Yes, the Colour War break just ended and the theme is The Lion King. The break skit was fabulous –   A tall, silver tower for the old king, hyenas and lions and tigers and monkeys all in great costumes…. Music, dance, spotlights and fireworks…

Before that, Evening Activity was Arowhon-a-Palooza, our annual music and dance showcase of camper talent…..and before that all the Inters who were still out on trip came home… And this morning all the Juniors left for their canoe trips.

And before that, at 7 this morning I tested a camper for his 1st class award in canoeing – our highest award in canoeing. As I stood on the dock doing the test, I remembered like it was yesterday being the kid in the canoe doing my 1st class canoeing test 50 years ago this week… Katie, a Head Counsellor who helped me do the test, said it’ll be 10 years next summer since her 1st class canoeing test…. The two co-heads of canoeing, Jo and Aaron, reminisced about when I tested them together three years ago. On this very same dock where I was tested long before any of them were born. But it’s still the same test, with the same years of hard work, and celebration and pride for the newly minted 1st class canoeist.

Everywhere else in the world things always change. People change, places change. Here, we take enormous comfort in the continuity of ritual and place. It’s a haven that way.