to get my perpetually damp suit on my sweaty self. More frisbee from the dock/raft game to watch. Games on the raft, diving off the raft and conversations with a lot of pond water in between.
6:30 - Fight with my clothing on my damp body, find a spot to hang up your stuff on the back of the changing rooms, rush to dinner. Sit with the ravenous people, go begging for bread and veggies again.
Post dinner bubbles, changing into something a little nicer for the evening dance while still damp from your swim, interesting conversations with your roommate.
8:00pm Evening dance with English, contra, Quebecois (sometimes in Quebecois, but we all learned some new words), waltzes, quadrilles and so much laughing. T-rex arms circles.
11:00pm Swim or evening activities. Learn 8 thousand choruses, forget the verses, dance some more. Maybe swim again.
Giggle while walking back to the cabin. Pass others and see many flashlights along the paths across camp.
Take a Trip to Paris. Blissful shower.
1:30 - 2:30am Attempt to get into cabin without waking up roommate. Trying not to drop my dance shoes on the floor so loud - whoops! Set alarm clock and stuff it under my pillow. Fall asleep listening to the music and laughter of camp.
My NGI scholarship thank you letter, a bit more coherent than this, is posted
here.
My photos from the week (few and far between, I'm sorry to say), are
here.
I had a wonderful time and came back with a brain stuffed with new things, muscle memory for a few of them and many new and fantastic friends.
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I mentioned in my last post that I participated in the Ravellenic Games, but couldn't post what I'd created for it because it was a present. Well, it has been given now, so I can share!
My friends Janie and Tim are having a baby in October, so I made their baby-to-be a pumpkin hat! Their shower was quite full of lovely hand-made gifts and a huge selection of children's books (they requested books from the local bookstore). In addition to the hat I got them three Toot & Puddle books, and hope to find more for them as well.
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Mystic Garland, my Morris team, has also started up practice again. We have two new dancers and are preparing for Make We Joy. It has been interesting to start dancing and helping with teaching again after our summer break, but our new dancers have been quick studies.
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Most recently Vasya's oldest brother, his son and girlfriend all came to visit. We went to the farmer's market and the little music festival in the park. Hung out with one of Vasya's brother's college friends, went to the beach and to have lobster and ice cream down in Mystic, hung out in Boston and with one of Vasya's brother's friends from Russia, made food, made music and had a great time. The week went by too quickly!
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At work the fall semester started the Monday before labor day and the library was a flurry of activity while students printed out all the the paperwork that accompanies the start of the year. Library Information Literacy classes began the first week and fill much of the first two months already, so we will be very busy.
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Up Next:
A wedding in Ithaca,
Two big dance organizational meetings,
Catching up with a friend from college I haven't seen in a while!
2. Knitting books. I try to group these by type (Aran/cables, Fair Isle/Stranding, stitch dictionaries, techniques, etc) but they’re also divided, for practicality, by size (i.e. what fits into what bookcase).
