For Those About to Boch

Don't forget...THE FINAL SHOW OF PLAY IS TONITE- Tuesday! C'mon down to the camp and see it! You'll love or or your money back!


The first show last night was most excellent. The studio was packed to the gills with the audience spilling out the windows and onto the porch. The front rows of mats were filled with kids and we love being a show for all ages. Everyone cheered a lot and most of folks even stayed until the end. It was a lot of fun and we're looking forward to doing it all again this evening.


We're still waiting for the play pictures so here's some picture from our trip to the Boch family home for the annual picnic. Thanks you Barbara and Ernie Jr. It was awesome, as always!

Tabernacle nights

Well, first of all, THE PLAY IS TONIGHT! MONDAY NIGHT! 7:30 pm! COME SEE IT! It's also on Tues night. Here's some pictures from rehearsal:


Last night we all went to see David Crohan play piano at the tabernacle in Oak Bluffs. Hellcat gave us a stern talking to before we left about how this music was not going to have any drums and we'd have to stay quiet and seated throughout the show. "You're not going to get up and do any of those silly jigs," she warned us.





We were very tempted to rush the stage after that lecture. As it was Hellcat spent much of the concert telling us to "hush up", but she would have been quite surprise to see us doing silly jigs up there for all to see. Mr. Crohan said he was glad to see Camp Jabberwocky in attendance and we all cheered loudly at that.


We spent much of today putting the final touches on our production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. We saw Ms. Patricia Neal this afternoon and she said she was coming tomorrow so that ought to be interesting. Not only is she an academy award winner, she was married to Rohald Dahl, the author of the book. Hopefully no one will be too offended by the liberties we have taken. Silly jigs indeed!

The Prom!

The Mimsey prom committee declared the theme for this year's prom to be "Under the Sea", but then the next morning they changed their minds and decided it should be "Hollywood". Perhaps they were worried about how we'd all look in fish costumes. Some people protested though because they'd already gotten undersea outfits so a compromise theme of "Hollywood Under Sea" was proposed. But after some discussion we realized no one really understood what that meant, so we stuck with "Hollywood" after all. And what a fine choice that was!



Madeline was the lead chef for an unbelievable six course meal (seriously!) which most agreed was even better than "restaurant quality". Several unwitting counselors got roped into the job of being waiters and they did actually make a very attractive bunch:


Manny's ambitious plan of inviting two women at once to the prom did actually pan out for him, sort of. His dates decided he should learn some kind of lesson as well, so they told him they only go with him if he wore a dress. "I'll do it!" he replied.


The hottest new couple of this year's prom was Mellisa and Matt. Mellisa asked him to be her date the night before and the next evening they were sharing a romantic dinner.


With all that good food sitting in our bellies we were a little wary of hitting the dance floor with our usual abandon, but then the music took over our souls and we danced into the night like Pat Swayze and Jenifer Grey.


We're coming into the home stretch here at Jabberwocky in July and spirits are high. Maybe that's just because we don't get enough sleep and are all feeling a little giddy. We've been practicing hard for this years musical and hope to see some of you there! It's tomorrow night! Monday and Tues, 7/16 and 7/17, 7:30pm at the camp. C'mon!

Broken Bus!

On the way back from Menemsha yesterday Jeff noticed something funny about the big red bus's brakes. By the time we arrived back at camp it was clear we needed some repairs. It smelled like burnt rubber! Tim Farrow correctly diagnosed the issue as having to do with the brakes, which we all agreed were important parts to keep in working order. So, sadly, our big red bus was taken out of commission.

In the afternoon the ladies got dressed in their fresh finery and took off with the vans to attend Lynne Wolff's big Tea and Sing up in Chilmark. The rest of us were left with only the cargo van for transportation so we hoofed it down to Owen park for a swim down by the docks. This turned out to be a lot of fun, as these pictures might attest. George, Mark and Teak even managed to to a little crabbing of the pier. They caught several crustaceans but declined to eat them.




