And Two Sentinels Shall Be My Home

Three years ago, I decided to volunteer to be a staff member of Two Sentinels Girl Scout Camp, near Kirkwood in the High Sierras.  I was a little hesitant because I knew it was a rustic camp, I'd be gone from home for ten days, and I heard that the mosquitoes were terrible!  My daughter Lyndsay had been there the year before however, and had told me I would love it, so I was placing my faith in my 11 year old and venturing off to this new adventure. 

My daughter was right.  Two Sentinels is, for me and many of the girls and adults who return year after year, a refuge in our fast-paced lives.  Don't get me wrong, I probably work harder there than I do at home.  I'm responsible for the safety and happiness of a unit of girls, some who have never been camping before.  I have gone through lifeguard training, and am planning on earning my Level II First Aid training, so that I will be shouldering even more responsibility than ever.  Its' more than worth the effort for the feeling that I get being in one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.

I can picture all year the beauty that surrounds us at camp.  We can tell what the weather will be from the direction the water moves on Kirkwood Lake.  The trees rise above us everywhere we walk, making a slight swooshing sound as the gentle breeze goes through them.  The chipmunks on the dining deck scurry about as they look for food that is dropped by campers, even while we're all there eating!  The mornings are still, with no noise at all.  In the evenings, right at dusk, you can see small bats quickly flying around at the tops of the trees, looking for their dinners.  And at night, you can lay on the dock and watch nature's best light show- a dark sky covered with a blanket of stars, more than you could ever imagine.  There is so little other light that you can actually follow satellites as they travel across the sky.  And during the beginning of August, while the annual meteor shower appears, the oohs and ahs as we watch the falling stars are indelibly etched on my mind. 

Amidst this beauty are 150 campers and staff who appreciate together this beautiful gift of nature and add our own human touches.  The campfires, the pajama breakfast, skits, crafts, hikes, swimming in the "polar bear swim" at 7AM, boating during the day or at twilight (a special pleasure), the "Water Olympics", and the wishboat ceremony, our closing ceremony, where there are few dry eyes by the side of the lake. 

The last line of the camp song says it all 

 "And Two Sentinels shall be my home
makes no difference how far away I roam
just to leave here can make you cry
where the stars fall from the sky." 

And the mosquitoes?  That's why we like those bats!

This is the third and last issue of Nuggets to be published this school year. Watch for the next issue early in the fall as we gear up for next  year.

 OUTDOOR CREATIVITY 

Members of Junior Girl Scout Troop 1248 focused on the Outdoor Creativity badge.  One activity involves pressing flowers and leaves to use in a pressed flower project such as making special occasion cards.  To make this an outdoor event, we took a hike along Concord's Lime Ridge and looked for wildflowers using a field guide for flower identification. To avoid disturbing the environment by picking flowers, the flowers used for the project will be purchased at a nursery.  We plan to have the pressed flower cards ready in time for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Brownie Girl Scout Troop 2156 has completed three service projects and is working on a fourth. One Saturday morning they decorated their school with red ribbons for Red Ribbon week, sang Christmas Carols at Heritage Park Senior Home in Walnut Creek and cleaned out their closets at home to donate to The Bay Area Crisis Nursery.  When done, they had two car loads worth of great stuff to bring to the Concord based non-profit organization, and clean closets at home! 

Soon they will be planting a garden area in the Spring at Hidden Valley School. 

All fun stuff and easily done by any age group!