TREVOR "The Games Man"

TREVOR's Blog
August 1-24, 2008
 
New entries are at the bottom.
Professional appearances are in bold.
All photos @Nancy F Little 2008 unless otherwise noted.
 
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    Friday, August 1, 2008
    Every time I do a full-day or ½-day residency, I always wish I did it more often. Today was a ½-day residency at the KinderCare Learning Center in Hamden CT. Plus, it was a return engagement, which makes it even more sweet. I've been to lots of KinderCares throughout Massachusetts and Connecticut, and they are always terrific! Hamden KinderCare is no exception. Their well-appointed classrooms and a great outdoor play area plus of a very helpful and attentive staff is the norm for KinderCares everywhere.
    Today, I was going to be doing six 30-minute presentations in a row. They set me up in one of their rooms and each half hour brought me a different group of kids by age, from roughly age 3-7 (I think).
    Each of the groups had a noticeably different character to them. The oldest group, which arrived first, was quick to laugh, very talkative (it's an inter-active show),  and responded immediately to pretty much every thing. And I must admit that the 3-year-olds didn't know quite what to make of me at first: they were very, very quiet and unsure at the onset, but by the end they were all with me all the way... even the little girl that was definitely Miss Cling Queen at the beginning!
    It was great to pack each group into the space alloted and see their faces light up and shine during my shows today! 
    I was scheduled to be there from 9:30-12:30, but at 11:30 after my fourth show, the lady there said, "Okay, that it. You're done." I said that I was scheduled to be here another hour and that I thought I was supposed to do 6 groups and had only seen 4 so far. She went and checked and found that because two of the classrooms had several children out today, they combined each of the smaller groups with a full classroom, and I was indeed done for the day! I had thought that two of the groups were kind of big for the usual KinderCare class size, but didn't really think much of it at the time. So I got to go home early (and got my full fee, too). YAY!
 
    Most of the time, I'd much rather do more shows than go home early, but this was a special occasion. The reason I was glad to go home early this time is that as soon as I got home and unpacked my stuff, I was officially on vacation! Yipee!
    Every summer my wife and I spend two awesome weeks at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly family camp in Fryeburg ME <www.fryeburg.org> where I'm the camp's Activities Director and my lovely wife is the Registrar.
    So as soon as I got home, I put the cap on my truck, packed clothes, food, tent, etc, and within a couple hours hit the road. It's pretty much exactly four hours drive from home to camp, and all the way there I was thinking how great it was going to be to see my lovely wife again after several days apart.
    When I got there, sure enough, my Nancy woman was waiting for me on ↑the front porch. And sure enough, we had a sweet little reunion. And then we fell to unpacking until she couldn't stay awake any more. 
    It's great to be here. This is my favorite place in the world.  I've been attending since birth and so has my mother because my grandfather is one of the founders of the camp and served as the FNCA's first president.
    Stick around. You'll be hearing much more about camp over the next two weeks! 
 
    Saturday, August 2, 2008
    Dinner this evening was the first official meal at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly family camp in Fryeburg ME. One of my favorite parts of camp is my job! As the Activities Director, one of the things I get to do is lead an hour of active games with the Sparks on the front lawn every evening after supper. The Sparks at camp are the children 12 and under, so basically I've got all the kids ages about 4 or 5 through 12 on the lower terrace for an hour. One of the things I like about it is that I can do pretty much whatever I want as long as the kids are having FUN.
    I also get to play games with the Flames (teens) 3 nights a week, as well as plan regular (but not daily) evening activities for the Bonfires (adults). I also coordinate a program of special presentations by campers, including an on-going series on interesting jobs and hobbies (beekeeper, horseshoer, etc.). Plus I'm in charge of the waterfront. So my days at camp are full.
    The good old FNCA is sort of a slow start... everybody doesn't just suddenly show up at once, they sort of trickle in over the first weekend. So tonight there were only three Sparks here in time for Sparks Games. They were a little skeptical that we would have any fun with only four of us, but we had a blast playing Triangle Tag (an awesome four-person game), It Could Have Been Worse, Snapshot, Gat (Tag backwards: everyone chases whoever's It, and if you tag them then you're It and everyone chases you!), Slow Motion Tag, Bug Tag, Bodyguard, Spaces (a variation on Bodyguard), and a new variation my son taught us (thanks for joining us, Jason!) that I'm going to call Triangulation. 
 
    Sunday, August 3, 2008
    The first full day of camp at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly. It was pouring rain today, so, as we usually do when it rains, for Sparks Games we played Tag in the dining hall! Lots of different kinds of Tag. There's just one rule: absolutely no running! We played Hop, Skip, Jump, or Crawl Tag; Slow Motion Tag (oops, we played that yesterday — NO REPEATS); Instant Everbody's It; and Everybody's It Funny Faces Tag. 

    But between dinner and Sparks Games a fun thing happened. I was roughhousing with Brennan, one of the 12-year-old boys (who obviously needed more physical attention) and he kept trying to snag my hat off the top of  my head because he knew it bugged me. Somehow or other, how much I love hats came out and I mentioned that I own more than a hundred hats. He didn't really believe me, so I showed him TREVOR's Hat Parade! on my website (Click "Photos" for the menu it's in). Quite a few people ended up watching as I clicked through the 66+ hats and at least a half dozen hat-related photos on that page! Some hats were getting way more comments than others. And some didn't get any.  But the one that always gets the most comments is my ← Chinese pagoda hat that my daughter bought for me in Canada driving to camp from Michigan to Maine one summer a few years back.
 
