by jphilo | Jul 14, 2015 | Top Ten Tuesday
Today is my last full day at Family Camp. Here are the top ten rules to live by at Family Camp, 2015.
10. Take lots of pictures to document changes and progress from year to year:
9. Welcome unexpected visitors with calm, kindness, and wonder.
8. Spend as much time talking as eating during meals. (Please note: the photographer was too busy heeding this advice to take any pictures during meals.)
7. Work hard on your work crew in the mornings, but not too hard.
6. If you enter the chess tournament be prepared to sacrifice several hours for each match, if necessary.
5. Make time for conversation often.
4. Fun stuff for kids should always be a top priority.
3. Be grateful that Family Camp now has enough cabins and cabinettes so everyone can sleep in rooms with real beds and electricity.
2. Hug as many babies and toddlers as possible as often as possible.
1. Look up at the beauty of creation and give fervent, frequent thanks to its Creator. 
by jphilo | Jul 13, 2015 | Family
The second week of Family Camp in the mountains of the Idaho panhandle is now in full swing. I’ll be leaving early this coming Wednesday, but before that happens, have a gander at the views to be found every where.
Here’s the view from the porch of the cabin (pictured above) where I’m staying:
And here’s what I spied out the side window one hot afternoon. It’s been very dry here, so we think this doe was desperate for food:
These pictures were taken on my morning walk. The scenery is hazy because of a fire south of here on the other side of the lake. It finally rained this past Saturday, so the mountains are easier to see today:
If it weren’t for the Man of Steel waiting in Iowa and sweet corn season, this Iowa girl would have a mighty hard time leaving all this beauty!
by jphilo | Jul 18, 2014 | Family
With a book deadline breathing down my neck, this summer has required some difficult choices. The hardest was the decision not to attend the July Family Camp at Shadow Valley in Idaho. Another, not nearly so difficult, was to cut back on blogging. Today’s post combines the two decisions by taking a peek back at a historic moment at last year’s Family Camp.
Yesterday, this view was the backdrop for Sunday morning worship at family camp.
Beautiful guitar music accompanied the singing.
The beautiful guitar was made from wood cut from a tree that grew only yards away from where we gathered to worship.
The only missing link was Hiram, the man who made the guitar, unable to be present because of limited vacation time. But everyone in attendance was thinking of him and grateful for his gift to Shadow Valley Camp, the gift of music to a family who loves to sing.
To learn more about how the guitar was made, the story is online at First You Cut Down a Tree. As wife of the guitar maker I may be biased, but the process is fascinating. So take a look and if you like what you see, leave a comment at either blog or both. Both the guitar maker and his wife would love to hear what you think!
P.S. Our grandson is so fascinated by his Papoo who makes guitars that we are using the photos of the process to make a picture book for his birthday. He’s gonna love it!
by jphilo | Jul 16, 2013 | Top Ten Tuesday
After a week in Alaska followed by another week in the Idaho mountains, it’s time to head home. Here are the top ten signs that say “It’s time to go back to Iowa.”
10. The mosquitoes found us two nights ago.
9. I ran out of calcium supplements yesterday and have just enough clean undies to make it home.
8. The food is so good here that if I stay any longer, my clean undies won’t fit.
7. While walking a mile to use the internet is healthy, it’s not very efficient.
6. My fingers are itching to get back to my mystery novel.
5. There’s this pesky book manuscript to get done by the September 1 deadline.
4. Mom left a voice mail message this morning wondering where I was.
3. Sweet corn season is underway in Iowa.
2. Hiram and I plan to visit the kids and grandchild this weekend.
1. I miss my hubby.
How do you know it’s time for a vacation to end? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Jul 19, 2011 | Family
Being a prairie girl, I’m usually ready to bid the mountains adeui after visitings places filled with peaks and valleys. But not today.
Today, I don’t want to say good-bye to this steep, rugged landscape that makes my morning walks a challenge. I don’t want to say good-bye to meadows filled with mountain daisies, the osprey nesting in the towering cedar by a swift-flowing stream, to the buck that rests in the ridge right behind our camper.
Today, I don’t want to say good-bye to mornings overflowing with work crews and hammers and power tools and cooking in the kitchen. I don’t want to say good-bye to the lazy afternoons with time for naps and swimming and hikes and horses. I don’t want to say good-bye to three meals a day that leave my taste buds titilated, my stomach full, and my mind satisfied by interesting conversation and companionship.
But most of all, I don’t want to say good-bye to the people gathered here from all around the world, people I see for a week in July and think about all year long. I don’t want to say good-bye to week spent elbow to elbow with four generations of family passing down stories, sharing recipes, reminiscing, working side-by-side cleaning the bath house and doing dishes on KP duty, preparing the younger generations for their march into the future.
Today, I don’t want to say good-bye. So I won’t. Instead, I will take the mountain and all the people on it back to Iowa. I will store a year’s worth of memories in my heart. And when we leave, I’ll start dreaming of next July when we come back to the mountain again.
