Author: Pam Cobb

Reflection and Resolution

Posted on by Pam Cobb

It’s no coincidence that the New Year is ushered in directly following the December holidays. It gives us a chance to reflect and reset a balance in our lives.

Since many families have been busy with school vacation holiday time, the Camp Runoia office phone have gone a bit quiet and emails have turned from a torrential downpour to a trickle. We, too, have taken family holiday time.  It’s amazing to me how refreshing it is to S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N.

My holiday reflections and subsequent feelings of gratitude are multifaceted. The board games come off the shelf, the library book pile gets dug out and meal times are lengthy and meaningful. Dog walks are longer. Discussions are more intentional. Having a coffee with a friend doesn’t seem like a guilty pleasure but a delightful occasion. There is no lack of rich roods. Again, it’s no mistake that New Year’s resolutions follow the feasting of the holidays.

What are your ponderings about the year? Have you thought of resolutions you want to employ in 2013? Whatever they might be or not be, there is a world of people who are unified in belief that the changing of one year to another is significant and provides a chance to reset.

My resolutions? Being present in the moment and taking time to smell the roses are all wrapped up in my concerted effort to maintain a balance between efficient life work and slowing down. My experience over this week has been refreshing and in a sense, simple. It reminds me of a childhood summer at camp. What’s not to love about that.

Happy New Year Camp Runoia – take a minute out of your busy day to fill in the blanks!

 

Trimming The Tree

Posted on by Pam Cobb

As many of you know I grew up in England where the holiday traditions are a little different.  In my childhood home our Christmas tree always magically appeared overnight.  My mother decorated it while we were in bed; it was trimmed to perfection with matching glass balls, tinsel and fancy colored lights with even the star on top coordinating and perfectly aligned.  I loved the tree of my childhood and my first years of living in Maine I missed it terribly.  Even with the joy of tromping through the woods to pick and cut the perfect Maine balsam fir it didn’t feel quite right.

Now as my own family has grown and I have embraced the traditions around me my favorite part of the holiday season is our tree. As we trim it together with mismatched decorations, white and sometimes blue lights and a random assortment of homemade treasures that remind us of past years, we laugh, reminisce and share stories about the meaning each ornament has. From the cute baby sized handprint reindeer, the occasionally tacky souvenir from faraway places (think Santa in swim shorts riding a turtle from Hawaii!) to the glitter pine cones Uncle Frank made one year everything has sentimental meaning.  As we individually pull things from the storage boxes the kids love to see who can reach the highest and even though we have a one ornament per branch rule our tree is a mismatch of color, shape and content.  From the bells that hang around the bottom to catch any sneaky elves who may want to climb up the tree, to the handmade angel given to us by a dear friend we truly cherish each and every ornament.

Our tree is a poignant, annual reminder of all we have to be thankful for and the love we share in our home. Oh and in case you were wondering and wanted to compare ‘our tree is the biggest, most beautiful tree in the whole, wide world’

I hope that however you celebrate the Holidays you have special family traditions that allow you to spend quality time with the ones you love the most.

From our home to yours we send much love for a Happy Holiday season. Alex

The NEW American Diet

Posted on by Pam Cobb

After lunch, as I look out on the Apple Tree field (looking like a Currier and Ives card with 24+ hours of snow falling), I take a minute to dig into my “to read” pile. My newest magazine is AARP. Yep! Although I’ve resisted embracing the Assocation of Retired People, they are persistent and every since I turned 50 a few years ago, their magazine continues to show up in my office. Today’s article is “the New American Diet”. After finishing my veggie burger and pickle with pear for dessert, I feel semi-self-righteous diving into the article.

Here are the tips from Dr. John Whyte, followed by Runoia’s approach:

  • Have breakfast every day – we have a great camp breakfast with loads of choices for everyone.
  • Drink more water – our daily Assembly water announcement sounds like we are doing the right thing!
  • Get fishy – I feel really great about adding fish back to the menu one time a week.
  • Embrace whole grains – brown rice? whole wheat bread? Oatmeal and bran? yes, yes, yes!
  • Fill up on fruits and veggies – salad bar option twice a day, breakfast bar with fresh fruit, fresh fruit snacks, carrots & hummus. We are doing well!
  • Include low-fat dairy food – we do well with no-fat yogurt on the breakfast bar. please give us your suggestions for other low-fat substitutes.
  • Don’t eat out for two weeks – assuming they are not referring to our camping trips, we comply!
  • Snack smart (okay, I confess, I changed this from “Snack often”) – we serve healthy snacks 3 times a day.
  • Chew gum – sorry folks, I don’t this coming to camp any time soon. The top of the list of reasons is how to dispose of said gum on the way to the archery range.

