Rapa Nui and Tahiti

Jack's photos from Rapa Nui and Tahiti:

http://homepage.mac.com/jimsmart1/PhotoAlbum42.html

Also, if you've missed other photos from camp and other summer things, they are listed at the top of Jack's photo album.

aloha,

Jim

Last week of camp photos

Hi folks,

The last week of camp was splendiforous:

http://homepage.mac.com/jimsmart1/PhotoAlbum41.html

Jack and I are back in Honolulu, preparing for school. Jay, Shari, and Sierra will be home Wednesday, and school starts Thursday.

aloha,

Jim

Songs at camp

We sing a lot of songs camp, which is good for the young whippersnappers. Input for those incredible computers in their craniums. Songs come and go here, and there's often a very popular few. Last summer it was Galileo by the Indigo Girls. This summer it's Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day, and Stairway to Heaven (more on that later).

Today is the farm fest, and I've chosen "Animal Farm" by the Kinks as the theme. I've helped kids make a giant, decorated song sheet with the words and chords on it. After the animal parade, we'll gather in the barn to share poetry and sing this song. And maybe someday, many years from now, magic will happen. The kid will be older, and far away, and someone with good taste will be playing an album called The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, and Animal Farm will come on, and the Farm Festival at Camp Treetops will be recalled in its full glory.

Another popular song this summer is Wish You Were Here. Everyone wants to learn the riff on guitar, and sing the words at council. I always get a bit of a lump in my throat at these lines:

"How I wish, how I wish you were here
we're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl year after year"

Those words always make me think of my old friend John Eaton. He and I were in high school and college together, and several bands. And it's not like he's dead and gone. Heck, he's right there, at the bottom of the state I'm in, in NYC. I could probably find him in a web cam image, like finding Waldo in those picture books that were popular a few years back. John and I don't see each other much, but we have some powerful things in common, and Pink Floyd is one of them.

The song that the most kids are crazy about is Stairway to Heaven. For most of us, it's an overplayed joke. But to these kids, it's fresh and new. It doesn't have all the baggage that it does for most folks, associations with druggies and Wayne's World guitar types. It's just a long song with interesting lyrics, and a likeable melody. So the guitar kids at camp, and there are many of them, are all learning the parts of the song from each other and from me. I taught the intro to Jay on the ukulele, which has to be heard to be believed. And we sing it at camp, along with the Bob Dylan and Peter Paul and Mary songs. And when you peel away its history and give it a chance, it's a pretty fine outdoors mystery tune.

But its Kinks songs that I most enjoy slipping in on them. Education, enrichment, under the radar.

Jim

sailing

Jay is out sailing right now on Lake Champlain. I was unable to go along, though I am an experienced sailor who would have helped out. I am disappointed that I was unable to be with Jay on this big day. It would have been great to be there, but the trip leader didn't want me along. Oh well.

Camp is colder. Winter seems to have snuck in this week. Still, we had yet another great day off to explore the Adirondacks. Sierra hiked her first peak, called Owl's Head. Then we skinny dipped at a waterfall called Cliffords. She kept looking for Clifford the Big Red Dog. We told her it wasn't that kind of Cliffords. Lunch was soft serve rasberry ice cream at Donelly's on the sunny grass. We spent the afternoon at a beach on a big lake. There's a nice 15 minute hike to get there, and the beach was full of clams, which Sierra enjoyed collecting.

Tomorrow is the big end of camp slide show, which is emotional and fun. After that, it's back to Honolulu.

Jim

end games

Camp is winding down. Jay is going on a big sailing trip on Thursday on Lake Champlain. If you look on a map, you will see that it is very large. Not as big as a Great Lake, but close. It makes the border between NY and Vermont. I hope he has good adventures out there. Wish I could go with him.

I fly back to Honolulu on Saturday, get Jack from the south Pacific on Sunday, and then go to work at Punahou on Monday. It's going to be quite a change from life at camp. Sierra is so happy here. She plays out doors all day every day. She has become quite an eloquent talker. Last night the whole camp went out on the lake in any and every boat. It was still and quiet, and I played my guitar on a small row boat called a peanut shell. Jay played his ukulele on the top of the high dive out on a float, and Shari paddled a long canoe with two Korean girls and Sierra in it.

Jay was in the camp play last weekend. When we took Sierra to it and told her Jay was in it, she said, "You mean like Jack? Jay is in a play?" It was called Squids Will Be Squids, and Jay did a slapstick routine which involved a lot of falling down and crashing into things while wearing big cool sunglasses.

Guitar boys rock

ukulele, mandolin, guitar.....where's Aiden with his violin?

Our 3rd week of camp

Great weather!!!

We visited a great Adirondack waterfall with Dave and Bob Tam called Split Rocks. You can see that, and some events at camp, at this week's photo album:

http://homepage.mac.com/jimsmart1/PhotoAlbum40.html

aloha!

Jim

guitar sky

Playing guitar with Bob while Sierra does a sunset dance on her rock.

I love my wife

This photo was taken by Sierra, age 3

What is a 46er?

The 46 highest peaks in New York, all the ones supposedly over 4,000 feet high, were put onto a list by an old timer a long time ago. So now a common goal up here is to climb to the top of all 46. If you do that, you are a 46er. Also, when you see a mountain, it's either a 46er or it isn't, meaning it's on the list or not. Strange traditions have grown, like drinking a beer on top of all 46, or doing them all in a week, or doing them in winter. Coming from California, where the peaks are 14,000 feet high, it's a bit hard to get excited about these little tree-covered gems.