     Monday, August 4, 2008
    Day 3, and the first "regular schedule" day, at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly. It rained most of the day, but the sun shown briefly for about an hour in the evening during Sparks Games. (proof below)
    This afternoon, I drove 20 minutes or so to Morning Dew Natural Foods in Bridgeton ME to stock up on a few things and to get a sandwich at their delightful deli.
    This evening during Sparks Games, my lovely wife sat on the hill next to the lower lawn where we play and took a boodle of photos. (Thanks Nancy! You're awesome!) We played some of my very favoritest games from my New Games repertoire. First, we began with ← Fishy Fishy (Cross My Ocean), a very popular running game where the "octopus" in the middle is trying to tag the "fishies" with the red, yellow, & blue foxtail "tentacle". (FYI: a foxtail is a toy with a long cloth handle and a ball in the end. This one is a foxtail "softie" with a nerf ball in it, so it doesn't hurt at all when it hits you.) If you get tagged, you get turned into seaweed which instantly grows roots into the bottom of the ocean, so you can't move your feet. But if seaweed can tag a fishy without moving their feet, then that fish is caught, too! Matthew, in the striped shirt, is the octopus. You can see the foxtail stretched out behind his back. Everyone else is trying to get by him without getting tagged.  One of those fishies is about to become seaweed.
    Then we played Smaug's Jewels, --------> an unusual variation on Capture the Flag where it's everybody against one person ("Smaug" (the dragon in The Hobbit)) guarding the flag (the "jewels"). If Smaug tags you, you're frozen. If you manage to pick up the jewels but Smaug tags you before you get away, you're frozen and Smaug gets to put the jewels back and everyone's still frozen. If Smaug touches the jewels, everybody's unfrozen. If you can get the jewels away without getting tagged, you're the new dragon.
    We also played Buddy Tag, Everybody's It, and our standard closing game: Flash Flood where everyone has 10 second to get off the ground!
    Three times a week, there is also Flame Games with the teens, and tonight was the night. Just for the FUN of it, my plan was to play the exact same games with the Flames as I did with the Sparks... I think mostly to prove that it could be done. But half way through Buddy Tag, it began to rain. We tried to keep playing, but it just got too wet; so we had to move indoors where we played May I Borrow Your Cat?(a sneaky game where you have to make up excuses) and Ghost Chair (a crazy frantic, seat-changing game). And then, with only five minutes left, I was deciding what would be a good closing game when the Flames spontaneously made up a snatch-the-bandana game that they all had a BLAST playing! Yay Flames!  
 
     Tuesday, August 5, 2008
    Day 4: Fryeburg New Church Assembly. This is going to be short. And it's still raining.
    We had two excellent lectures this morning; one by the Rev Andy Stinson that not only got very positive reviews from the adults, but also simply blew away the teens. And you know how hard it is to even make a minimal impression on teens!   
    For Spark Games tonight, we had to pay inside again. So we sat around the "coffee" table in front of the main  fireplace in the Main Building and played sit-down games for an hour, including: Up Jenkins, Telephone, and Pile Up. 
 
     Wednesday, August 6, 2008
    FNCA Day 5. Still raining. The FNCA Puzzle Club finished its first puzzle today.
    Wednesdays at camp are Outing Day. After breakfast, the cooks put out the fixings and everyone puts together a bag lunch. Then we all disperse to various desirable place. My lovely wife  and I had both a main plan and a rainy day plan. Turns out  the day definitely called for the rainy day one.
    My lovely wife and I went to the Portland Museum of Art and looked at art by Monet, Renoir, Cassatte, Pisarro, Church, Sargeant, Homer, and a bunch of modern painters who haven't been around long enough for me to know. It was a delightful trip (despite the long, wet walk before lunch).
    Then, this evening for Sparks Games at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly, we did the traditional Spark Hunt / Flame Hunt. It's basically team Hide and Seek. First the Sparks hide and the Flames seek, and then the Flames hide and the Sparks seek. 
     However, because it was still raining and everything outside was wet, we had to play in the dining hall. However, since there's basically absolutely nowhere to hide in the dining hall, I had to improvise. I found a bag of brand-new clothes pins and had each Spark write their name on one. So instead of hiding themselves, they had to hide their clothespin somewhere in the dining hall, and if a Flame found their clothespin then that Flame had to give the Spark a piggyback ride for the rest of the game. When it was the Flames' turn to hide their clothespins, the Sparks who found them held hands with that Flame. 
    So the first round ended with a lot of Sparks getting piggyback rides from the Flames. And the second round ended with a lot of Flames holding hands in small groups with each group being lead around by a Spark. I'm delighted to report that it was a big hit! 
    Later on in the evening, my lovely wife and I took the path through the woods that comes out near the State Line Store just across the state line in New Hampshire. I needed to buy some batteries. But it was closed so we just turned around and walked back. It was a really nice walk. 
 
    Thursday, August 7, 2008
    FNCA Day 6. Still raining. The FNCA Puzzle Club finished its second puzzle today.
    This morning before lunch, my lovely wife asked me if I wanted to try walking to the State Line Store again, and — silly me — I just assumed that she simply wanted to be with me for a while. But when we got there, I discovered that she had ulterior motives.
    You see, Nancy is a member of a Facebook group called "I Judge You When You Use Poor Grammar" and there was a priceless example taped to the inside of the curved plastic front cover of the counter at the Subway shop inside the State Line Store... and Nancy wanted to secretly take a picture of it to submit to the group.
    Just to give you an example of the perfection of this submission: It's title is "Untitled". I count at least a dozen things that would make any editor cringe. (The last sentence, however, is perfect).
    Here it is in its entirety:
    So I bought my batteries and we chuckled all the way home.
 
