June 29th.

I'm back from 10 days in the woods with teenagers.

TAASC JR.

 Ben designed this trip for us:

He said he'd map out our best routes for us.

Snapshots of a Week Past

Paddling in big water.

Two portages around big technical rapids. One portage in a lightning storm.

Poison Ivy.

Sleeping on jagged rocks.

Wasa crackers.

Hot Chocolate.

Evacuation for busted stitches. Poor little paddler.

Rain.

Middle of the night tent moving; "How high's the water mama? Three feet high and rising. How high's the water mama? Four feet high and rising..."

Steering canoes.  Ah sleep.

Back to comfort.

Atlanta.

Andrew Bird concert.  Amazing. Theatrical.

Breakfast with Meghan at this place.

Water lilies and Monet at the High Museum.   And Richard Misrach.  (Mom, this is the exhibition that I told Dad about...).

Great food. Wonderful company. Runs. Pool. Gin and tonics. Wine. Ahh. Now back out there for 10 days.

Image

Event: Carolina Day School's "moving up" ceremony

Scene: 9:30am.  A bunch of little bankers singing in subdued voices and speaking about falling down and others helping them up... awards, preppy parents, weaving from one grade up to the next.  CDS gymnasium.

While sitting on bleachers, we looked down to see a dad pushing a stroller with a two year old strapped in and screaming to be let out. The mom was pushing another stroller which had a cup holder the pushing handle.  Inside the cup holder was a fresh can of Red Bull.  Ah, the morning.

Like a hedgehog

When I was overwhelmed and teary,  little Ben came upstairs and told us that his favorite animal was a echidna.  He said he'd find images on Google for us to check them out.

I felt better right away.

Final Image

After a flailing, ducking, crouching, sprinting, invasive-species spreading game of hide-and-go-seek-tag at the Mills Ridge campsite, we called in the kids for the night.

They asked to play two songs on Ari's iPod. We said sure.  The older kids told the younger ones, "Turn off your headlamps," and we sat on logs and huddled around little speakers.

The first pick was their obvious "Eye of the Tiger" which seems to be the latest theme on these trips.  The second one was "Stairway to Heaven."  We all sat in silence as the song weaved through the slow parts to the fast parts, and, when it was over, they all got up and silently walked to their tents.

All my bags are packed...

Godspeed, as a word, is a wish for a prosperous journey, success, and good fortune (from Middle English God speed you, meaning "May God help you prosper").

For Deb

I have been slow to post.   

This week has been full of Outward Bound work;  a conference about offering diverse activities to middle school students;  a children's health fair at Martin Luther King Park (Deb, I wanted you and your people to visit us there, but didn't have your phone number); an ice cream social/awards ceremony for taasc;  being an emotional shooting star;  and getting ready for the trip that starts tomorrow.  I am tired, but we have four hours on the bus to get pumped up to paddle and portage.

These sound like excuses, but I am to please.  So this week's for you, Deb.

I've scheduled a couple of entries to post throughout the week. They aren't my best Passover writing, but hey, they offer a distraction from every day blah blahs.  Keep checking and I'll be back for real on Sunday night.

Godspeed... to me.