Day 108

the days go by fast. very fast. i've started the process of packing already so that when youth camp ends and the momentum of the summer marathon and sprinting finish falls to the ground, i'll be prepared to move forward.

in the meantime, the week has grown consistently rainy and cool. hoodie season is here. west coast by coconut records is stuck in my head. all day. especially the line about rain.

i've been appreciating the mountains and water as much as possible this week during my daily coffee gathering at the balcony. i wish i could stay with the horizon forever.

Day 98: an awesome day

another week ends. the whole week was smooth and the kids were well behaved. today was really hot..

now for a vagabonded raconteur:

our crew left camp for the precious end-of-the-week time off. we headed down the highway to the sweetest swimming hole i've ever seen or heard of. clear waters glided forty feet below a solid cliff face. another forty feet above that, the roadway buzzed overhead across a steel truss bridge. the darkness of the deep heart mellowed on the opposite bank where smooth rocks melted into the flow. prime. after several jumps and videos and pictures of the area and our antics, we moved on to

montanas, canada's version of lone star and typical midscale man-food chain restaurant, faced mountains and the highway. eight of us sat at the porch and enjoyed the warm breeze. the sun was bright and we sheltered our faces with the menus but were soon distracted with the arrivals. we had our fill of steak, ribs, roast, corn bread, and the such while bob dylan played in the background and the olympics buzzed on the tvs inside. one surprise birthday party later, we were on our way

to the ocean. richard thought he knew where it was, so only our car went looking and the other guys headed back. after a short drive and a walk through blackberry bushes and gravel paths, we found the ocean. the distant mountains. the sunset. the coast. together. during magic hour. second to the outback's, this was the most ultimate sunset i've seen. i hadn't brought my camera bag because when the trip started, we had originally headed off to go longboarding and the following events hadn't really been planned. the others had theirs and i'll have some of those before too long. as the mountains took burning yellow and red across the marching waves in front of us, the opposite side of the rocky island we had waded to platformed a red and rising moon. after a quick swim in the warm water and summer night, the day was complete.

Day 87

we continued to shoot around camp today. some of my kid's counselors told me that their campers had been excitedly talking about starwood dv and what they've been doing and learning so far. good times.

after teaching and shooting around with them, i had some time off. i got the kayak and, accompanied by a friend, set off to see what was around the other point i had stopped at on a previous adventure. after paddling and visiting the purple starfish along the rocks beneath the rope swing, we made one turn and then, this time, one more right turn around the final outstretching point. finally. just to the right, around the small cove of smashing water and rocks, the water straightened out into a long path. i would say this looked like a huge river, but that would be ridiculous because no river can exist in a channel of ocean water.

i have a very hard time conceding that the straight between our shore and the nearby salt spring island can be entirely called 'the ocean.' isaac and i had a long talk about this. regardless, i can't approve that ocean water in a narrowed path between islands is entitled for the all-encompassing title of 'ocean'.

is it even possible?

Day 33

i woke up early today atop the climbing tower and had a shower before making it to the first breakfast i'd made it to in a few weeks.

some of my macbook pro's problems were solved after an afternoon in isaac's office. he's a good guy with a bushy beard and a massive interest and knowledge in macs and computers in general. not only was final cut pro studio reinstalled in completion, but quicksilver and a clutch, new picture-managing software was added. it was a good time as well.

tonight there was a bonfire at the beach for the staff. after marshmallows had been roasted and songs and testimonies had been released amidst the gentle lapping of waves, the three of us jammed for a couple hours to a fading fire and faithful few. working on recent songs and playing new things in the fire-lit shore was the most chill thing. seriously. no worries. this was part of the point of the initial bonfire, we were all told, because once the summer camp starts there will be little to no free time left for the staff, let alone the entire group.

the phosphorescence actually does sparkle in darkness when you use a stick to stir the water.

we visited the fridge after getting back from jamming on the shores and found the cook had left two bowls, one of chili and the other of barbeque beef, with 'joe and friends' written across the saran rap. between software help and extra food, things have been coming together really well even aside from the big picture of camp being assembled and prepared for this weekend's massive open-house of at least 72o people. weeklong camps start soon after.

its after midnight and my gear is still up at the top of the climbing tower from last night, so that's where i'm going right now. i don't think the hammock worked out too well for dave last night, so i'll be alone up there tonight. goodnight.

Day 17

today started as a work day, but a couple of the guys asked if i wanted to get in on a prank and, seeing how it is my responsibility to make videos of any important action, i left the office to do just that. sounds like a good reason, right? here's how it went down..

one friend, jen, had left her car, a teal caravan, at the ferry lot over the weekend when she went to the mainland to visit her rents. we left camp a few hours before she was to arrive back, bringing with a massive tube of saran rap and several cleverly-worded posters for the decorating of this otherwise bland vehicle.

i brought a full battery, a fresh tape, and the gl2 canon video camera along to 'document the important action' for future video use. this turned out to be an awesome experience in on-the-go, documentary directing that i'll begin to edit tomorrow morning.

after the forty-five minute drive, we found her van-tastic vehicle (that was one of the titled signs we prepared) and rapped the entire thing with heavy duty saran. surprised with our speed, we were forced to wait around the parking lot for an hour until the ship was to arrive.

documentation during this waiting period captured everything from the poster's lame word-plays to passerby's reactions to our van's artwork to our own reenactments of '"move that volkswagon rabbit!"- the car we drove in with, and finished with mocumentary, over-the-shoulder and blank-stare interviews among ourselves, the five villains. finally the vessel docked and we hid- i jumped into the bushes, of course, to get the reaction shots, while the others scattered around the parking lot. we waited. i'm going to stop explaining here because i'm not going to be able to do justice for the moments that followed.

i can't wait to go to my office in the morning to edit and produce this.

a couple guys that i hadn't gotten much time to chill yet went down to the dock after dinner and jumped in for a quick swim. freezing-cold water.

and apparently, there are several poetry-interested people here and they got excited by my idea to have some sort of weekly original poetry reading, complete with low lights and djembe accompaniment. we'll see how that goes.

also, tonight after group bible-study and swiping some left-over cookies from the kitchen, the two new zealand dudes and i went for another jam session. each experience has been jelling better and better and we're gettin some creative, malleable stuff, which is exciting for all of us. it'll be interesting to see where we might be able to take this..