    This evening, dessert at supper was our traditional Banana Hunt. Each camper writes their name an a banana. Then I get a crew of people (mostly Flames & Sparks) to help hide them in the lecture hall, Dole Wing, dining hall, or porch. And then, while everyone is hunting for their banana, the kitchen crew brings out all the  fixin's so that when you finally find your banana, you get to make a banana split! It quite popular.
 
    This evening at Sparks Games at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly we were not at all surprised that it was still drizzling and the grass was very wet, so we had to play inside again. We started with a game called Screamless which is actually very noisy. Next we played at silly game called I Love You Honey But I Just Can't Make You Smile in which a player in the middle is trying to make someone laugh. Then we played a new game, tentatively called Switch, Reverse, Rotate which is a rearrange-yourselves-in-line game that I'd never even heard of. Next was several quick partner games, including: Quick Draw, Switcheroo, Human Spring, and Back-to-Back Dancing before our standard closer Flash Flood.
 
    After that, there was a presentation about dyslexia (How do you spell that?)... but I didn't go. I worked on the new puzzle on the Puzzle Club table.
 
    Then it was time for Flames Games at the good, old F.N.C.A.. Like last time, I started out playing some of the same exact games with the Flames as I did with the Sparks. The Flames got a big kick out of Screamless; next got very creative in It Could Have Been Worse / It Could Have Been Better (which I had played with the Sparks a few days earlier); and then they got a total charge out of I Love You Honey, But I Just Can't Make You Smile. In fact, they liked it so much, they didn't really want to play a different game.
    But we did play a different game, our final game, in fact, called Sentences, in which everyone takes turns adding one word to a sentence trying to not add a word that could possibly be construed as ending the sentence.
 
    And the final activity of the day was an adults-only evening soiree at the Adrienne Frank Fellowship Hall, which I like to call "Adrienne's Cabin". Adrienne was a wonderful, cheerful, helpful woman. We used a bunch of the money she left us in her will to build this new cabin.
    It was a delightful little party. Great people. Lots of laughter. Funny stories. Live piano music. Snacks. Beverages. What more could you possible want on a Thursday night?
 
     Friday, August 8, 2008
    FNCA Day 7. Still raining. But we did see sunshine twice today... for less than 5 minutes each time! The first one, I came racing down the stairs calling, "SUNSHINE! GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!" and ran out the front door, did a happy little dance in the sun, and sprawled out flat on my back on the lawn to soak it all up! Less than a minute later it was over.
    At the request of our new camp director Deanne Currie, today was "Tie Dye Day" at camp. Everyone who had any tie dye clothing, wore it all day long. There was some pretty cool stuff out there. Even our assistant cook Pat had a tie dye shirt on in the kitchen. The day before, one of the children's classes had done tie dyes, too, so there were a boodle of Sparks running around with bright colors and flashy patterns splattered all over themselves, along with several Flames, Senior Flames, and Bonfires. 
   But thankfully, by the time it was time for Sparks Games tonight at the F.N.C.A., the rain had been stopped for a few hours and the grass wasn't completely soaking wet so we were able to have Sparks Games outside for only the second time all week. We started with a rousing game of regular old Tag. Then we played One-Legged Tag, followed by Black Hole and  <----- Red Light Green Light. Next a very active game of Tunnel Tag, a couple rounds of Everybody's It, and the traditional closer Flash Flood. 
    Then Caileigh helped me take down the flag, and Elise helped me fold it and carried it in. 
    Tonight was supposed to be the Flames traditional Corn Boil, but it's been raining so much, there's no beach at all on the river to have it on. So they sat around the fire pit and roasted marshmellows --------> and made s'mores and just hung out and had a good time together until midnight when Late Night is over. 
    My lovely wife went to bed an hour early, so I — of course — retreated to the quiet safety of our secret tent in the woods and ate food and read comics and stuff until I knew everyone would be in bed. You see, I'm one of the few camp night owls. I'm usually the last one in bed. And I love people; big crowds are great; groups that I've been going to camp with for decades is even better... but I still need my alone time every day. Normally, shortly after the Flames' bedtime, most of the adults go to bed, too. Not always, but usually. So things are fairly quite after hours, and we night owls often use this time to do email, read, do "on-line research", etc., so I'm accustomed to having that time to myself if I want. But the fire pit is right outside the Main Building just a few yards from the front porch. And we're talking 15 teenagers hanging out around a fire! This is definitely not quiet time. So I hid in my tent until 12:30 before emerging from my lair.
 
