Ice Cream and Camp Maqua; It's Definitely Summer

The other day I met a bear, out in the woods, oh, way out there. And while I was out there, I saw that Alice the camel had five humps.

Are you on to me yet?

If you ever went to summer camp, chances are you recognize those words as songs you may have sung while eating your beans and weenies in the dining hall.

Nothing screams summer like the ice cream man, high utility bills and summer camp. I had a blast from my past last week during an afternoon of treasure hunt antiquing. I was quite taken aback when I came upon the exact same tin watering can I had as a child, same little girl motif, same rust.

I was even more stunned to find an old J.C. Higgins aluminum water cooler with the red top, just like the one my grandpa had back in Ohio so many years ago.

But the timing couldn't have been better when I came upon an army green foot locker like the one I used to pack for camp every summer.



There it was sitting on the floor in an antique shop on Central Avenue in Albuquerque, just like it used to lay at the end of the bunk bed in that cold cabin in the woods in upper Michigan. Of course, I had to open it to see if it had the same interior as my old one. Sure enough, it did.

Was I about to discover the wool blanket, mess kit, travel toothbrush and Cutter's bug spray next? All of a sudden, I could smell the mildew that would seep from the laundry bag that hung on the bunk next to my trunk.

It was getting to be too much, so I pressed on, trying to escape memories of cooking hobo stew over a modified Folgers coffee can, but it was no use. Camp Maqua was back.

Revelry blasted over the loud speakers at the crack of dawn, and that meant it was time for the "hoppers" in the cabin to get up to the dining hall and set the table for their cabin mates. The "apple polishers" stayed behind after the meals to clear the tables and clean up. All campers were up at the flag pole for the raising of the colors every morning before pancakes and sausage. Pranks were to be expected, like the time the horseback riding councilor's bra went up the flag pole with the flag.

Everyone's favorite class was the crafts class, of course. We were girls. My sister and I bestowed exquisite gifts upon my parents, including a Popsicle stick keepsake box with a blue marble handle, handmade sand candles and an endless supply of lanyard key chains.

The nightly ritual began when everyone gathered their soap, towels and toothbrushes and headed to the "brownie" to get ready for bed. Girls crowded around the communal circular sink known as the bird bath and stepped on the foot pedal to activate the fountain effect.

Ah, fifteen girls in their pink flowered bathrobes brushing their teeth together and wishing they were home in their clean clothes watching "The Partridge Family." A memory burned into my mind forever.

When the sound of taps came over the loud speaker, it was lights out. All the happy campers were worn out from their nature hikes and junior life saving classes and ready to go to sleep until a flash light flicks on and a voice begins, "It was a dark and stormy night ..."

Whether your campers are enjoying day camp, music camp, sleep-away camp or sports camp, it's what summer is all about. Just don't let your hoppers and apple polishers off the hook when they get back.

Quote of the Week: "Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts, mutilated monkey meat, little birdies' dirty feet, all wrapped up in, pretty purple porpoise pus, and me without my spoon. But I've got my straw." — "Gopher Guts"