Select Page
Camp Dorothy Doings

Camp Dorothy Doings

Chunky Applesauce 6Camp Dorothy has been a happening place since Christmas Camp commenced last Monday. So much happening, in fact, that the Man of Steel’s back became jealous enough to go out, just so the MOS could join the fun Thursday evening and stick around all weekend.

You heard it right.

Camp Dorothy had enough campers Friday to Sunday to outnumber the camp director (aka: camp cook, camp laundress, camp housekeeper, and camp nurse) two to one.

Twice the campers = twice the fun.

The weekend was a blur of campers in motion–Rummikub games, listening to or watching ISU basketball games, and eating–punctuated by long stretches of campers napping long and hard.

Thank you, God, for naps.

Before the MOS hunkered down at camp, the camp’s namesake tried, unsuccessfully, to teach the camp director the times and channels for her favorite TV shows: The Price Is Right, and Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune. Equally unsuccessful was the camp director’s attempt to introduce her charge to Downton Abbey and Peter Pan Live. But they bonded during Big Bang Theory.

Thank you, Jim Parsons.

As for the picture above, stop by on Wednesday to learn what that was all about. Suffice it to say, the camp director is now the camp namesake’s favorite child, thanks to some kitchen magic.

Uh-oh! The nappers are rising. Got to run!

Camp Dorothy Meets Thelma and Louise

Camp Dorothy Meets Thelma and Louise

Dorothy Jolene

Camp Dorothy’s doing a road trip this weekend. The camp director is taking the camp’s namesake to Pipestone Minnesota for….are you ready for this…her 67th high school class reunion.

While the camp director is game to go, Dorothy’s been raising objections since the invitation arrived in the mail 6 months ago. The most consistently-voiced objections are:

  1. I won’t remember anyone. To which the camp director responded, “Since everyone there will be 85, you’ll all be in the same boat.”
  2. My high school experience wasn’t all that fun. Camp director countered with, “Maybe after 67 years, it’s time to change that.
  3. I don’t want to go. To which the camp director said, “You’re alive. You’re able to go. You’re going.”

Yes, the camp director is on the hard-nosed side, but believe me, she learned the skill from a master. But the camp director is not heartless, so she’s arranged a Thelma and Louise kinda road trip over the weekend. No encounters at seamy, roadside bars, mind you. But there will be stops at Dorothy’s niece’s house in Storm Lake, an overnight stay with her sister in Le Mars, and a night at the home of a Pipestone nephew.

However, an attempted car leap over the Pipestone National Monument quarry has been forfeited in lieu of the reunion dinner Saturday night and a brunch Sunday morning. Following the brunch these two Thelma and Louise wannabe’s will make the 5 1/2 return trip home, just in time for Wheel of Fortune.

Now does that sound like a hard-nosed camp director to you?

Back to You, Pat Sajak

Back to You, Pat Sajak

Thanks to Winter Storm Draco, the winter session of Camp Dorothy started a day late. Things finally got rolling Saturday afternoon, after Hiram brought Mom to our house. The first order of business was lunch, followed by baking caramel rolls for the neighbors. Dorothy participated in the first, but declined the second, choosing instead to take a nap.

The nap ended before the rolls were done.

So Dorothy staked out her spot on the sofa and amused herself by reading a novel and working a few crossword puzzles. Hiram stepped in as activity director and organized a rousing Uno tournament that was enjoyed by all. Evening activities included supper, caramel rolls, Wheel of Fortune, and requests by someone for lap blankets and a footstool before camp goers watched the Coen remake of True Grit. Not everyone lasted to the end of the movie. At breakfast, I told Mom that Mattie Ross lost her arm, but lived to see another day, thanks to Rooster Cogburn.

Of course, I left out the gory details since we were eating.

Sunday was busy, what with left over caramel rolls to eat at breakfast, a morning nap while the camp director and activity director went to church, watching the camp director make apple crisp for dessert after lunch, naps all around in the afternoon, novels to read, and a spot on the sofa to guard from interlopers. Apparently, that spot is the Camp Dorothy version of Mom’s favorite red chair at home.

If you ever go to visit her there, DON’T SIT IN THE RED CHAIR!

All in all, a good Sunday even though Vanna, Pat, Judge Judy, and Alex Trebek all take the day off. Which, when considered in the right light, is good news. Because on Monday afternoon, after Camp Dorothy ends, those perky television personalities will be well rested and raring to go when Mom settles back into the red chair for hours of viewing pleasure.

Back to you, Pat Sajak.

Camp Dorothy Delayed: Way to Go, Draco!

Camp Dorothy Delayed: Way to Go, Draco!

Well, well, well, Winter Storm Draco is certainly living up to his enemy-of-Harry-Potter namesake. With a second day of school closings, Draco’s evil, icy tentacles have stilled any remaining visions of sugar plums dancing in the heads of central Iowa elementary students looking forward to today’s school Christmas parties.

Not only that, nasty old Draco pushed back a whole bunch of Philo phamily phun by a day. Camp Dorothy, scheduled to run from Friday through Monday, won’t start until tomorrow. Hiram called once he got to work this morning and said the roads are still nasty, too nasty for 84-year-old women and their wimpy daughters to tackle.

Camp Dorothy’s namesake took the news in stride. “Better safe than sorry” were her exact words. Her reply might have been different had she known we’re having pork steak and apples, one of her personal favorites, for supper tonight. Then again, the cook where she lives said he’s making several kinds of soup for tonight. If one is oyster stew, Mom’ll be smiling.

But enough chit chat. Draco delayed Camp Dorothy until tomorrow, but the preparations commence immediately: pillows to plump, applesauce to inject with giggles, weekend schedules for Wheel of Fortune to check, Uno decks to locate, and much, much more.

Expect a full report Monday. Unless the weekend festivities leave the activity director utterly spent and speechless–an event Camp Dorothy’s namesake says she’s never witnessed since the day her second daughter spoke her first word.

 

Three Camp Dorothy Thoughts for Thursday

Three Camp Dorothy Thoughts for Thursday

Mom’s here for the week, so Camp Dorothy is in full swing. Hiram’s missing all the fun, laid up as he is with sciatic nerve problems. Therefore, this week’s three thoughts are a complimentary gift from the camp nurse activity director.

  1. Between shower time at Camp Dorothy and running for Hiram’s, I am very thankful for a 25 year career in teaching rather than nursing.
  2. As a kid, I would have begged Mom to let me watch shows like America’s Got Talent and Judge Judy. Now, thanks to Alzheimer’s, she’s hooked on them. All I can think as she watches her shows is, “Where do these people come from?”
  3. Every night during Wheel of Fortune, Mom announces, “They don’t allow close ups of Vanna anymore. She’s over 50, you know.” Whoever “they” are, I’d like to hire “them” to enforce the same restrictions for me.

Gotta go. It’s time for a hot game of Uno.