     Saturday, August 9, 2008
    FNCA Day 8. NOT raining! A beautiful sunny day! Amazing. I was up in our room when I heard a loud voice (Alex Dyer) from outside saying, "Bright stuff! Aaaaaaaaaagh! It burns!" And that announced the sunshine!  Although it did absolutely pour buckets for about 10 dreary, depressing, oh-no-not-that-again minutes this afternoon, the entire rest of the day was sunny. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    I had a very full day at camp today. Besides all the regularly scheduled events, as a long-time member of the FNCA Board of Directors, I also had three meeting on the docket that took up the rest of the morning and all afternoon, plus four (count them: 1, 2, 3, 4) FOUR events that filled the entire evening from right after super until almost midnight. Then I had some time to myself.
    So, from the beginning: Both my lovely wife and I woke up before the rising bell this morning, so when the bell actually rang, I leapt out of bed, put on my bathing trunks, and walked to the river for Polar Bear Swim. I'm the Papa Bear so I can't very well skip it... besides, there's no way I'd be awake through the morning if I didn't jump in the river first thing in the morning!
    Then, right after that was breakfast, which was a little late so that ate up the only block of free time in my day, was morning chapel followed by 1st and 2nd lecture. Immediately after that was the first meeting of the Board of Directors. Today is the Assembly's annual meeting, and the Board always meets ahead of time to get ready for the meeting. The meeting lasted right up to lunch. Right after lunch was the annual meeting itself, which filled the first half of the afternoon. Then afterwards, the Board met again for it's regular post-annual meeting meeting, which lasted until dinner...
    ...Which was a little late, too, leaving precious little time before FNCA Sparks Games at 7:00 where we played Tag, People At Camp Tag, Indian Stick, Snake In The Grass, and, of course, Flash Flood.
    And the minute that ended, it was time for our 2nd (annual?) Humor Night in the lecture hall. Some wonderful funny stuff by all ages of campers. Little Ruby Blackman's "interpretive dance" during the 12 Days of FNCA song was a huge hit, as well as George Dole and Gard Perry's "Down East Humah".
    And when that was over, I had maybe seven minutes until Flame Games where we played  two team games they like: Dho-Dho-Dho and Circle Tag followed by the Flames all-time favorite game: GO!, a rough and tumble game that is basically a long series of 10-second wrestling matches.
    When we were done, I thought I could finally go read a book or do a crossword puzzle or something, but No: I was informed that we were having another after hours adult soirée in Adrienne's Cabin. A few newcomers had arrived just in time to pitch their tent before dark, and since I knew them from my college days in Bryn Athyn PA, I kind of took them under my wing. We also have a new minister who's legs don't work so well so I volunteered to drive her over to the party and back.
    Now, I know that a party doesn't really count as a must-do activity, and sure, I could have just driven over, dropped off my charge, and left... but naaah, it's a party. I love parties. So I stuck around, played my old piano (that I brought up last year) for about an hour, and then did some mingling and socializing, mostly with my brother Ian who is here from the West Coast for a few days, and the previously mentioned newcomers and minister.
    To my surprise, the party broke up at about 11:45, so after driving my charge back to the Main Building, I had the rest of the evening (!?!) to myself. I went directly to my tent and ate food and read comics for a couple of hours before crawling into bed with my lovely wife. 
    And that was the end of my very full day. 
    Thank you. 
 
     Sunday, August 10, 2008
    FNCA Day 9. Mostly sunshine with one brief rainstorm and then some rain again in the evening. 
   ← Rev. Andy Stinson, the president of our denomination's Council of Ministers, is a very dynamic, cheerful man. His is also the most powerful preacher I know (and as a preacher's kid, I know a lot of preachers). I was absolutely delighted to see that he was in the chancel in church this morning. This man can take some obscure Bible passage and present it in his own inimitable way to make it come alive, have personal relevance on many levels, and get through to the congregation on both a head and a heart level. It's stunning. He is a major asset to our church and a terrific addition to our camp.
    After a very powerful church service, my lovely wife and I went to the Fryeburg Flea Market where I bought 8 movies for $9, and Nancy got a corkscrew, a small lazy susan, a Moosewood cookbook (the rare, preferred, original edition)  and 10 stainless steel spoons. 
    Parachute Play is our traditional Sunday Sparks Games activity at the FNCA. There were several Sparks unable to play tonight, so we asked some older people to "help". Several young adults eagerly volunteered.
    Since we only had half an hour tonight (as opposed to our usual hour), I picked  some of the most popular parachute games: Waves, Burp the Baby, Cat & Mouse, Popcorn, Grand Pop!, Run Right, Duck Duck Duck, and  my nephew Caleb's favorite (that's him grinning in the center of the picture, about to hit the spin cycle): ← Washing Machine. 
    Right after that, we all went into the lecture hall for vespers, followed by camp orientation which is usually pretty boring, but our new Camp Director has been able to make it significantly more interesting by having the Flames line up in front and take turns each reading one of the rules out loud. 
    One Flame in particular deserves special attention here: Alex Dyer has to be one of the funniest people I know. He's a big guy with a big grin and a big voice and a big sense of humor. Last Sunday, after each of the Flames had read a rule in turn, there were a few left over and Alex took it upon himself to read all the rest of them himself. It was absolutely hilarious to hear this big teen reading the rules loudly with obviously mock sincerity. I mean, would you take a guy like this seriously? ----------> This guy needs to be an entertainer. Period. It would be a total waste for this guy to be flipping burgers or working a desk job. Vote Alex Dyer for Stand Up Comedian!! (or Voice Actor or Storyteller or Other Entertainer  or....)
 
