Day 1155: Girls on drugs

It was a wild first run. Costumes, lights, sound, props, moving sets.  A million questions.  Where's my jacket?  I need a tie, belt, shirt, wrap.  Which dress should I wear for this number?  I can't find my hat! My shoes are torn, broken, missing.

Anything Goes Girls!

Our sassy star!  

She lights up the stage!

Today, I've been thinking about the girls I've known and cared for over the years and what becomes of them.  In Quest, and in the musical, the girls are mostly self-directing, confident, self-assured, and optimistic.  The girls performing today danced and sang with great joy.  With fulfilling lives, promising futures, caring parents, brilliant prospects, the future is theirs.

Even in this positive setting, I worry.  One young woman was standing alone watching the performance, sad and wistful.  She didn't audition this year and now regrets it deeply.  She misses the thrill of being on stage.  Even though she's going do make up and hair, it's not the same and now she won't ever have that chance again.  I told her that high school is such a small part of life and that she will have an amazing future as a chef.  Still, she regretted her choice.

Then, there's the other side, the darker side that's devastating our young people in Chautauqua County.  I found out this morning that a girl who was my student in her sophomore and junior years died of an overdose of cocaine yesterday.  She's the second of my students to die this school year.   She was troubled as a teen and had serious family problems.  Still, I would not have imagined she'd lose her life so young.  And, she leaves behind another little girl.  What will happen to her?

There's a new form of cocaine in circulation that's been laced with a toxic substance.  Several overdoses this week have been reported including several deaths.  It's insane.

Day 1154: Niagara Falls Interlude

Day 1153: Remember flowers? Coming soon!

I finished chapter 19 on us.  Tomorrow, I'll arrange for readers for the three history chapters and move on to the student leaders.  It's a good decision and has made me feel quite peaceful.  Another week and I can attack the new introductory chapter, the new conclusion and the games chapter.  Mark's coming to consult on Sunday on the chapters he read and that's a big step.  It's very exciting.

Two days off from musical!  There's an all-choral concert tonight and tomorrow, the lighting crew is working all day to install the lights.  Hooray!  It's a good thing cause the next two weeks till opening night will be crazy!

We used our iPads during backpacking today to show the kids all the t-shirt colors.  The kids are far more comfortable with the technology and they were able to expand the color swatches to see a bigger sample.  We told them to reach consensus at their tables on one color.  They arrived at four colors from Fredonia including sapphire, heather indigo, sky blue, and paprika.  Then, Silver Creek picked garnet and Brocton chose forest green and the blues.  Now, I'll make a ballot for the next vote. The system was so much more controlled and fair.  Having twenty nominations and then several rounds of voting was crazy!

Interesting to note that the child of the mom who insisted on the "special" meeting has not shown up for the last two classes.  Seems that he was not as enthusiastic as mom.

Remember flowers?  Coming soon!

Day 1152: Briefs

Molly screeching at 7 am, Silver Creek maps class, costume check, Emma's birthday, sitz probe, Jackson's birthday, second cabin done thanks to Jeremy and Brian.  Cassie brought birthday cake and offered it to the construction crew.  I ate a turkey burger and cherry pie tonight!  My first meal since Saturday.  Rachel came home to an ice dam that flooded her brand new dining room floor AGAIN!  Nancy had to put her twenty year old cat Pepe to sleep.  She's very sad.  Freezing again.  So, basically, nothing new.

First rehearsal with the pit orchestra!

Day 1151: Up and at 'em!

Tonight I ate a scrambled egg!  Still nauseous and a bit shaky, but I'm making progress.  It turns out that my good friend Ellen and I had the bug at the same time.  Where on earth did we get it last week?  We spent four days together so it had to be the same source.  The puzzle is why our friend's husband got it at the exact same time when we never saw him.   She must have been the carrier.

I made two important decisions today about the book.  First, I cannot be objective about the chapter on our leadership period.  I need help to cut out material that I treasure, but probably does not move the story forward.  So, the three history chapters are going to editors now, before they're finished, cause it's driving me crazy.  I always knew they would be the most difficult part of the book.

I will move on to the student leader chapter and come back to them in a week.  Several new student leaders have submitted questionnaires and I found older Spectator articles and letters that I can use as well.  It's closer to being done and I'm not as emotionally invested in that content.  All the hours in the chair have actually paid off!