Healthy Holidays!

The Season of Appreciation

Posted on by Pam Cobb

This time of year I am grateful for many things – I am especially grateful for the people in my life: family, friends and professional peers and mentors.

Camping lost another hero this year with the passing of Phil Cobb, my dad. He was a quiet leader in Maine camping, following his father and grandfather into the profession and marrying a dedicated camp enthusiast and future camp director, my mom. As a teacher and educator in Princeton, Phil was known by many people by his broad smile, strong work ethic and friendly style of teaching and interacting. As a camp director and owner in Belgrade Lakes, Maine, a school adminstrator in Princeton, New Jersey and a family man, his dance card was full. At camp he was seen with his camera in hand documenting the summer’s events or teaching in a sail boat, driving the motor boat or picking up camping trip groups in the Big Blue Truck. Every Friday night in the summer he arrived at camp and every Monday morning he was back at work in Princeton. A volunteer for Maine Camps – attracting families to Maine to choose camps in Maine, his dedication to youth, education and camping was larger than life. Later in life, his dedication continued with his work with the senior Peace Corps in the Philippines, with Maine conservation, volunteering at the Maine Attorney General’s office – focused on helping others and staying connected to youth and education.

In this holiday season, I think poignantly about those who are important to me – intentionally taking in the moments with friends and family and cherishing the here and now.

Overnight Camps Offer Hurricane Help

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Last week I was lucky enough to be a part of a great group of local, Maine camps that were supporting the hurricane relief efforts in NY.  I spent the day on Friday driving around a variety of overnight camps that are local to my home in Raymond.  We collected nonperishable food, pet food, water, paper goods, sleeping bags and other useful items that were loaded into camp vans to be driven down to NY.  It was amazing to see other overnight camps all closed up for the winter and meet the hard working maintenance staff who are usually the only people on site at this time of year.

The vans were then driven by one of the other camp directors directly to a community that the Red Cross had not yet reached and who were in desperate need of basic supplies.  They received a very warm welcome and the people were excited that Maine camps cared about their needs.

Maine camps are a tight knit community and everyone pitched in to ensure we packed in as much stuff as we could (Runoia trip staff might want to borrow my packing skills!).  It was a day of community building and caring.

Just back from New York and I have to say today was amazing! To be able to give to others in need is what life is all about.

Runoia was proud to be a part of this effort. To our families in NY and NJ please reach out to us if there is anything that we can help you with.

Send us your stories of how you are helping to make a difference in your community. Keep making the world a better place. Alex

Voting at Camp Runoia

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Today is a day I am proud to be an American. Democracy at its finest – the opportunity for US citizens over the age of 18 to vote. The opportunity for people’s voices to be heard. The chance to elect the leaders who best represent us and to cast our votes on issues that are important to us.

Camp Runoia has its own piece of democracy and holds elections at camp each summer. We give the chance for each camper to vote for her team captain. After we’ve had a chance as a camp to discuss leadership qualities we think are important in a captain, those tiny slips of white paper and golf pencils are handed out and each camper hand writes her vote. It’s been done like this for summer after summer since 1923 when the Blue and White Teams were created at Camp Runoia. Hand written nostalgia. Once the votes are cast, colllected and tallyed, the session team captains are announced to the whole camp with great cheering and excitement.

This summer we had eight girls representing their teams in the two sessions: First Session captains were Kayley and Charlie for the Whites, Piper and Itsy for the Blues and in Second Session: Samantha and Cate for the Whites; Carolyn and Tessa for the Blues. These captains worked hard, led courageously, cheered on their teams when they needed encouragement, organized field line up and batting/kicking order, helped at swim races and organized daily at Flag Raising – a camp tradition.

Hooray for our camp team captains!

Hooray for Camp Runoia and most of all, hooray for democracy.

The First Snow

Posted on by Pam Cobb

It’s true.