     Monday, August 11, 2008
    FNCA Day 10. Several brief rain spats throughout the day interspersed with overcast skies and brief spots of sun.
    My West Coast, solar & wind power guru, Home Power editor, brother Ian→ called a family convocation at camp today. There's at least 17 of my family members here at camp this week. We weren't all at the convo, but it was still terrific anyways. We all sat in a big circle in the lecture hall. Ian emceed the gathering. He had four topics. First we had a go-around where each person said something that they really appreciate about our family. Then we all talked about what we could do to make things better. Third, we discussed strategies to get my elderly parents over to camp for a meal. And finally, we shared funny family stories. Parts of it were hard; parts were hilarious; and parts were very touching; but no matter how it was, it just felt so good to be in a room filled with my family. So a special thanks to Ian for setting this up. 
   For Sparks Games tonight at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly, we played two of the games I play with the Flames on Saturday: Dho-Dho-Dho and Circle Tag. Then we played Elbow Tag, Everybody's It, and Flash Flood.
    Then Rev. Andy Stinson (see yesterday's entry) gave our regular Monday night lecture. Once again: great stuff presented in an easy to understand format.
    And then it was time for Flame Games. The first three games were by request. We opened with the fan favorite Elbow Tag followed by not everybody's favorite game but everyone always has FUN anyways: Snake In The Grass. And then we played Flying Dutchman which is basically Advanced Duck Duck Goose for big people. And for closers, it was Toe Fencing, first one-on-one, then in groups of three, and finally in a big circle.
    ← Afterwards I spent some sweet time with my fabulous wife, getting some much needed talk time in before she fell asleep while I listened to her heart beat. 
 
     Tuesday, August 12, 2008
    FNCA Day 11. Sunny with rain, and raining with sun and one rainbow. It's getting better.
    Tuesday is Work Day at camp. I (sort of) fixed a sink that wasn't draining properly, and emptied wastebaskets into the dumpster. Then my lovely wife (see photo above) and I went out to our secret tent in the woods and had some alone time together. There are so many people here and so much to do that sometimes we forget to plan time for us. I was really nice to be just with my lovely wife for a couple of hours. I love her sooooo much.
     For Sparks Games tonight at the good old FNCA, we started out with Tag, as usual. I had wanted to do a few less active games today, but the mosquitos were so bad that any time we stood still, we got attacked; so we only played active running games: Catch the Dragon's Tail, Islands, Flag Grab, Camel Tag, Nothing Tag, Doctor Tag, and probably a few other I don't remember.
    Afterwards, my dear darling daughter Myrrh and her fiancé Joe ------> lead a swing dance class while the Flames watched a movie. I watched the movie.
 
     Wednesday, August 13, 2008
    FNCA Day12. Sunny all day!!! Not even one drop of rain! 11 straight days with rain; 1 day without.
    Wednesday is Outing Day. My lovely wife Nancy Little  → made ar- rangements to meet up with (continuing from left to right) Nancy's "sister- in-law" Amy Little, her sister Wendy Little & Wendy's little daughter Chloe in (get this) Littleton NH...    Littles in Littleton, heh heh heh. 
    On the way we stopped for about ½ an hour  45 minutes at ← Silver Cascades in Crawford Notch. It a simply tremendous waterfall that goes on for well over a mile. This photo only shows the part that you can see from the road at the bottom. (Can you find me in the picture?) Back in the 70's when I was a teen, several of us climbed Silver Cascades one Outing Day. I climbed most of the day and still didn't make it to the top! (Although, as I recall, at least one of us did.)
    Just a hundred yards or so up the road from Silver Casacades is the equally spectacular Flume Cascades. Not as much is visible from the road, but it's still extremely striking.
    We met up with the other Little women at, of all places, a bookstore in Littleton. Out behind the stores is the very long Littleton Covered Bridge. ------> We walked across the bridge and had a leisurely lunch under a huge pair of white pine trees on the other side.  
 Chloe can be a hesitant child and isn't always in the mood for me :|(> so I was quite pleased that she took a shine to me this time. We spent a lot of time together today â†’ even a couple of stretches of alone time together while the women went off together to do some shopping or whatever.
    During one of those stretches, Chloe & I went to my truck and sat sideways on the passenger side with our feet hanging out the open door and looked at the map (She likes maps.) to see if there was a cool outdoor place nearby where we could all hang out together for the rest of the afternoon.
    Luckily, there was a neat place only about a mile down the road just outside of downtown Littleton called The Dells or Dell Park depending on which map you were looking at. It had a nice little lake with a wooden deck with a picnic table on it, hiking paths, a boardwalk across the stream, and lots more picnic tables all along the path where we eventually took a little nature walk (pun intended). While we were sitting at one of those picnic tables communing with nature, Chloe got out and began to pose with this cool little pair of ← lime green shades. Nancy took about a dozen pictures of her with them that all look great. 
    It was great to see Amy today. I get to see Wendy & Chloe regularly, but Amy doesn't live anywhere near hear  anymore so it was great to hang out with my old friend Amy again. I've known her since she was born and have attended camp with her several times. But then she moved back to Michigan so I haven't seen her in a few years. But she and Nancy made arrangements to get together with us today at the beginning of Amy's whirlwind New England visit. Yay Amy!
    Eventually the FUN had to end. We climbed into our vehicles and drove in opposite directions on Rte 302. But wait... there's much more to my day.
    Remember last Monday above where I mentioned that my West Coast brother Ian got us talking about getting my elderly parents over to camp for a visit? Well today is the day! We got back about 15 minutes late for dinner, and when we walked into the dining hall, there they were sitting at the table eating dinner with friends and family just like old times! It was fabulous to see my folks again. I love them so much and rarely get to see them since they moved 5 hours away in Maine (Mom's home state). So this was a much-treasured visit. There was an empty seat at the table, so after hugs and mugging for the camera, I got to sit with them for the rest of dinner. For the next half hour, a whole parade of people welcomed Mom & Pop with big, huge smiles and open arms. Before they left for the long drive home, we gathered the clan on the deck for photos. Here we all are↓. Special thanks to Ian for making this happen. Yay Ian!

