Tag: camp maine overnight girls

Love, Happy, Peace

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Merry, joy, love, happy, peace. Words oft used around the holidays, be it on holiday cards, signs, or said aloud to others within greetings and expressions. My blind guess would be that December comes in at the top of the list if there were some obscure ranking in which certain months of the year are then most tied to these lovely words. That top-ten list is not one to be found on the Travel Channel or the Weather Channel anytime soon, but you can picture the idea.

However, there is a place I know where these words are truly befitting, and the setting is smack dab in the middle of summer. As Jai Cobb Kells’ husband and Pam Cobb’s son-in-law, I get a front row seat to the magic of Camp Runoia. As a father of three daughters, two of which attend Camp Runoia during the summer months, I get a veritable look behind the curtain.

I’m at Runoia on weekends during the summer, and my duties usually entail hanging out with our youngest daughter Frannie, who is a spirited two-year old.

Frannie!

She has a yearning to explore and a propensity to run off in glee as fast as her little legs will carry her, typically with me chasing behind. We are frequent visitors all over the camp grounds, constantly seeing the beauty of children who are in the present moment, full of life. Is there a better place to be? Frannie and I find ourselves at the waterfront, where campers are laughing, swimming, singing, making bracelets, braiding hair, hugging, and learning water activities. Words like merry and happy are easy descriptions to any observer. We find ourselves in the dining hall, where the waves of joy and energy come over and through the tables again and again like infinite waves on a shoreline. We find ourselves in the communal Lodge reading books, playing piano, and soaking in the rich Runoia history with other campers. We find ourselves adventuring to the archery pavilion, or hanging out in the graceful presence of the horses in the fields, watching girls learn to harmonize their energy. We’re often found trying to hit a badminton birdie around with laughing campers, or climbing the tree house, or trying to find the biggest tree in sight, or holding the bunnies.

Camping at camp

Behind it all, the omnipresent feelings of peace and love are often what I notice most. Of course, as a parent, I notice different things now than I did when I was camper age, but these are the big ones nowadays. Peace, love, joy, genuine happiness – this is the good stuff. These are the emotions that bring vibrant color to a child’s life, last indefinitely, and ensure hopeful futures. Like Camp Runoia, these qualities instill a belonging in the universe…so it makes perfect sense that they are found there and exist together. And where / when everything and everybody belongs, no matter what, then everything is to be loved.

To be part of a setting that organically provides that very concept, I am truly grateful…and merry!

Jesse Kells

Education for Camp Directors

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Once again Maine Summer Camps was hosted by the Migis Lodge resort for our annual membership meeting and education and networking event. Migis provides the quintessential Maine resort experience. At this meeting for directors and owners, educational round tables and a lovely luncheon were offered. The prestigious Halsey Gulick award was given to Alan Kissick of Kingsley Pines. Congratulations Alan!

Educational topics were in a round table format where camp directors and administrators shared their challenging moments and the group helped process together and shared best practices systems. It is always a fantastic opportunity for peers to get together for a common good. It is infrequent in this world where direct competitors actually want to make camps safer and better  for all campers and staff by sharing and helping each other.

Another highlight of the event is seeing friends over an amazing cook out lunch hosted by Migis Lodge. Sitting by the waterside, enjoying the September sun as it pokes its way out of the misty clouds is a great way to wrap up the summer.

We are lucky to have such close ties to the Maine camp community. Thank you Maine Summer Camps and Maine Camp Experience for the networking opportunities and educational opportunities you provide to Maine camps.

Next up for networking and education for Maine camp owners is the fall Maine Camp Experience meeting. Camp owners and board members meet in October in Portland, Maine.

Solfege and other challenges – building life skills

Posted on by Alex

I tend to spend my free evenings learning my choir music.  For the past few nights I’ve been watching YouTube videos designed for preschoolers!  I am trying to learn a new skill that will help me musically and one that is definitely a step out of my comfort zone.  Solfege (the ‘do re mi’ scale) has a set of hand signals that go with it, I never knew about them until recently and am now trying to learn them and be able to use them competently.  It is hard!

I am not as musically talented as some of my peers, I don’t have any natural ability to sound perfect pitch and while I have sung in a choir for most of my life my sight reading is at best mediocre.  I need help on a level that works for me and I’ve finally found it.

Solfege hand signs

The videos are very basic and include auditory and visual learning segments that are great. The style is working for me.   Watching is helping immensely (likely the 3 year olds that are also using them are already much more competent!) and supporting the work we do in choir but I have to keep practicing, working at it and challenging myself.  There is no instant gratification, it is taking time.  I forget what I have learned, can’t transfer the skill to more complex pieces and sometimes just don’t feel motivated to keep sticking with it.  I  get frustrated that it is so easy for other people to pick up quickly or jealous of those that had the opportunity to learn it more organically.

