I guess it is somewhat telling when the only family portrait you know of is a polaroid snap shot. And I'm seeing it for the first time (that I can remember) just this past weekend.
It was taken thirty six years ago at my grandparent's beach house in Wrightsville Beach, NC. I only remember going once, but surely we went at least a few times? Anybody want to weigh in on that?
I remember a few things from this trip I will expound on in future posts (its too late tonight):
Fiddler crabs
Flying Kites
Loosing the kites (ran out of string - bye-bye kite!)
The green plastic pitcher of cold water in the fridge
Throwing up on the bathroom floor (drank too much cold water)
I'm trying to remember something particularly fun about this visit, but even though I can't, we must have had a generally good time, because I remember as we left to go home, being in the back of the Country Squire, waving to Grandmother and Granddad, being very sad to leave them.
I suppose it was Uncle Dave taking this photo, and Liz is pregnant with David Jr.
In context, I would have just turned 7, just finished 1st grade, and from the t-shirt, appear to have recently particpated in a day camp. The memory fragments I have of day-camp I thought were from the sixth grade, but this t-shirt clue has gotten me thinking this may be the more likely time. One blurred camp memory is of being ranked by swimming ability, and I recall just beating out being a 'minnow', I think the lowest category, so it makes sense that it was in this time period.
Some research on the "Northwest Branch Y Day Camp" didn't yield what I had hoped, since it turns out that is a popular name for camps all over the country. But after digging a little, I found the Camp Wewa web site, and that name really rung a bell. Could that have been where I went? Did any of the other boys go there? From their current web site, the schedule they follow now is probably very similar to what it was when I went:
7:00 am – 8:45 am: Before Camp Care
9:00 am: Morning Assembly
9:30 am – 11:30 am: Activity Periods 1 & 2
11:30 am – 12:15 pm: Lunch
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm: Swimming
2:15 pm - 4:15 pm: Activity Periods 3 & 4
4:30 pm: Afternoon Assembly
4:45 pm - 6:00 pm: After Camp Care
I remember an activity period or two: I think one involved creating a Gumby character, and I seem to remember making a belt or bracelet or something...
Goodnight.
Comments
Yeah, I remember day camp. Hotter than hell and chiggers. My favorite memory is the girls bus and changing into our bathing suits. There was always one girl that seemed to moon everyone. You are right about the 'minnows'. The other one I remember is the 'sharks'. I was never a shark. It seems there was a middle one, but I can't remember what it was called.
The beach house. Yeah, I can't go anywhere where there is salt water and the smell of creosote without thinking of Shell Island. Grandmother loved having the place, and granddad couldn't stand it at all. Too much cost involved, not to mention he didn't like leaving the house/town. There was a neat retired doctor there that used to take us fishing every so often. I think he was trying to be nice but I don't remember the fishing lasting all that long.
The walk to the beach was a pretty good haul if I remember correctly, straight out from the front of the cottage. The walk back was worse, because you had sand in your shoes, and/or a sunburn. But I cannot remember what we actually did on the beach. Sandcastles? Boogie boarding? Did we fish off the dock?