    Afterwards, it was time for Sparks Games here at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly. A few decades ago, I set up a tradition that (sort of) allowed me to (sort of) take an evening off. Wednesday nights is now the very traditional Spark Hunt / Flame Hunt group Hide & Seek. The Sparks hide first and the Flames seek, then the Flames hide and the Sparks seek. Both groups seem to enjoy it a lot. And it sure helps camp spirit a lot to have the teens and the kids interacting together in such a FUN activity.
    As soon as that was over, I attended a meeting of the camp's Summer Session Committee in our little tiny room upstairs in the Main Building. Try and picture 5 people all in this room â†’ at the same time! It's a pretty tight squeeze. Anyways, Deane Currie, our new camp director, wanted to discuss a few things, run a few things by us, and generally pick our brains about how to make camp even better than it already is. We invited my nephew Tobin the dining hall supervisor to the meeting because we needed to talk about meals (which are good but have been consistently late) a lot. In her defense, this is only the second year for our new cook, and she does try so hard to please everyone. Evidently, there just isn't enough time in the day to please everyone and have meals start on time. We talked about a whole bunch of other things, too, but that was the big one. Due to Deane's compact leadership style, however, this meeting only lasted 45 minutes, and we were all out of there by 8:45. Yay Deane! 
    After the meeting, I immediately flopped over on the couch/bed and fell asleep almost instantly because I hadn't gotten my regular daily nap at camp today. A half hour later, I woke up and have been working on the entry ever since. So now it's 12:20 a.m. and I bid you goodnight. "Goodnight."
    Just another wonderful day at camp, folks. 
 
     Thursday, August 14, 2008
    FNCA Day 13. Sunny all day again. Yahoo!!!
    Dessert at Thursday dinner is our traditional Banana Hunt. At the beginning of the meal, bananas and markers are distributed to all the tables. Everyone writes their name on a banana. Then a small crew of people hides them. When people are done eating dinner, the Banana Hunt begins! When you find your banana, you return to the dining hall where fixings are set up to make banana splits. Yum.
    For Sparks Games tonight at the FNCA, once again, several Sparks who have been coming in from town just for Sparks Games weren't here tonight, so there were only 4 or 5 Sparks depending on if the youngest one happened to be playing or not (which seemed to be completely random tonight). We played Tag, Kitchen Tag, Livingroom Tag, Bedroom Tag, Robots, Blob, Plague,  and  Flash Flood! (of course).
    And for Flames Games, we did some of the same games: Tag, Blob, and Robots, plus Rock/ Paper/Scissors Tag, Elves/Giants/Wizards Tag, Cross Tag, Triangle Tag, and  Everybody's It.
     In between those two, I went to a special presentation of the Swedenborgian Church at Temenos's 8' tall Tiffany stained glass windows of the 7 angels of the 7 churches from the book of Revelation that are now on tour in an exhibit called "In Company with Angels", from a quote by Emanuel Swedenborg that says something along the lines of: everyone on earth is always in company with angels. The windows are absolutely stunningly gorgeous — they were made by Louis Tiffany, after all. The photo pictured here → is a close-up of one of the angels. It makes up only about a sixth of the actual window. Visit  <http://www.incompanywithangels.org> for more info about these amazing pieces of art.

     Friday, August 15, 2008
    FNCA Day 14. Clear and sunny for the third day in a row! Yay!
    Every morning before breakfast, the FNCA Polar Bear Club meets by the river for a quick ← dip. (That's me diving in.) Especially for us night owls, Polar Bear Swim is essential to being awake at breakfast. Like our club motto says, It's Refreshing & Invigorating! I've been Polar Bearing at camp since the 60's. And I've been the Papa Bear since Muff Worden moved to Iceland and stopped attending sometime in the 80's (I think). The temperature this year has been surprisingly consistent. Makes me think we need a new thermometer.
  We had a newbie at Sparks Games tonight at the Fryeburg New Church Asssembly, but since little Zed is only three years old, he didn't last the entire time. We started off with the usual: Tag, followed by Lemonade, Nature Tag, Knots, Remote Control,  and Flash Flood!
  Immediately after Sparks Games was that much anticipated annual comedic event: the Sales Table Auction. It is consistently one of the best-attended optional events at camp. And it's always hilarious. This year we had a wonderful assortment of items (thank you Lee Dyer), and raised over $800 for the Assembly. A special thanks to this year's auctioneer extraordinaire, Alex Dyer & his assistant Mary Beth Bernier→.  Alex's dad, Dan Dyer, has been our auctioneer quite a few times, but he was out of town today, so I tried to think of the funniest guy in camp. It was Alex, hands down. And another special thanks to Lee Dyer (Alex's mom) and Bob Perry for bringing quality items specifically for the auction. And special thanks to my Aunt Lois for the dead chair she rescued from the trash, cleaned it up, put at back together and recaned the seat. She did a terrific job, the chair looks great, and it sold for $125! All together, the Sales Table Auction netted $825 for the Assembly.
    And he did a great job, too. He seemed to know when to linger in the bidding, and when to goingoncegoingtwicegone really fast. He kept it moving, and he got lots of laughter for both his humor and his unique presentation style. Thanks Alex! 
 