It's official! February is now the coldest month ever in western NY!

Steve hard at work!

We were building bunk beds for the cabin.

Jake rehearsing

Our turkey klatch out for breakfast

With the sun shining, they actually are quite beautiful!

Day 1150: Blue sky!

It's minus nine!  Minus 25 with the wind chill.  Again!  Forecasters are predicting a changing pattern.  We may hit 30 this weekend.  Even with that spring teaser, this has now become the coldest February on record.

I'm up and taking a bit of nourishment.  Two crackers and a dish of cooked white rice.  I'll try something more substantial tomorrow.

We found out tonight that Steve's cousin Fred, who is an 82 year old book collector, had his house burn down.  He lives in Nyack with 30,000 books.  It's how he makes his living.  Reports said his hands and face were burned when he ran back into the burning building to retrieve his books.  He lost everything.  It's a very sad thing.  We have to find a way to help him, but his life is his books and there will be no replacing them.

Sunny Monday!

Day 1149: Sick day

A terrible 24 hour bug hit me early Sunday morning and knocked me out for the whole day.  Molly and Paddy were very attentive, following me to the bathroom, sitting in my lap and not screeching for food at inappropriate times.  I tried to do the blog before I went back to bed at 8 last night, but the computer would not cooperate.  Today, I am back on my feet!

Paddy holding on tight during the chills!

Day 1148: Twenty three degrees

A heat wave and a full productive writing day!  As I sat at my desk, six more inches of snow fell. Turkeys scrabbled for seed in the snow and chased away the squirrels.  I fed the fire and wrote, fed Molly and wrote.  Ran the vacuum and wrote.  All the corrections for the Atlantis chapter are complete.  I still have lingering questions about the timeline because of conflicting information.  Perhaps when Lee and Donna read the chapter, they can set confirm the details.

The chapter on the recent era, our leadership period, is so difficult.  It's hard to know where the line is between sharing family stories to illustrate a point and bragging.  My main point has been that powerful outdoor experiences have a profound, long lasting impact on people's lives.  That's why it's so important for kids to have them during their formative years.  For Dave and Lee, I told beautiful stories to express the influence their experiences had on starting and continuing the backpacking program.  I talked about how their scouting years, and Lee's time at the Air Force Academy shaped their leadership styles.

If I follow parallel structure, I should do the same for us.  It's easy for Steve.  In fact, I've written compelling stories about his childhood, scouting years and his time in the army.  My own background is so boring.  Girls had so few opportunities and having parents from NYC who never went hiking or camping certainly didn't help. I put in two small anecdotes.

First, I found refuge from my younger brothers and sisters in trees.  I had resolved to read all the books in the public library so when I was freed from childcare, I scrambled up a tree out of their reach and read for hours.  The only significant outdoor activity my parents enjoyed was fishing.  I liked casting from the shore, as long as I didn't catch anything.  Boats, on the other hand, were another matter.   I got seasick within just a few minutes in a rocking boat.  If the boat was still, the sun beating on my head caused migraines.  Nothing has changed.  I still love forests, creeks and beaches and I still get seasick easily.  Neither of these stories begins to compare any of the men's.  Good grief.  I liked it better when I left myself out completely.

All day Steve and his crew worked on building the ship's cabins.  They made a lot of progress and he feels like we might actually be ready for the show in two weeks.

The boys' dance line

Day 1147: Anything Goes Camp

Musical camp has come to an end for another year.  A full week of five hour rehearsals plus work parties has yielded lots of progress.  The dance numbers are quite delightful with complex choreography and energetic performances.  The last number is a bit weak because they are still dependent on their scripts.  It will come.

The main set is installed and they'll work on the cabins over the next two days.  We made huge progress in costumes, too.  Instead of making twenty dance skirts, we ordered them for a total cost less than the fabric cost.  It would have taken us 2-3 hours per skirt, so that was a great decision!  There are lots of adjustments and alterations to make on the dresses and trousers.  We issued men's shirts and ties.  The sailor outfits arrived today, but they all have to be fitted.  Then we'll assign hats, belts, scarves, shoes, and coats.  Lots to do, but it's manageable in two and half weeks.