In all truth I don’t really have to learn it, I am making a conscious choice to challenge myself and learn something new that I know will have some benefit but is not crucial to my performance as a singer.  Even though it is hard I am committed to making progress and improving my level of accomplishment, I am self-motivated to get better and to stick with it.

At Camp Runoia girls are challenged every day with new skills.   Some are self elected and others are dictated as part of our daily routine of camp life.  There are those that are certainly more essential than others and potential some that will never be mastered.  We present skills to girls in different ways that will hopefully help all learners grasp the concepts.  Sometimes exploration happens independently and often an ‘aha’ moment comes during a teachable moment.   Skill building is never wasted even if success takes hours, days and even years to achieve.  The life skills that we learn at camp are transferable to other areas of life. Hard work, determination, practice, patience, tolerance of self and others, acceptance, perseverance not receiving instant gratification and so many more.  Camp provides a supportive environment for girls to feel confident to try new things and build new skills.

I am off to use my life skills to keep working on mastering my solfege!

 

 

What is the best age to start camp?

Posted on by Alex

Is your daughter ready for an extended sleep away experience? Is her age a determining factor?

Trying to figure out when the right age to start camp is can be a real challenge for families.  Actual yearly age carries a lot of weight in our society.  We celebrate milestone Birthdays with celebrations and sometimes commiserations!  My daughter is about to become a teenager and I have been blown away by how much emphasis there is surrounding this event.  Mom friends commiserate that I will have a ‘teenager on my hands’ it is apparently just the beginning of the tumultuous years and I am supposed to shower her in adult type recognition and responsibility to help her develop her true self as a young adult.   Truth is she will be the same person today at 12 as she will be tomorrow when she turns 13. She has displayed some of the teenager characteristics for a couple of years, others are sure to develop over time or may never appear on our radar.  Age does not define us yet it has societal normative behaviors placed up on it.

As a parent I feel like I am often battling the social norms imposed upon my children.  It is hard to go up against them when ‘everyone else’ does it, has it or has been there.  I love that my sons school uses the ‘wait ’til eight’ theory for cell phone use as it has taken the pressure off getting my 6th grader a phone as it is not the norm in their school culture.

Figuring out when your daughter is the right age for camp can also appear to have social norms and external pressure about when is the right time to send kids off to sleep away camp.  We all know that kids develop at their own pace, have varying life experiences and certainly come with an array of different personalities that are more or less conducive to the camp experience.  We often get calls from concerned parents wondering if their rising 7th grader is ‘too old’ now for camp? Or if aged 7 is ‘too young’ to start.   Will she fit in if she didn’t start in 5th grade when all of her classmates went off to camp?  Can we advise them about what truly is the best age to send your child to an overnight camp experience?

Kayaking is a great activity for all ages.

The truth is there is only a perfect age for each individual child, some kids are ready at 7 others at 12 or 13 and some girls  just may never have the desire to be away for an extended time period.  As we talk to parents starting the camp research process we are always excited to chat about their daughters and to help them figure out if she may be ready to join the Runoia fun.

Great questions to ponder for prospective families are: how does your daughter feel about camp? is she driving the process? does she enjoy being away from home overnight with family or friends? is she age appropriately confident managing her own things and time?

If you are pondering camp for 2019 and are wondering if your daughter is ready give us a call we are happy to help support you in the process – Camp Runoia  207 495 2228.

 

Out on the Blue Waves

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Perhaps you’ve paused to wonder, “why does Runoia reference Out on the Blue Waves so frequently”.

Well, it’s a favorite Runoia song, of course. And, it’s more than a song.

It conjures up memories for many. It reminds people of their accomplishments and achievements. It makes women recognize when they were girls, they were sailing boats, paddling canoes, surfing on wind surfers, and swimming to the Big Float, to Oak Island, across the Soapies, out to the Marjorie. Many of these references are Runoia unique names for the names of floating rafts or the area we have recreational swim in at camp. Those tales are another story for another blog!

But the important thing is girls, young and older are propelling through and over the water and learning skills Out on the Blue Waves. So, it’s a phrase that’s more than a song. Just to satisfy your curiosity, here’s the song lyrics to the chorus:

Out on the blue waves, where summer breezes blow

Our boats go sailing into sunset glow.

We leave the shoreline, to realms of dreams we go,

Out to the center of the lake where breezes blow.

and you can hear the whole song here

Enjoy and be proud of all you accomplish #runoiagals !!

 

Runoia Summer Camp Raids & Pranks; scale 1-10

Posted on by Pam Cobb

Back in the day, the use of the word “raid” meant when one group of campers or staff did something to make another group laugh or be surprised or think to themselves, “Oh! How clever!”.  A few classic Runoia raids had to do with major shenanigans by counselors.