     Saturday, August 16, 2008
    FNCA Day 15. Sunny all day. Rain at night. That's a good arrangement.
    Today is the last full day at the Fryeburg New Church Assembly family camp in Fryeburg Maine. Around 70 people of all ages (from babes in arms to 80- or 90-something) gathered here this week — four generations of some families! And a good time was had by all.
    Lots of people start packing up on Saturday, so there's lots of stuff being moved about. My lovely wife and I are in the enviable position of being able to spend an extra day here, so we won't be packing up until tomorrow or Monday. (Yay.)
    Sparks Games tonight at the FNCA was All Request Night: the kids tell me what their favorite games were that we played together this session, and I select only from that list what we actually play. It's always FUN for me to learn what their favorites are, and I like giving them a bit of a voice in what we do. So, tonight we played Fishy Fishy, Indian Stick, Dho-Dho-Dho, Capture the Flag, and that great closer game: FLASH FLOOD!
    Then, one of the Guiu grand kids presented a slide show of her stay in India. She's very interested in architecture, so most of the slides were of buildings: mosques, minarets, ancient arcades, apartment buildings, stores, etc. There were very, very few that were of anything else: two with cows, one with goats, and a couple of trains, but that's about it. I'm not really interested in architecture at all, but it was still a delightful show. They were able to make it quite interesting for everyone with there educational and entertaining commentary, besides the fact that most of the building were simply gorgeous.
    After that, Flames Games was also All Request Night. With the teens, though, it's totally different than with the Sparks. You see, most of the teens have been coming here most or all of their life, so they've grown up with Sparks Games and Flames Games... they know my repertoire inside and out, so I count on the Flames to remember lots of great games that I've forgotten about. So tonight, their favorites included mostly games that we hadn't played at all this year that they wanted to play. They called out way more than we would ever be able to play in an hour, but the ones we played included Dho-Dho-Dho, Black Hole, Bodyguard (plus three variations), Last Couple Out, Line Cross, and a game I'm surprised I don't remember because it's just so much FUN and teens love it: Swat.
 
     Sunday, August 16, 2008
    FNCA Last Day. Sunny.
    Breakfast was the last meal at camp today. After breakfast, about half the people packed up and went home. The other half went to church, packed up, and went home. Nancy & I went to church, didn't pack up, and stayed. We're not going home until tomorrow. We don't really let people do this, but we've got an in: I'm on the Board of Directors and am the camp Activities Coordinator, and she's the Camp Registrar and had to stay to "take care of stuff".
 
    Well, after she finished taking care of stuff, we went canoeing on the Saco River â†‘ because the river has been flooded since camp began and we haven't been able to canoe, but now it's receded somewhat and slowed down considerably. We could have gone yesterday, but the Registrar is very busy the last two days of camp so we waited until everybody left. It was great to be on the river again. I've been canoeing this river since the 50's!
     We tried out the camp's new canoe. At the height of the raging river last week, somebody abandoned their canoe at our waterfront, climbed up our path, and left. We kept waiting for them to return and claim their canoe, but here it is a week later and nobody has showed. So I guess the FNCA just got a new canoe. Oh well.
    One of the things I like to do on the river is paddle under low-hanging branches near the bank and go through openings in fallen down trees. The second time we did this today, all of a sudden right in front of us was a beautiful water bird â†’ of some sort just sunning itself on the fallen down tree. we were only about 10' away! I backpaddled and made shushing noises to try to allay the bird's fears and, miracle of miracles, it stayed! We watched it and it watched us for most of ten minutes while Nancy took about a dozen pictures and I just totally reveled in being that close to real wildlife. 
    A short while earlier, we had seen this same bird approach from the side and then fly along the river ahead of us until it was out of sight. My wife is a birder but she wasn't sure what it was, so I conjectured that maybe it's a juvenile of some sort since they often look different that the full grown ones.
    Well, eventually we had to get going and had to disturb the bird, but just as we were pulling out of the tree zone, Nancy noticed a small bird's nest in the branches of the fallen down tree the bird had been in. It was way too small to be this bird's nest, but it was still way cool nonetheless. 
    This river is one of the few protected rivers around here. You're not even allowed to use soap or shampoo in it, that's how clean it's kept, so it's very pristine. We absolutely love the Saco River and thoroughly enjoy every little bit of our trip today.
    When we got back, we had a nice little dinner in the Woof Cabin, and spent the rest of the evening packing up for a departure tomorrow morning. 
 
     Tuesday, August 19, 2008
    It was a lot of FUN today to do a ½-day residency at the Farmington KinderCare on South Rd in Farmington CT today. I worked with five different groups, boom boom boom, one right after the other from 9:00 - 1:00. 
    First was the Twos — a very tough group: they are often fearful of the unusual (me), leery of anything different (me), and can be pretty unsure of men who dress funny (me). Two children immediately broke into tears (which is not unusual with two-year-olds) and had to be taken out of the room. The rest of them though, slowly came around, and by the end of our time all the children were happily mooing like a cow along with me. Yay! It's such a thrill to be able to get through to the tough customers. I just love the little ones, and it's so hard on me when they don't automatically love me back. Wah! But we worked it all out and they (eventually) had a good time together.
    Then there were two groups of Threes, one after the other. This age group is sooo much easier. They routinely laugh at adults being silly, so that makes it very easy for this silly man. All I have to do is whack my hat "by mistake" a few times and they're all with me all the way. Lots of smiles. Lots of laughter. Lots of FUN.
    And then I had an hour each with two large groups of Olders. I love a packed room, and packed it was! Both of these groups were with me from the moment the entered the room. I guess anybody who wears a Cat in the Hat hat and a belt full of toys is okay with them! These two groups were having so much FUN that the staff had to put a stop to it because we were running overtime.  
 