This morning there was snow coming out of the sky over Camp Runoia. Although the lake is still fairly warm and, of course, not yet frozen, there was snow falling amongst the hemlocks and pines at camp. Each cabin looks tidy and well groomed – waiting for girls voices, laughter and pitter-pattering feet of next summer. But meanwhile, the seasons are turning just like our summer days: “turning always into morning and from morning into night”. As soon as there is enough snow to take pictures of, we’ll be posting them for you to see your camp blanketed in Maine snow!

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Have fun! Be safe! Let your imagination run wild!

Great ideas from Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hghw.org) about Halloween:

This Halloween Let Your Daughter’s Creativity Sparkle (Not Just Her Costume)

Tips and Costume Ideas from Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D. and Sharon Lamb, Ed.D.

Authors of Packaging Girlhood: Rescuing Our Daughters from Marketers’ Schemes (St. Martin’s Press, 0-312-35250-6)

1.     On a day when she can be anyone or anything, princesses and Divas should not be her only Halloween choices! It’s not that pink and pretty is bad, but it squeezes out other possibilities. Girls love it, yes, but they also love double fudge-frosted brownies, and you wouldn’t want them eating a steady diet of that stuff.

2.     Be creative with your daughter’s costumes. Imagination can help girls break out of gender stereotypes…and fantasy is a great practice for reality.

3.     Encourage your daughter to be anyone or anything.  If they are encouraged to look around them, they will see women doing wild, brave and phenomenal things.  (Astronaut is NOT a boy costume!) This will give them permission to be wild, brave and phenomenal too!

4.     Don’t assume that you know what your daughter likes.  She is bombarded with pink princesses, sexy divas and pop stars, but she may surprise you! Talk about possibilities.  If she chooses pink and glittery, encourage her to add her own twist to her costume. If she wants to be a queen, let her carry a sheath and sword in case she needs to fight for her crown!

5.     Spend time with her and listen to what she likes and why. Sitting down and talking about Halloween costumes is a great learning and bonding experience. Help her to recall the best costumes she saw last year,” Remember when those three girls who were best friends dressed as the Three Musketeers?”  And it’s also a great opportunity to open the door to new possibilities.

6.     Sit down with a paper and pencil and let your daughter create her own character and story.  She can raid the family closets or dress up box to become the wildest character she can think of!

Picking a Costume…. A Chance to Be Anything and Everything!

7.     If your daughter is set on pink and glittery, let her pink and glitter DO something.  Help her imagine a feisty fairy who can take on the magical realm’s evil dragon or let her be a butterfly that saves the insect world or even a princess who can use a map to find her own way to the ball! She can be a pink superhero who saves the universe or a sparkly firefighter or even a sparkly skeleton!

8.     If your daughter loves scary stories and the history of Halloween let her go traditional and be a witch, a monster, or ghost. If she’s a witch, avoid all those sexy diva witch costumes in the catalogs; instead, encourage her to look as scary, ugly, and awful as she can.

9.     Does your daughter have a favorite book? A favorite character? Reread the book with her and think about what she’ll need to get into character.  She can be Madeline, Anne of Green Gables, Dorothy of OZ or Hermione Granger. She can even be the scarecrow or the Wicked Witch of the West, or even the wizard Dumbledore.  Tell her she doesn’t need to limit herself to the girl leads in each of these!

10.  There is no reason she can’t be a character usually reserved for boys! Halloween is all about being what you aren’t…let her stretch her imagination to become a vampire, ghoul, or cowpoke. Teach her that just because the police officer and firefighter costumes are labeled “for boys” does not mean they are off limits to her.  There are plenty of female police officers and fire fighters in real life!

11.  Is your daughter an athlete? This is her chance to become her idol off the court, field or racetrack. She can be Mia Hamm, Danica Patrick or Sheryl Swoopes.

12.  If your daughter has just learned about Amelia Earhart or Joan of Arc at school, Halloween is a great opportunity to make learning fun.  Sit down with her and talk about real women pirates, explorers and spies.  Visit the library and check out books on Jane Goodall (a costume could be completed with a stuffed chimpanzee) or Sally Ride! But don’t stop there.  Why can’t she be Van Gogh with a palette, paintbrushes and a bandage on her ear?  Why can’t she be Mozart with a ruffled shirt, a powdered wig, a feather pen and composition pad?  It’s great to learn about women in history who have made their mark, but this is a day of imagination so she can be anyone, any profession, any role.

©2006 Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D and Sharon Lamb, Ed.D

Our Runoia Campers letting their imagination run wild on the theme of Charlotte’s Web this summer at Baynie’s 90th Birthday Party: