Loose Ends
Friday, July 11th, 2025
CHESS GROVE circa 3pm—I move my pawn to c5, to Niko’s surprise. “No one at my level knows c5,” he remarks, scratching his chin and staring intently at the pieces. I’m currently on a mission to avenge Chess Instructor Memo who was bested by Niko earlier this session. He’s proving to be a formidable opponent, opening with a solid London System. Memo emerges from the kitchen with two pitchers, one with ice water for the kids, and one with ice coffee for us adults. This exactly the advantage I need to win this game.
Capoeira Instructor Mniska Lamb pulls up in the Lake Shuttle, reminding me of a prior commitment at the Lake. Niko and I agree to adjourn our game, and I run to gather my tools. The last full day of Camp has arrived and seems to be speeding by.
LAKE VERONICA circa 3:45pm—“We’ll be done with our dominoes game in just a minute,” says Lifeguard Lucien Lamb. “Five seconds for each move!”
“I’m trying to count!” laments a camper, holding two handfuls of dominoes.
Lucien tires of waiting and tosses down his dominoes. We begin making our way up the hill.
“I was gonna win anyway!” chides Lifeguard Milo.
If you remember from Sunday’s Lake Lore post, Lucien and I were on a quest to find his grandfather Tinker’s initials in the concrete piers of the bygone waterslide. By chance, Mniska, Lucien’s dad—another of Tinker’s progeny—is driving the Lake Shuttle today, so he tags along for the excursion.
“Here’s the potential ‘JERRY’,” I say, pointing to a concrete pier with the letters E-R-R-Y visible through the dirt. Tinker’s government name was Jerry, so this might be the one.
Kneeling onto my kneepads I produce my wire brush and begin scraping away. I uncover an upper horizontal line with a downward vertical stem. It’s a promising start for a J, but as I continue downwards, the stem doesn’t turn at all. I wipe the last dirt away to reveal an unequivocal ‘T’.
The three of us burst into laughter while one camper looks on in confusion.
“Who’s Terry?” exclaims Lucien.
“I have no idea,” says Mniska. “But Tinker did sometimes go by ‘Blue Bead’.”
With this new information, Lucien and I continue search, but the beating sun doesn’t allow for much progress. Not desiring an episode of heatstroke I quickly dunk myself in the water and head back to Camp.
BACKSTAGE circa 9pm—Tonight’s evening program is the final dress rehearsal before Saturday’s Big Show. Campers who are about to go on stage mingle in the Tipi Circle with matching costumes. I’m using my backstage access to find how campers are feeling about the progress they made in their chosen disciplines this session.
“I didn’t get around to doing stilts last year, so this year I really went for it, and now I’m gonna be in the stilt parade,” says Stella, 13, Orange Tipi. “Next year I’m going to focus on juggling. I know the basics already, but I want to learn some tricks and how to juggle clubs. I think that people can come back year after year and always have something new to learn every time.”
“I wanted to do unicycle, but I had to do stilts,” says Lily “Next year I’m going to do more unicycle. I also wish I could have gone to the Lake more. Camp is magical. It’s not all fancy-schmancy, but it’s fun. There’s no other place like this.”
“I didn’t get to try everything; Camp went by so fast!” says Sage, 14, Orange Tipi. “I focused on Experimento this year, and I also learned the basics of juggling. For my last day here I’m just gonna hang out with friends and exchange phone numbers. It’s really respectful here. I liked a lot of the counselors. This place is really great.”
“I never made it to the Lake,” admits Fox, 12, Scarlet Tipi. “There were just too many other things to do during free time. My new addiction/obsession is balancing a stick on my finger. One morning I was doing it in the cocoa line and Memo showed me how to do it better. Ever since then I’ve been doing it all the time. I would say about 60% of my free time has been spent on stick balancing.”
“I really like that there’s more nature here compared to some other Camps I’ve been to,” continues Fox. “Here you sleep in tipis and there’s no video games. I feel like I’m connecting with nature.”
“I wanted to do aerials this year, but instead I did unicycling, acrobatics, improvisation, songwriting and stilts,” says Max, 12, Scarlet Tipi. “In my four years here I’ve learned a lot of cool stuff—stuff that I could never dream of learning somewhere else. I think the things I’ve learned at Camp will help me with life, whether or not I come back again. I mean, sure, I might not need to ever unicycle in my real life, but Camp is more than that. I learned how to take feedback, how to improve, and how to have a good time. I’m gonna miss Winnarainbow.”
Stay hydrated,
—J. Payseno, Editor