Four days without writing was very costly.  Tomorrow,  I'll spend at least eight hours and try to make up the lost days.  First up are the corrections in the Atlantis chapter.  They will require a few hours.  Then on to recent history which will take four or five days.  After that, I'll finish revising the student leader chapter. Another few days.   I had hoped to finish revising all twenty chapters by March 1.  I'll be a bit off schedule.  Then I need another six weeks on the three unfinished chapters and preface.  Just keep plugging away.  Must keep going.  The end is in sight.

When we got up this morning, it was -10 degrees with a windchill of -25.  A slight warming trend is on the way for the weekend before the next arctic blast arrives on Monday.  At 5:00 tonight, the temp was -5.  Now, it's up to 3!  The weekend promises temps in the 20s!  Hooray!

Day 1146: Musical migraine

Record cold again today and tomorrow!

Minus 30 with windchill 

Too cold to go to school, but we did anyway.  So many kids made poor decisions by running over to McDonald's for lunch.  No hats or gloves, jackets flapping.  So foolish! 

I woke up with a fierce headache that eased off a bit during the morning, but returned with a vengeance.  Dehydrated, I suspect.  I never drink enough when we're working on costumes.

Dancers rehearsing

The guys in jail

Kate and her entourage

Day 1145: I Am Malala

Book club was excellent tonight.  Only six people attended, but I actually prefer the smaller group discussions. It was Nancy's birthday, something in the latter half of the 60s I suspect, and she brought her own oatmeal cake with coconut frosting.   Delicious.  I made vegetable soup that cooked in the crockpot all day.  It was the best I've ever made, perhaps because of the creamy, sweet butternut squash.

As I suspected, only half read the book and most were confused by all political factions, ethnic groups and religious sects.  Malala is a remarkable young woman, but her parents were exceptionally tolerant, generous, secular, liberal, progressive, and rational.   They fell in love and married rather than having an arranged marriage. The father owned and ran a school where boys and girls were educated together till age ten.   Her mother was illiterate, but committed to education for her daughter and sons.  Both parents constantly supported her quest for education.  She read whatever she wanted, watched tv from around the world, listened to her father's political discussions.  They encouraged her to become a public speaker.  They were incredibly courageous as the Taliban moved into the Swat Valley were they lived and terrorized the population.

Malala's survival was a miracle.  The bullet grazed her skull, penetrated her eye socket, severed the facial muscles and nerves then lodged in her shoulder.  It didn't hit her brain, but the bone fragments did.  The international outcry opened offers for medical assistance from all over the world and the president of Pakistan actually assisted by allowing her to be moved to Britain.

She's very aware that she lived for a reason and has a mission to fulfill. It was an inspirational story.

Ed and Kate

Two of the leads

Lifting the second floor into place

Day 1144: Cold and too busy!

The house looks like a tornado swept through.  Clutter, papers, dust.  All must be banished by tomorrow night when book club arrives here.  I was crazy to volunteer to substitute as hostess in Feb.   There are too many things to do!  On Sunday, I had not even opened the book, I Am Malala, but today I have nearly finished.  The politics are so complex that I'm sure most of the group put the book aside.  Between reading, grocery shopping, backpacking class in Brocton and four hours at musical, I was not able to write at all and probably won't get back to it till Thursday.

11:30 pm and Steve is out at a call in Forestville for people overcome by carbon monoxide.  I hope they will be ok!

The poor deer, birdies and other wild creatures must endure this terrible arctic cold.  

Several camped out in our woods the last few freezing nights.

Day 1143: 18 chapters, 222 pages done!

Even after spending most of the day at school for the musical, I put in four hours cutting more extraneous words, crafting a conclusion, minding details.  Done! Tomorrow, I'll make a few more  corrections in the Atlantis chapter.   One of the hardest chapters is coming up next.  Our era.  That will be difficult to navigate.  We have the longest tenure in office, eighteen years, but I want to maintain balance with the other two history chapters.  It's difficult to write objectively about Steve's accomplishments and background.

It was -18 degrees when we got up.  With the wind chill factor, it felt like -28.  Crazy.

Day 1142: Feels like minus 25

Steve spent the whole day at school working with Brian and Jeremy to finish assembling the main set.     It's a frantic race cause there's only a few weeks left.  We haven't started painting or sewing!

I spent seven hours incorporating new information into the Servatius chapter.  Another day or two till it's done.  I've been thinking a lot about him and the influence he's had on my life.  I doubt he knows how important he's been.  The book will be a revelation.  Lee won't like that I've written so much about him because he's so modest and selfless.  But, he's the central pillar of the whole Quest program.  Without his leadership and organizations skills, Quest never would have happened at all.  Lee, of course, gives credit to Dave.  And it's true that Dave's initiative, drive and passion sparked it all.  And Steve.  What if he had not stepped forward in 1998 and taken over the reins?  For eighteen years he's carried the weight of responsibility.  And the tent.

Back in 1978, Lee welcomed a tiny, naive woman into the expedition ranks.  He trusted me to be a cook group leader when I didn't know anything.  Then, he trusted me to be a hike group leader when I was way out of my league.  When I started, I didn't know any proper hiking techniques, not even to move aside to let other groups pass.  My equipment was all wrong, my feet were bloody and raw.  Migraines plagued me nearly every year.  But, I learned.  Mostly, I learned the hard way and they were unforgettable lessons.  Maybe the people who read my book will not have to make all the mistakes I did.

I've spent the last six years writing about Quest.  I've spent twenty-nine years backpacking with teens, expanding the program, teaching backpacking skills, making thousands of new friends, sleeping on the ground, hiking in the rain, eating macaroni and cheese, laughing at the Petunia skit and the samurai pooper, getting eaten by black flies, scratching bug bites and poison ivy, swimming in muddy ponds and slogging through mud.  I wouldn't trade those moments or those years for anything.

I hope he likes it.  I hope it does justice to our collective experiences.

Day 1141: Bald guys in charge

Unloading the trailer

Build your own boat kit

Setting up the back wall

Cutting portholes in the second floor wall

Trimming supports

Framework of the main deck mostly complete.

A full day's work!

Day 1140: Cyc repeats

The screen is down and the cyc is up.  A whole month before the opening of the show!  It was easier than ever because of Jake and James.  Those two wonderful young men, so dependable, so helpful.  I did miss Anna.  Usually, she and I struggled to hoist a ton of fabric, move the outriggers, with Steve in the cage, shift the lift and do it again and again.  All across the stage.  We keep hoping the school will spring for a retractable screen.  It takes four to six people to remove it and hide it in the wings.

Brian and Steve finished building the set frames today.  Brian has a plan for sequencing the assembly.  In the morning an army of volunteers (draftees) are meeting at Tom's to load all the pieces on a couple trucks, transport them to school, unload, and then assemble the structures on stage.  All the concerts are done now until after the musical, so we don't have to take them apart at all!  Thank goodness.   Once the ship decks are assembled, they'll start on the cabins.  It also means that we have three weeks to do all the set finishing.

Tomorrow is also the first big sewing and fitting day.  I must admit, I'd rather stay home and write.  On top of all this work, another arctic blast is on the way.

I made an amazing discovery this morning!  I was hunting for the leader's manual that Lee made back in the early 1990s when I found a binder that had all of his records from 1989 to 1997.  It held all the rosters, budgets, itineraries, schedules.  The best piece was a booklet Lee had prepared as part of a presentation to the Board of Education in 1996.  It summarized all of his years in backpacking except for the last.  It pushed the dates for both Atlantis and Quest back even farther than we previously thought.  Now I know Atlantis was from 1972 to 1974 under Dave's leadership and then Quest part I was from 1975 to 1979 under Lee's leadership.

Plus, there was a letter written in 1974 to the parents of students participating in Atlantis.  That provided me with the cost, route and timeline.

I am so happy to have confirmation of the sequence of events.  Now I will correct all the errors in both chapters and finally feel confident in the accuracy of my text.  It seems that whenever I'm feeling smug and satisfied, something happens to smack me in the head.  I thought I could wrap up this chapter in two days.  Now, it will take much longer and then I have to rewrite the Atlantis chapter again.

Day 1139: Minus Five

With wind chill, it will be minus 25 tonight.  I hope there are no fire alarms cause it would deadly for the firemen.

Seventeen chapters done.  I started editing the Servatius era and it looks good except there's quite a bit of overlap with other chapters.  The question is, if the content can only be in the book once, where does it go?  For example, I have an entire chapter on goals, but his main goals are briefly highlighted in this one because they reflect Lee's thinking.  Should I cut them?  One of the difficulties is not having certainty on the sequence of the chapters.  I have arranged them in what seems to be a logical order.  However, an editor may rearrange them.  Currently, the history chapters and the hikes preview all the "how to" content.  So how much previewing is appropriate?

I really need a sharp editor to read the whole manuscript and make recommendations.  That's the advantage of a professional publishing company rather than trying to do it myself.  I will not compromise on the quality of this book.  I've devoted too much time.  All the people who have contributed to and participated in Quest deserve a first rate account of our adventures together.

Another five inches fell overnight and Steve was out snowplowing in bitter wind. 

How much longer?

Day 1138: Jazz band

After musical rehearsal tonight, many of the cast shifted over to jazz band.  Andy was trying to get the brass to tone it down cause they were drowning out the saxophones.  I thought they sounded bold and exciting.  They were supposed to have their yearbook photo taken tonight, but the photographer forgot.  Lighting on the stage is so harsh that several faces were overexposed.  Steve was impressed that I knew nearly every student's name from when they backpacked with us.

FHS Jazz Band

Kate has a glamorous role this year!

The interview project continues! 

For over twenty years, students have interviewed a family member or friend who had a foreign experience.  I listened to a family in Amy's classroom tonight who was speaking about the impact the project had on their family.  Their son had interviewed his 98 year old great grandfather about serving during WWII.  Many of the stories were new to them and they were surprised at how vivid his memories were.  They will treasure that project forever.  

The project above is a storyboard based on three students'  interviews with my friend Suzanne.  She  is an ESL teacher at the HS now and she guided her students through the process.  She lived and taught in Japan for 26 years before moving back to the states a few years ago.   Back in the early 1990s, we provided three of her Japanese students with American experiences for a few weeks in the summer.  The first was a 16 year old boy named Moichi who we loved very much.  The next two were post graduate students who were preparing for professional presentations to international audiences.  It was a joy to host them and I think they enjoyed their visits.  

She also arranged for me and our son Justin to stay with another one of her students in Yokohama.  He was a thoracic surgeon who practiced in a major hospital in Tokyo.  He and his wife Kumi and their two sons entertained us for two weeks.  Moichi and his family invited us to a traditional dinner in their tiny Tokyo apartment.  

It was in Japan that I found out I am allergic to sushi!  At least the raw tuna type.  I passed out at the table and fortunately, the doctor had medications to treat me.  

Day 1137: Jon Stewart

Nooooooooo!  Jon Stewart is leaving the Daily Show!  His cutting wit, incisive reporting and fearless interrogations of right wing nut jobs have endeared him to us and millions.  I particularly love when he shreds duplicitous politicians.  What a terrible loss.  He's been the conscience of this country.  Seeing his show back in 2012 was one of our most unforgettable experiences in NYC.  Hopefully, he's moving on to other great opportunities.  He's devoted seventeen years to this classy operation and he deserves to have dinner with his family.

Great class in Brocton!  We have two great new campers and four terrific student leaders.  Today our discussion focused on expedition behavior and they were so thoughtful and engaged.  Chris, who struggled through the hikes last year,  stopped by to visit.  He's the one who had the asthma attack at the end of the two day hike.  Such a sweet, determined kid.  My practical side says we should let Brocton go because we have so few kids participating.  But, I always fall for them immediately and then can't imagine letting go.

I finished up chapter 17!   I put Atlantis to bed and tomorrow, I'll move on to the early history of Quest.  The Servatius era.

Blueberry Breakfast in February

Day 1136: Leeches

Filthy, steaming hot and exhausted, I waded into the shallow pond eagerly.  Mud squishing between my toes, I dipped my arms into the cool water and splashed it on my face.  All around me, students were giddy with relief as they charged into the water.  In just a few moments, the laughter turned into screams.  Shrieking, slapping, lurching, kids scrambled out of the water.  Thick black leeches clung to legs and ankles and arms.   Adults ran into the pond to calm kids and pluck leeches.  I looked down and flicked one from behind my knee and another from my ankle.  Then, I grabbed a shrieking girl and slapped leeches from her legs.

This is one of the most memorable events of all my 28 backpacking years!  It took place on the Thursday night of 1978 or 1979 hike.  After that year, I always made sure to zip in and out quickly and not stir up the muddy bottom.  Now that we hike in May, the water is too cool for the leeches.  Thank goodness!

I'm hoping to finish the Atlantis chapter tomorrow.  This morning I revised the first page to focus more on the efforts by the entire middle school staff to cooperate to make Atlantis possible.  I resolved the conflicts by eliminating specific dates for incidents.  It's the stories that matter more than the exact day they occurred.  Tomorrow, I should be able to finalize its conclusion, check the repeated word counts and finish editing.