For those of you following the Jabberwocky soap opera surrounding the upcoming prom, Manny popped the question to Lidia last night after she discovered him hiding in her bed. The problem was he had already asked Kathleen and thus found himself in a pickle. He tried to make up for it with this romantic gesture pictured below, but she remained skeptical. Manny is hoping to attend the prom with both of them but they would prefer not to reward his scoundrel ways so we'll see what happens...


By the way, when the ladies returned from the Tea and Sing Faith announced that they had raised $10,000 for our beloved camp. Way to go! Thanks Lynne! And to top it off Paul from August camp took the ferry over from New Bedford after he got off work and fixed our bus! Hooray! We're back on the road again...

Menemsha...

These days we've begun to think about the upcoming play (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, July 16 and 17, 7:30pm, come!) so our mornings are about rehearsal and singing. A small group went horseback riding too. We faced a kind of gray day in the afternoon so we declared it proper for traveling up island to our favorite little fishing village, Menemsha. The Mimsey gals stayed behind to go to a bead store, but the rest of us piled onto the big red bus and sang songs until we reached our destination. Once we got there we swarmed the town and scared away tourists. Then we got ice cream and watched the fishing boats come in.



Sharon J. checks out the scene:

A few brave souls went swimming, led by Beth A. who was determined to get in the water no matter what. Jo Jo wasn't looking forward to the swim, claiming her Puerto Rican blood wasn't compatible with the cold waters off Menemsha, so Beth let her off the hook.


The Momeraths crew is looking strong this year. They like to joke around at night and make funny noises until someone comes over to see what's going on. It's nice to have some rowdy hi-jinx back in that cabin. Here are some of the crew:


Speaking of rowdy hi-jinx, here is the scene in Mimsey as this blog is being written. All of the counselors in the cabin took a night out and are expected back shortly. When Lidia and Alice arrive home they will find Manny Futardo and Bruce Dodson lying in each of their respective beds. Manny plans to ask Lidia to the prom when she discovers him there. We're not sure if that's a great plan, but who knows, maybe it will work. Hopefully neither of Bruce or Manny will wet the bed, because perhaps then the joke will not be so funny. Imagine coming back from a late night to this!

All Aboard!

We all woke up early this morning excited for adventure. Time for a sailboat ride! Madeline and her crew had cooked us a hot breakfast of pancakes and sausage and some of us took Dramamine so as not to puke that meal up on the high seas. At 10am sharp we boarded the world famous Mad Max catamaran taking care not to loose anyone overboard as we climbed the gangplank.




This is what the boat looks like:


We fit pretty much everyone in camp aboard the big boat, which was a lot of fun. As soon as we got underway we all stripped down to our sexiest bathing outfits in order to catch some cancer-causing rays.




Manny and Bruce renewed their old rivalry on the boat. Here we see things heating up between them once again.



The breeze was quite strong so we cruised along at a healthy clip and sang pirate songs. We considered attacking some of the other vessels out there and plundering their loot, but this didn't seem like a practical plan since we'd left most of our wheelchairs back on shore. We wondered: what if someone stole them? We'd have been up the creek then! Luckily that didn't happen. Melissa P. brought her wheelchair along with her so she didn't have to worry about theft. She was very calm as we unloaded off the boat. She told us to be careful of sea-legs.

We ate lunch out on the Edgartown wharf and then plundered the town of it's ice cream and cookies.




Back at camp we had an amazing surprise waiting for us. World famous magician Walter Childs was there to perform a magic show after dinner. Those of us who had seen his show every summer for the past twenty years were perhaps a little unaffected by his wondrous illusions, but others were thrilled. In fact, some were a little too thrilled. It turns out that several of the autistic folks here harbor a deep fear of balloons. The problem was that, unbeknownst to us, Walter had a big balloon finale planned during which he released a whole bunch of screeching balloon animals. This terrified the balloonaphobes and sent them running out the doors into the night. Walter was a little confused, but we've come to expect such things here at Camp Jabberwocky. Jo Jo talked to those who were frightened and we all had a little laugh about it later on. No more balloons though! Thanks Walter!