When I climbed Allen on Tuesday, it was my fourth 46er. I'm 40, so at this rate I'll have climbed them all by the time I turn 460.

The campers are really into it, and Allen Mt. is a hard, out of the way peak that they were glad to check off their list.

Jim

fun day off

Yesterday's hike up Mt. Allen was a killer. 18 miles at a fast pace, some of it more of a watercliff scramble than a walk. The kids go so fast here! I was able to keep up, but just barely. Nice scenery.

Today is our day off, and we went to a great swimming spot called Split Rocks. Look here for photos later. It is a series of pools and waterfalls to explore and swim in Sierra loved it. We were accompanied by Dave and Bob Tam. We all went for a late lunch at the Cliffhanger after that.

After that Shari climbed her first forty sixer, Cascade. It's the closest to camp, and one of the best. Lots of rocks on top allow for great views, and you can see all of camp laid out below you, as well as the highest mountains in New York.

Now it's off to Lake Placid for an evening of relaxing fun, and maybe another swim. It's hot and beautiful here.

Aloha,

Jim

Today

Today I'm off to hike one of the forty sixers called Allen. It's a rather remote one with a long hike and no view. I'll be going up with 9 campers and 2 other counselors. Should be good exercise. It's 18 miles. Long for a day hike, but I did Mt. Whitney, which is 22 miles in brutal altitude.

Last night I was part of the band for the square dance. In addition to Bill calling out the tunes, we had Dave Tam on piano, Anika on fiddle, and me on bass. I borrowed a nice bass and bass amp, and we sounded great! Yee haw!

Been writing lots of songs between camp duties.

Tomorrow is our day off. We are hoping for good weather.

aloha,

Jim

Jack in Rapa Nui

We miss Jack a lot. He is not here with us at Camp Treetops. He is on a school trip,
as described below. Check out the photos!

Hi folks -
Hope your summer is going well. Just thought you might like to see
some pictures from the Luke Center / Wo Center trip to Rapa Nui and
Tahiti. 15 students (14 Punahou & 1 Kamehameha) are there right now
and will return later in August. Carri Morgan is the trip chaperone
and the group is also fortunate to be joined by Gail Peiterson, Malia
Ane, and Punahou alums John Leong and Julianna Rapu Leong. They will
be doing several service projects while on this trip and learning about
the culture and history of Rapa Nui.

We invite you to visit www.punahou.edu/lukecenter/rapanui05 to see
photos and read updates about the trip. We hope to update this site
regularly as communication comes in from Carri.

Enjoy.

Camp Treetops Week 5 / Vermont day trip

Here's our latest set of 48 photos:

http://homepage.mac.com/jimsmart1/PhotoAlbum38.html

It's beautiful here. The weather is everything we had hoped for last year, but rarely got. Warm, blue sky days, starry nights. I'm working in senior camp this year, which is closer to the lake, which is definitely the place to be. The sunsets over the lake are mind blowing night after night.

Our day trip to Vermont was special because of the long bike ride we took along the shores of Lake Champlain. The weather was gorgeous as we pedalled through wetlands, fancy neighborhoods, beaches, and "the causeway", which is a bike path that goes for miles with wide open water on either side. We ended with a swim at a beach where lots of pleasure boats had moored for the day. We also visited the Teddy Bear Factory and had a great evening in Burlington at the Vermont Brew Pub with a walk through the Church Street shopping district that ended in the inevitable trip to Ben and Jerry's.

Hope all is well with you,

Jim

Wednesday blues

My step-mother died yesterday, so things are a little blue. After a blazingly sunny week, the rains have returned for our day off. Not too bad, though. It'll probably clear up tomorrow.

The Adirondack skies put on a dazzling show last night. A warm, sunny afternoon turned to distant thunder, then lightning getting closer and closer, and finally the sound of approaching torrential rain. This is a "shhh" sound that stirs up primal instincts to get inside.

At first the raindrops were huge splatters on the wooden boards of the lake hill. Within 30 seconds the wind howled from a new direction; doors slammed, tent flaps pounded, and sideways rain got into every protected area. A minute later the rain turned to hail. The biggest stones were the size of my watch face.

After less than 5 minutes the worst of the storminess receded, leaving massive puddles and floody river tracks. After that, the sunset was the most spectacular yet. Somehow the hail and lightning stirred up the high atmosphere into glorious oranges and pinks. We went to bed in awe of nature.

RIP, Charleen Smart.

aloha,

Jim

photo link: 48 photos from our first week at camp

dadsierra
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.

Hi friends,

Here's 48 of our latest photos from Camp Treetops:

http://homepage.mac.com/jimsmart1/PhotoAlbum37.html

It's been a very happy week at Treetops, with lots of good weather and no real problems. The days are full and rich. Jay is often sailing on the lake, or making something in the woodshop. The other kids like him, and he seems very at ease. Last night he played a piano piece by himself in the talent show. I think he's very proud of that.

Sierra is into rasberry picking. Yesterday I offered that as an activity, and we roamed the property looking for the good bushes. She is eating well and seems very comfortable with the routines here.

I can't say that any of us miss television, money, cars, or news. There's plenty going on for us right here at camp.

On our day off we hung out with Bob Tam and did a hike and cruised around Lake Placid. A fun mellow day.

love,

Jim

icecream

icecream
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.

sail

sail
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.

smartbench

smartbench
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.

tiedye

tiedye
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.

bobsierrajim

bobsierrajim
Originally uploaded by jimsmart.