New Faces and Getting Ready...

Today was a busy day here at Camp Jabberwocky. We said good-bye to four of our great campers and picked up four new ones over in Wood's Hole. We were all sorry to see Leif, Hannah, Skye, and Sylar leave, but we were happy to see Matt, Sharon, George, and Manny roll up the drive right before lunch. Manny was in particularly high spirits. He set about immediately lining up dates for each meal and we're glad to say his language has not cleaned up any. He claims to have lost fifteen pounds, though it's hard to tell. He's still pretty hard to lift to the toilet. Here's a picture of our friend Manny:



We'll all miss Hannah a lot. Well, maybe we won't miss her running up and pinching us on the back, but we'll miss her unique style and curiousity. Whenever we go out she waves over just about every stranger she comes across by saying "C'mere!" and then she proceeds to ask the person a series of questions which always include, "Do you have a dog or a cat?", "What did you have for lunch today?" and "Do have enough gas in you car to get home?" She also uses a communication device which can be programed to ask or say many different things. On her last day we added a few new ones including "Did you poop today?" and "How would you like a punch in the stomach?" This amused us greatly. Bye Hannah! and Bye Vera (her excellent counselor)! We miss you already. Here's Hannah conducting and interview with her communication device:


We heard a rumor that George, one of our new campers, could dance like Michael Jackson. Well, it was true! After dinner he amazed us all with a killer dance to "Billie Jean". Check out his moves:


Another great thing that happened today was co-director Jo-Jo arrived. Boy, we were glad to see her! We told her we'd save any "plumbing" problems for her we she got here and she's getting right on it, rubber gloves and all. Here she is dancing with Scott at the Ice Cream/Dance party thrown by the Troquina's outside on the blacktop.

Here's all of us dancing:


The previous night we went to drumming at the beach. Here's some pictures from that:



That last one is Joradan giving Jon food through his feeding tube at the beach. We don't let feeding tubes stop us from eating outside!

We're very busy now getting ready for the big forth of July parade. Please come out and see us if you're nearby. We've got some good floats in the works. Here's the giant bull, partially done:

Wait till you see it when it's painted!

Sunday

Today we all put on our Sunday finest and strolled down to Grace church for the services there. It was another nice day for a walk. When we got there the pastor gave us a warm greeting and the congregation cheered when he said "We'd like to welcome our friends from Camp Jabberwocky..." Skipper carried the cross into the church:



They used these special clay goblets for the communion which were made by campers at Jabberwocky. Melissa got a big mouthful of the blood of christ wine when the pastor came around and we wondered if she might have been feeling a little tipsy. Everyone behaved themselves during the services for the most part. Skipper plucked a dollar from the collection plate as it passsed by, but he put it back after we told him that money belonged to God. Hannah kept asking, "is it done yet?". She couldn't wait for the social hour afterwards. During that she tapped every person on the shoulder and said "C'mere." When they did she asked them if they had enough gas in their car. It was a big concern for her.



After church we had lunch and began preparations for the big 4th of July Parade. Our theme this year is "Carnivale" We're not sure how that relates to the 4th of July, but we'll figure that part out later. For dinner we traveled out the State Beach in Oak Bluffs and had another cookout. This time Rick and the drummers joined us and we danced around and fell over in the sand often. We'll get some pictures of all that, but for now here's some shots from Studio Night on Saturday. Everyone agreed that the highlight was the duet between Scott and Sierra:

Super Saturday

It was a wonderful sunny day here on the island and we enjoyed it thoroughly. We had some morning classes and then the whole camp travelled to Oak bluffs for a picnic lunch on the green. While we were there munching on sandwiches we saw the fellows from The Vineyard sound come strolling across the lawn. They played some a cappella songs and we all cheered for them and then they left as mysteriously as they'd come. After lunch the camp split up with some hitting the beach and others hitting Oak Bluffs. The beach crew had a lot of fun and several of the counselors got sunburned since they'd been so busy covering their campers with sunblock they forgot about themselves.

The big highlight of this Saturday was studio night. We allgathered in the studio to watch eachother strut their talents. Nancy, Melissa Pepper, Dick and Bruce did a dance about love and broken hearts and David G. sang a song from the Lion King. Faith sang "Angel from Montgomery" and after she was done their wasn't a dry eye in the house. We were weeping like babies, everyone of us. Then Sierra and Scotty sang an excellent duet and Jonah and Nancy read some poems. Our neighbor, Sean came by and played his violin and Julius sang a song in Danish. We'll get some picture of all that up soonbut we're very tired right now from the big day and besides the camera is missing somewhere. Hopefully it won't end up in the laundry.

Here's some pictures Jeff C. took of horseback riding earlier this week:





And here are some more pictures taken by Dr. Steve. He's got so many good ones and we'll be posting plenty more. Right now though it's time for bed...

Menemsha...

It rained hard last night but we were all warm in our beds. In the morning we awoke to a sunny day. A cookout dinner in Menemsha was declared and we set about making preparations for a romantic sunset meal at the other end of the island.

First we had a sports class where we all did our best at basketball:



And then we played a little football. This is Jon kicking off the ball while David holds it:



Tyrone led the sports class because he was a starting tight end at Colgate University this year. Here's Tyrone sitting with David. Tyrone is the one on the right:



This is Jon and Jordan. Jordan is Jon's cousin and he came here to help us learn about Jon and how to use his feeding tube.

Most of the campers here eat through their mouths but some use tubes and this can be tricky business. Jordan is from Tennessee and he says this camp is nothing compared to the farms he worked at down there. Sometimes he'd be milking a cow manure would fly into in his mouth. "There's not much you can do when that happens," he said.

Here's some pictures from the balloon making class:




Once classes were over and lunch was eaten we took a short rest and then loaded up the bus to head "up island" to Menemsha. We spent the afternoon roaming the docks and looking for trouble.






Back at the Menemsha beach some folks swam while other climbed out on the long rock jetties...





Finally it was time to eat and we all gathered at the water to chow down on burgers and hot dogs. Some of us ate veggie burgers too. We had watermelon for dessert.




After dinner we played a rousing game of Red Rover. It was no holds barred, knock down on the sand kind of stuff. We ran hard and tried our best to break through the chains. Lief stunned us all with his torpedo/battering ram technique. There was no stopping him!





Finally, as the sun set away we loaded up the bus and drove home for showers, baths and bed. Zzzzzzz...