I also located two possible publishers.  One is Mountaineers Books that focuses on backpacking trails throughout the states.  And the second is Sagamore Publishing which specializes in outdoor education texts.  That one might be too academic.  It's exciting to begin this next phase!

Desert Moon in February

Day 1135: More ice

Tiny balls of ice blasted the back of the house, pinging off the windows and door.  The newest storm is approaching from the north, part of another system rolling across the northeast.  At least we got a two mile walk in before it hit.  The snow's crispy crust crunches under our footsteps and Paddy slides along the icy walkway.

At Penelope this morning, we settled on a title for the book.  Tales from the Trail: A Guide to Backpacking with Teens.  But, when I got home and investigated it, I found Tales from the Trail is widely used in other titles related to both hiking and politics.  I certainly don't want an overused phrase in my title.  Back to the drawing board.

When I woke this morning, I realized that I have not created a timeline of tasks for setting up a program.  Although I have listed all the jobs for each position, there's no indication of how far in advance these jobs must be done.  We'll be meeting with the two Cassadaga teachers in a week and that made me realize the book is targeted at an audience wishing to create new programs, not a school who will join our program.

I decided to take a break from Quest and writing today to let my brain recharge.  Instead, I looked through my best photos so I can choose a set to print for a new display in the living room.  It was refreshing to savor my gorgeous lilies, but depressing to think how long it will be until they bloom again.

Two of my favorites

Our friend, the heron.

Day 1134: Equipment Seminar 2015

The crew of Anything Goes at work!

The gangplank

My station at the equipment seminar.

Brigitte did a great job as my "student teacher"!

Now we know if I can't conduct the station, she can do it.  

Day 1133: Atlantis

I worked all day till 4:30 on the earliest backpacking program known as Atlantis.  It began in 1974 and lasted till 1979.  1978 presents the most problems because I have four conflicting stories.  In the last few days I was using the newspaper article as the authoritative source, but now I doubt its accuracy.  Even though it's drawn from an interview with Lee, some of the details don't make sense.  The article says we departed on June 7, a Wednesday, and were gone for six days.  I was on that trip and I'm sure we didn't go from a Wednesday to Monday.  Justin was only one and a half, so I'm sure I wouldn't have left him for six days.  Plus, that was the year my best friend's brother was killed in a car accident.  I remember being home on the weekend to see her.

It says hikers did 13 miles on the one day hike on April 8.  I don't think I did that because I believe I  found out about it from my students and then spoke with Lee about joining.  Then we did a seventeen mile three day hike.  That's the one when we hiked from the school to Cassadaga Country Club.  We never arrived until 8:30 at night and I was so exhausted I just collapsed in the tent.

The article lists the five places we camped each night and now I suspect it meant the places for the three and four day hikes.  Reconciling these historical details is important to me, but not critical to the book.  Atlantis is significant for what we learned and how it led to Quest.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Atlantis was how many middle school teachers participated in the hiking and support.  At least twenty contributed in some way.  Now we have two teachers from the MS, one from the HS and one from the elementary.  There is much broader participation from the community and student body, but it's disappointing that so few teachers are involved.  It's also scary for the future.

I'm craving vibrant color!

Day 1132: Turkey Trails

New grand total: Fredonia 49, Brocton 2, Silver Creek 5

One error and two ridiculous stories account for the difference.  Not writing about it tonight.

2015 FMS Quest 

All but one camper and eight student leaders

A few of our turkeys tromping along their trail to the bird feeders

Day 1131: 46-5-2

Honestly, this week is harder than backpacking 35 miles!
Grand total: Fredonia 46, Silver Creek 5, Brocton 2.

The Silver Creek bunch is delightful and we had a  great time getting to know each other.  The only bad thing is that the club advisor told the parents to get the paperwork in as soon as possible.  Not by today.    We got two full registrations and two partials and nothing from the fifth child.
That's the problem with trusting someone else to enforce our rules.  Hopefully, it will work out.

After I left Silver Creek, I stopped to see our former student, Maeghan who is living in Forestville.  She graduated from Plattsburg and is heading out in two weeks for more grand adventures.  Florida for kayak certifications, California for climbing certifications, then a great job in Washington.  What a joy it was to visit with her.  Plus, she offered some great information for the book.  She'll be featured in either the first or last chapter because she has demonstrated how to extend the Quest experience.  Climbing mountains in Nepal!  How many locals have done that?

