Wednesday, July 30, 2014

CAMP ACHTERBERG: Day Three!

We were up and out early for our big day at camp. Today’s schedule lured in two more resident campers despite the fact that revelry sounded before noon. We set off for the city of Baltimore at 9:30am. While I had hoped for lively conversation en route, three out of four campers were otherwise occupied with ear buds and/or books. Undeterred, my most faithful camper kept me entertained and helped navigate.

One of the reasons I love the Walters Art Gallery is that it’s free. The other reason is that I always find a parking place right out front – and today was no exception. There was even 47 minutes left on the meter! As we entered the museum I challenged the campers to find the weirdest thing and the funniest thing in the museum. One brother immediately tagged the other and said, “Found it!” Too early for that kind of humor apparently.
We headed for the current exhibit, a modern art collection which, while entertaining, left most of us wondering. This led to the question – “What makes something art?” For surely if it’s defined by the pieces in the current exhibit, I’ve got more than a few masterpieces in our playroom and basement.





It didn’t take long for me to lose all my campers except one. I stuck with him because A) he had no phone with which to track him down and B) every security guard we passed warned him “Please, don’t touch,” even though he never touched anything. (He did lean perilously close several times.)


We enjoyed visiting with some of our favorite pieces in the collection – mostly weapons and armor, but then discovered a room we hadn’t seen before. The Knight’s Hall is hidden in a little detour just off the Islamic Weapons collection. Two campers were delighted to discover a checker board and immediately sat down for a game. When another group of campers happened along they collected an audience for quite a while until that group’s counselor’s dragged them away.

As the game heated up, I had a chance to look at the small collection in the room. There were a few odd pieces.

Any guesses? 

 
Yep, Dwarf Centaur.

 How about this one?
Chandoler Bust with Antelors. Hmm.

After briefly gawking at the prices in the gift shop we tracked down the disappearing camper and left to get lunch. The mostly unanimous choice (camp directors don’t get a vote) was The Hard Rock Café.

After finishing our meal (actually the moment they put down their forks) the campers set off for Barnes & Noble promising to rendezvous at the check out in 30 minutes. My favorite camper paid the tab and we followed. The ride home was quiet – tummies full and new books!

Our original schedule called for kayaking at this point, but everyone was plumb tuckered out by the big city and several had tummy aches from lunch (in a moment of incredible self-control, I did not point out the correlation between greasy processed food and tummy troubles). Since the absent-minded camp director had neglected to reserve kayaks anyway, it was decided to substitute rest/reading time followed by cookie baking for the kayaking timeslot. 


The cookies were delish.


I’ve decided that the name of the game in camp directing is flexibility. We’ll see what tomorrow brings!

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