Examples include:

Moving canoes to the Kickball Field and decorating them with a tapestry of multi-colored spinnaker sails running off of a pole erected between the maze of canoes.  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of regret raiders had when they had to put everything away in the morning = 100.

Taking an entire dining hall table with place settings and plates taped to it, benches and chairs and moving it to the Majorie (float).  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of anxiousness by cooks when table was missing = 100.

Placing Betty Cobb’s car keys in a Pine Island Camp hat in the parking lot and moving her car to the lawn at the beach.  Level of effort = 10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10, level of furiousness Betty Cobb displayed upon discovery = 100.

As time went on, raids morphed into a surprise trick or act that often left one group mad at the other. Somehow, the name raid also morphed into prank and they were less complicated and less clever:

These included stunts like taking a person’s under garments and running them up the flag pole only to be discovered in front of everyone in the morning. Level of effort = 2, level of cleverness = 1, level of surprise, embarrassment and humiliation = 100.

Or taking everyone’s pillow in one cabin and hiding it in the Pix of another.  Level of effort = 1, level of cleverness = 1, level of surprise = varies but enraged campers who had gross pillows became a directors’ problem.

One entire cabin of shoes all tied together and strung around the dining hall. Level of effort = 5, level of cleverness = 5, level of surprise = 10, level of effort by raiders who had to untie and return all the shoes = 10!

Right around that time, Runoia directors decided raids were not such a great idea as children’s feelings were getting hurt or they lost belongings or campers were prowling around at night and safety was a concern. The concept of doing nice things for others came up but never really stuck year after year (people still do a lot of nice things for each other in that pay it forward kind of way). The concept of doing funny, surprise things around camp like: random fairy houses, 4 and ½ shack built at the flag pole, honey bears being painted and left on the tables, still happens.

A new tradition emerged about 7 summers ago where the oldest campers in Senior Village (SV) at Runoia get to do a fun prank/raid type event that is meant to surprise and leave an indelible impression of our graduating campers upon others without wrecking anything or hurting anyone or wasting resources. These 15-year-old seniors have been thoughtful and fun and funny over the past few years.  An all-time favorite that is the prank that keeps on giving:

Tiny SV14notes stuck everyone all over camp that we are still finding four years later in 2018!

Level of effort =10, level of cleverness = 10, level of surprise = 10

Keeping it fun and clean; the Runoia way.

 

Women who dared

Posted on by Alex

I have long been amazed at the tenacity of our Camp Runoia founders Lucy Wieser and Jessie Pond.   Their dedication to starting a camp for girls showed great bravery and confidence when heading off into the unknown wilds of Maine.  In our world of high speed transportation and at your finger tips technology it is sometimes very hard to imagine how different life was back in the early 1900’s.  Rural Maine was sparsely populated with few paved roads and limited access to many areas.  The Maine Central railroad had only established the Belgrade Depot in 1850 and the local community was mostly made up of farms with some vacation housing  in the village.  Arriving by train from the city into Belgrade must have been quite a culture shock.  While the actual story of their first adventure has become a little lost in the mists of time I imagine them in skirts or dresses, hiring a horse and cart to travel around the area.

Belgrade Depot station around the time Ms Weiser and Ms Pond founded Camp Runoia.

On our staycation this week we traveled to the Owls Head Transportation Museum which had some fascinating displays the most interesting of which for me was about the early female pioneers of travel.  Like our Runoia founders they were making history in the early 1900’s and boldly going places that women typically hadn’t ventured to.  Their names were new to me and their adventures and experiences seemed so radical for the time.  Can you imagine driving a car cross country with a couple of your girlfriends?  Now think about doing it when there were only 156 miles of paved roads and your car barely had a roof!

Can you imagine traveling cross country in this?!

I shall continue to be inspired by the brave bold women of the early 1900’s and to keep sharing their stories with our fearless young women at camp. Maybe they will become the pioneers of this new generation.

The writing on the wall – hand-prints on my heart

Posted on by Alex

Twenty years ago when we moved into this house there were a lot of DIY projects that needed accomplishing. Painting the downstairs bathroom was not high on the list of priorities.  In order to brighten the place up a little we started adding the hand-prints of our visitors.  The parameters were basic: pick your colors, pick your spot, paint your hand and print it on the wall then add your name and date your print.  The hand-prints themselves started out simple, often with just one color and expanded to more elaborate creations that reflected the personality of their owner.  There are now a couple of hundred of prints representing friends from all aspects of life,  a large percentage of whom I know through camp.

The hand-prints tell their own stories. Jayen was an international counselor who just spent one summer with us. Angela is still a feature on our CRAO board.