The trip home was horrible.  Heavy, wet snow, slick roads.  I crept home at 20 mph.  Tonight, it's dropping to 2 degrees.  Can't stand much more of this white stuff.  

More good news.  Annie posted tonight that she got offers from two graduate schools in England.
Wow!  So very proud of her!  It's exactly what's she's wanted.

Day 1130: Frustrated

I love going to Brocton for Quest, but today was not good.  Not a single student brought their registration materials.  One was absent, but her sister says she will have her papers in tomorrow.  Another one "forgot".  A third said her parents came to the meeting but she didn't know what she needed.   The other didn't come to class at all cause he had a basketball game.  All four received personal letters with specific directions on what to bring in today.

Another student arrived at class wanting to go on Quest, but his parents did not attend a meeting.  Why?  He said he couldn't find his sheets with the dates.  I gave him my phone number so the mom could call tonight.  No one called.  I called the number he provided and no one answered.

I gave them 24 hours.  We never give extensions, but I figured since Fredonia's deadline is 3:00 on Wednesday, we'd apply that date to Brocton.  In the morning, I will call the principal and explain everything to him.  The whole situation demonstrated again why we need a club adviser who hikes with us.  Someone to act as a touchstone, who could remind the kids and counsel them each day.  We have asked for help for the last five years since the physical education teacher who went with us was laid off.  No volunteers.

Plus, we've already fielded a half dozen calls and emails from parents asking for their kids to be excused from the equipment seminar or hikes.  Two will miss the one day hike and four will miss the seminar.  So far.  Only 31 have registered.  It may be the lowest total of all time.  Ok, shake it off and go to sleep.

Low in the eastern sky, the snow moon was huge and luminous tonight.  My photos stink, but that's ok.  It gave me joy just to watch it.

Dreaming of June iris!

Day 1129: Snow blowing' Man

Snow blowing' man!

A foot of snow fell overnight.

All nearby schools were open, but a few south of us were closed.

Snowy entry

Courier and Ives scene!

Next on the writing agenda: three history of Quest chapters.  I sorted all of my materials, organized rosters, and began editing the Carlson era.  It's been two years since it was last revised.  I've learned quite a bit more about the early years of Fredonia backpacking and have collected a few supporting documents.  

We held the student leader orientation meeting this afternoon and it was a joy to see everyone. It's a bit strange to be so short on young men.  There are 14 girls and 7 guys.  Anna said she knew several guys who wanted to apply, but didn't get around to it.  Clearly, it wasn't a priority for them.  One area of concern is having only one lifeguard.  They said they knew several people who are lifeguards who wanted to apply, but didn't.  Crazy.   If they don't care enough to make the effort, then it's just as well.  

We heard tonight that Silver Creek has five students ready to enroll!  That will be awesome!  We'll see what the results are in Brocton tomorrow.  

Day 1128: 206 pages

Hooray!  Hooray!  Celebrate!  Seven more hours of work today and I finished The Outdoor Classroom chapter!  It feels amazing!  I tallied up all the pages I've completed since November 1.  206!  There are seven remaining chapters, four of which are written but need revision.  That's about forty pages so that will probably take three weeks.  The last three chapters are very raw so they will take a longer time, perhaps another month.  Of course, that's if I don't do anything else.  Ten weeks seems like a more reasonable estimate.

This week Quest begins.  Tomorrow, Steve will collect enrollments and I will have an orientation with the new student leaders for 2015.  On Tuesday, he will be back in the MS and I'll travel to Brocton for the first class and the orientation for those leaders.  We have no idea how many will enroll.  In a letter to each of the four students, I asked them to notify the secretary by Friday if they were not planning to participate.  Since we didn't hear from any of them, I'm assuming all four will enroll.

On Wednesday, Steve will finish up in Fredonia and I'll go to Silver Creek.  We are pretty certain of two students.  Their adviser said he was going to have another parent meeting last week for three families, but he didn't inform us of the results.

Then Fredonia's first class is Thursday.  What will the grand total be this year?  At most 61, but more likely around 50.  Plus 21 student leaders.  Plus adults.  We'll be right around 100.

Dreaming of tulips!