Last night’s evening activity was our weekly campwide campfire… We were led by torches to the Junior Boys campsite deep in the forest… there were songs and skits, stories and 10 year jacket ceremonies, and then we were all led by torchlight to the front of the Main Lodge for: The Colour War Break Skit! An extravaganza with huge sets (courtesy of our creative maintenance staff), fireworks, etc. The theme of Colour War is Lord of the Rings, so the skit included a a mammoth burning eye, the Shire, mountains in flames… and Gandalf arriving in a horse-drawn cart…. It was utterly magical, and a great kickoff to Colour War. After Scavination this morning, the Tug o’ War before lunch, the Swim Meet this afternoon and campers competing at riding, tennis, windsurfing and chess today, the four teams sang their fight songs (written today!) before dinner.

After dinner, a Senior Boy did his 2nd class test in windsurfing… When he passed all his friends (literally dozens of Seniors) were waiting by the windsurf dock and they all – from all four teams – swarmed the dock to celebrate him. It was a great moment of community spirit over-riding competition.

Then we did evening activity – the Counsellor Hunt: Every staff member in camp hides and all the campers search for us, all over camp. We’re worth differing points depending on our jobs… I was worth 300 points and am delighted to report that for once I didn’t get caught.

Oh, and : The boys going on the Whitney trip after Colour War are carrying canoes everywhere they go all over camp – for fun…. And a couple of food notes: One of the soups at lunch today was chef Lucy’s tortilla soup, garnished with avocado, tortilla strips and grated cheese. It was pretty fantastic. And for dinner she made fajitas (chicken breast with red and green peppers and red onions) with pico de gallo (home made salsa with fresh coriander) and terrific home-made guacamole. Ice cream with caramel sauce for dessert.