 
     Friday, August 22, 2008
     Today definitely goes down in my marriage history as a Red Letter Day!
 
     Saturday, August 23, 2008
    The first of two very busy days.
    First, a show to close this year's Children's Performance Series at the <---- Odyssey Book Shop in South Hadley MA. This is my ninth year in a row as part of this terrific Saturday morning summer series. Some years I open the series with a show the beginning of July; some years I'm in the middle; this year I was the final act.
    The Odyssey Book Shop has this nifty little sunken brick courtyard out in front of it (at the bottom of the stairs in the photo). It's got several patches of grass and a couple of great trees and a cool little fountain. I set up in front of the fountain with the crowds spread all the way around the courtyard in front of me. Some folks bring chairs, some sit on the benches, some bring blankets, some just sit on the grass or bricks. There's usually 25-75 people there, and this year was right in the middle of that range. And a good time was had by all!
    Then I drove to Terryville CT to stiltwalk at the 60th annual Terryville Fair put on by the  ← Terryville Lions Club. This is my fifth appearance (fourth in a row) at this great little country fair. It got cows and pigs and horses and oxen and chickens and rabbits and goats and tractors and lots of food and live music and a children's stage and other live entertainment (racing pigs!) (log burling in a big swimming pool!) and a midway and... and... and... It's a GREAT fair!
    I love this event. The people are all so friendly. The fairgrounds aren't too big — I can stiltwalk the entire fairgrounds in about an hour — so I'm pretty sure I get to see absolutely everyone who's there. Not to mention that it's only an hour and a half from home and they love me there!
    This marks my fifth year at the fair, but it's the first year that they didn't schedule me for any shows on the children's stage. I didn't realize until I got there that I wasn't in the performance schedule. I thought it would be not as good just to do "walk-around" the whole time, but I was actually pretty good. I thought it would make the day seem way longer, but it didn't. I thought I would really miss the break from walk-around that 3 shows a day gave me in the past, but I didn't. I still miss doing the shows (I love a big audience), but it was way easier than I thought.
    Early on in the day, Sue Boilard, one of the staff who knows me by name because she's been there longer than I have, says to me, "Did you see your photo? You won a ribbon." I said, "What photo?" So here's the story:
    Two years ago at the Terryville Fair, a local photographer took a great picture of a kid at the fair giving me a High 5. It's a great photo even though you can't see that the kid's feet are off the ground. I liked it so much, I put it on my website. Last year, he entered that photo in the photography exhibition at the fair and it   


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
won a blue ribbon! So last year, the same lady says to me, "Did you see your photo? You won a prize." And I said, "What photo?" She led me over to one of the exhibition halls and showed me the picture the guy had taken last year, and sure enough, it had won a blue ribbon. (NOTE: the photographer won the ribbon, not me.)
     Anyways, Sue thought it would be fun to take a picture of me standing next to the picture that won first prize. So I posed, she clicked, and that's the last I heard of it until this year's exact same interchange. Turns out, she had entered her photo of me standing next to last year's prize-winning photo of me in this year's photo exhibit and she had won top honors for it!
    So guess what? She asked me to stand next to that photo so she could take another picture, and she's going to enter it into next year's exhibit! I'll keep you posted.
 
      Sunday, August 24, 2008
    My second day at this year's Terryville Fair in Terryville CT. Mostly the same as yesterday except that my right leg hurt from yesterday so I was afraid it was going to be a really long day. I was moaning and groaning the whole time I put my stilts on, not looking forward to it at all. But you know what? As usual, once I got started, everything was fine and the pain just melted away (until my break!)
    Three really cool things happened today that stick out in my mind:

    First, I got to keep the photo of me that won the ribbon, and the ribbon, too! The photographer wanted me to have them! Yay! That's just so much FUN!
    Second, after I was done for the day and was sitting in the secretary's office waiting for the cashier to cut my check, a guy came in with a check as a donation to the fair. The gentleman that received the check was both dumbfounded and curious, so he asked why the guy was making a donation to the fair. Now remember, this fair is hosted by the Terryville Lions Club, so it made perfect sense when the guy explained that more than 12 years ago the Terryville Lions had paid for an operation on his eyes and now he was able to return the favor. It was a fabulous moment.
    And third, when I  was nearly to the exit gate to finally go home, this voice behind me said, "Excuse me." So I turned around to see a father and his young adult son. The son spoke up and said, "Are you really TREVOR "The Games Man"?" And I answered that sure enough, I'm me. He told me that I'd performed at his birthday party when he was a kid and that his name was Benjamin Tint. As usual, I was surprised that I actually remembered him (and his dad, too!) because I've done so many birthday parties (900+) and entertained so incredibly many people (1,000,000+) that I'm always surprised when I remember a particular individual... especially someone from 13 or 14 years ago!
    Anyways, the three of us chatted for a while. Benjamin is into playing guitar now, so I googled him when I got home and watched several YouTube videos of him soloing and with his band Synergistic Soundscapes at the Pioneer Arts Center of Easthampton (PACE). It was pretty cool. I also looked him up in my own database and found that I'd actually done his party twice: his 8th in 1995 and his 9th the following year. That would put him at age 20 now. WOW! 

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trevor@trevorthegamesman.com
PO Box 463, Haydenville, MA 01039