The hand-prints are a regular reminder of the people that have touched my life.  Some of the folk are still regular visitors, or perhaps sadly now deceased, still others were only around for a short time and we have now lost touch.  They all generate memories of a time and place when we were connected, a shared history and an impression left in my life.  There are many old Camp Runoia friends, campers and staff that passed through for a summer or two or who it feels like I have known for a lifetime.  They hold a space in time that is a reminder not just of them but also of a particular summer on Great Pond.  The dates are helpful in remembering just how long ago it was that they were at camp and how quickly time flies.

Betty-Jo Howard a Runoia legend

 

At Runoia the names in the boathouse are a similar memorial to those that have passed through at some previous point in time.  They remind us of people we know and also trigger thoughts about those whose story is now  a mystery lost in time.  The faces may be long forgotten but their names are painted in bright colors to remind us that they were here and are part of the rich fabric of our camp community.

The hand-prints on my wall definitely reflect the hand-prints left on my heart.  This will be my 23rd summer at Camp Runoia in Belgrade Lakes, Maine  and I hope to add a few more hand-prints to my bathroom wall and a lot more to my heart.

Spring Has Sprung – Or So Says The Calendar!

Posted on by camprunoia

Spring has sprung – or so says the calendar with the Spring Equinox occurring on March 20th. Equinoxes occur twice a year, in March and September, to mark the onset of spring and autumn. During an equinox, which in Latin translates to “equal night,” both day and night are the same in length. Now the days will become longer in our part of the world with earlier sunrises and sunsets. But just because we are officially in spring doesn’t mean that it is spring-like yet. Those of us in the northeast will attest to that as we prepare for the 4th Nor’easter in three weeks! The ground is snow covered with huge piles, lakes have refrozen after earlier thaws, and the trees look as dormant as they do in January. However, changes are happening.

Typically, late winter/early spring sees the preparation for maple sugaring season when the landscape becomes dotted with iconic metal sap buckets hung on trees, as well as the more modern bright rubber tubing and large sap collection vats. This year the collection season in New England had an early start in many areas with a thaw at the end of January and into February. Then winter roared back in, and now maple syrup producers are hoping for a second stretch of classic sugaring weather with days in the low 40s and nights below freezing, and before trees start producing buds and the maple season ends. It’s not too late to check out maple sugar houses and treat yourself to some “sugar on snow”.

Mating and nesting season has already begun for some of our wonderful birds. Last night, as I looked out over our snow-covered forest, I heard a Barred Owl concert of the familiar “Whooo cooks for you” call. Then this morning I was greeted by the mournful, soft cooing of the Mourning Dove. The birds are not alone, many of our common mammals are coming out of their dormant or less active winter state, to start their spring mating as well. The squirrels and chipmunks have been wildly chasing around in the trees, across our roof, and even taking sledding runs on the snowbanks around our driveway. The current snow is a benefit to picking out animal signs like the tracks of porcupine, fox, and fishers as they become more active as the days grow longer. Even with the winter-like weather, the spring awakening of the natural world is happening.

Perhaps one of those signs that reminds me in such a simple way that warm days are coming is when I park my car in a sunny spot. Even if the outside temperature is cold, the stronger, higher angle of sunshine warms up the inside of the car, and now when I get in, instead of mid-winter frigid, it can be downright toasty. Yep, it may not look like it, but spring has arrived.

 

 

The Common Loon – Iconic Maine Wildlife

Posted on by camprunoia

The Common Loon with its striking silhouette, black and white spotted plumage, and red eyes is one of the most iconic wildlife images of Maine. Due to the size and clarity of Great Pond we are fortunate to be the home of nesting loons throughout the summer months. These majestic birds delight us daily with their swimming antics, diving and popping up some distance away, and their distinctive and haunting calls.

They are fascinating birds with many unique characteristics:

  • Loons are amazing swimmers and divers – they look a bit like submarines. Their solid bones make them less buoyant, and they can quickly expel air from their lungs and flatten their feathers to achieve great distances and depth in the water. 10-60 seconds underwater is typical, but can extend to three minutes or more.
  • As graceful and efficient as Loons are on the water, they are awkward walkers on land. Their legs are very far back on their bodies which leads to stumbling and pushing themselves on their bellies. Their land time is limited to mating and incubating their eggs in the nests on the water’s edge.
  • Loons are like airplanes. They need a long runway, at least 30 yards of open water “running”, to take off. Once airborne, they can fly at speeds of up to 70 mph.
  • Fish are a favorite food and a hungry family of four can eat about a half a ton of fish over 4 months.
  • Loons usually mate for life and raise their chicks together. It’s not uncommon to see their babies riding on their backs for the first week after hatching to protect them from predators.
  • Open water is a must, so Loons migrate, often spending winters in the ocean. At that point their plumage changes from black and white to gray, and their eyes turn from red to gray.
  • Loons have four distinct calls: tremolo, wail, yodel and hoot. These are used in courtship and territorial disputes, communication between pairs and offspring, and among flock members, and to signal danger.

We are so lucky to share Great Pond with our Loons!