The Forge

Apologies in advance to anyone who reads this- it really wasn't designed for publication but whatever.



August 3rd, 2007

5:20 PM
Upon arriving i quickly concluded that perhaps the greatest annoyance will be the many flies which have infested our cabins. On the positive side these flies are bold, and Mr. Langford bought an industrial strength fly swatter. We're still waiting for the Sauders to arrive, at which time the D'Ambrosio family will be providing dinner. Let the games begin.

5:56 PM
"Stephanie disagrees with your theory of the doors, Gerard." - Mrs. D

11:05 PM
Dinner was beef stew with bread. The bread had an odd, almost flavorless quality but this was easily remedied by dipping it in the main dish. This, to, was a bit bland but happily there was plenty of salt--diamonds, according to Andrew--and overall the meal was quite excellent.
After eating we encircled a pitiful fire in our less-than-sturdy chairs, and discussed the flies, the campground and everything else except, perhaps, bookmarks. At some point it was realized that the grounds included tennis courts, and roughly half of us grabbed our balls and headed off to find them. Thunder loomed in the distance but we were prepared for the worst.
Sadly, that preparation didn't carry over to our tennis skills which were, admittedly, awful. I'm not sure how but i got stuck volleying with Josh and Thomas while our dads took on (and, it seems, destroyed) Andrew and Jonathan.
The lightning was awesome and approaching ominously. Richie said he wished to remain dry and took off with Rachel for the cabins; we brave souls stayed behind.The rain, inevitably, arrived in pretty severe fashion and Mr. D and my father told us we needed to return the equipment we'd rented from the camp office undamaged. We could've stayed behind but Jonathan wanted to have wearable shoes for the trip's remainder, a notion i fully embraced.
As we began to walk back, however, the skies unexpectedly opened up full throttle (to the point where Thomas thought it was hail). I charged for the cabins, which Andrew saw as an invitation to race me. This ended quickly as he surpassed me and i lost the ability to breathe.
We ran for our cabins--actually, most just ran for mine--and stood laughing and drenched on our covered porches. Emily probably complained the most despite the fact that she was wearing the only raincoat. Eventually a group left to playcards at the D'Ambrosio hut and we stayed behind--we being myself, Joshua, Rachel, Dad, Danielle and Jonathan (and later Richie). We enjoyed somewhat quiet games of crazy 8's, 'i doubt it' & old maid, while consuming Buffalo Ranch Doritos (that latter being mostly myself).
This becoming old, we left to join the others. I must say, it was quite loud in there but that's to be expected when Emily, Thomas and Julia are in a small space together. They were playing Uno while various adults sat in the larger area watching a show about sharks.
Richie, Andrew and i are going for a jog tomorrow morning. Oh by the way, the D'Ambrosios found a mouse in their cabin. Just thought you'd like to know.


August 4th, 2007

7:00 AM
Couldn't sleep til 7:30 as planned, will read Kafka until the others awake. We're on breakfast duty today but the only real exciting part of that is four pounds of bacon.

10:42 AM
According to Emily, "Mrs. Langford needs her drugs...*i* often forget my medication too." We somewhat unanimously expressed our lack of surprise at the latter. As for our jog, it commenced a bit later than anticipated. We finally woke up Andrew (with his mother's assistance) and started with the intention of circling the lake. Evidently we grossly overcompensated for the size of the park because it doesn't actually surround the lake but rather horseshoes it on the eastern side. When we reached the dead end, we turned around and (unfortunately) decided to take the uphill route back to towards our site. Even Andrew, the beast, had to admit the hill was a bit intense. At some point we saw a dead fish floating bottom-up in the water, thus confirming our assumption that the water was less than pristine.
Happily, *i* didn't have the most daunting of tasks for the breakfast preparation, namely quartering muffins and setting plates out, and between the french toast and that bacon,breakfast was quite a good way to follow up the jog. I'll choose to ignore the obvious contradiction between what i ate and what preceded it.
For the record, scrubbing a fat-splattered griddle and various propane grill components without the benefit of a sink (the water spigots were too close to the ground to be of much use) is a very tedious and frustrating task.
Presently i am sitting near the dying fire next to Jonathan (who just sang a snippet of the Genovia theme from Princess Diaries), consumed by a cloud of flies, debating whether pirates or ninjas are superior beings.

11:45 AM
Why are barns red?

2:57 PM
I'm sitting on a bench with Jonathan and we're waiting for the remainder of our group to emerge from the "Baseball Hall of Fame and Mvsevm" (that's how the last word is inscribed outside). I haven't much to say about it as a less-than-enthusiastic follower of this (or any) sport, except that it was a nice four-floor exhibit and even Jonathan agrees the only particularly interesting part was the room of various lists (such as career hits or homers) at the very end of the self-guided tour (that is, naturally, assuming you work your way up to the fourth floor rather than down from it). But that's enough diary-ing for now.

4:52 PM
Not that either of us care, but since i've been listing everything else i ate on this trip i may as well tell you that before the mvsevm we sat down in a park to eat sandwiches. Mine consisted of turkey, muenster and mozzarella cheese on whole wheat. I also had some sour cream & onion Pringles and a peanut butter Kudos bar, the latter of which provided such enjoyment that i stashed another in my backpack. This i ate after recording the previous entry.


August 5th, 2007

7:24 AM
Woken up by a blow-dryer.

7:45 AM
*note: the following is no longer applicable: It just occured to me that i've been a day off the whole time. Thus the first entry ought to have been the 3rd of August.

After sitting around outside the mvsevm for quite some time, Andrew and i decided to get a head start back to the vans. On the way, we stopped at Willis Monie's Used and Rare bookstore. I was really just browsing for fun until i realized how cheap the books actually were. I ended up with a 1945 slip-covered and illustrated edition of Dostoyevsky's "The Brothers Karamzov" for five bucks, so i'm pretty happy.
We finally made our way back to the campground, where more talking commenced. Dinner, furnished by the Sauders, consisted of grilled chicken, cheese/onion potatoes, and a pre-made salad. At some point Mr. Sauder jestingly said, "Hey Donna, you needed a few more anchovies in here," gesturing towards the salad which, i admit, slightly worried me for the duration of the meal.
After dinner Jonathan, Andrew and i attempted to play tennis. After much foiling on the behalf of the younger group members, we finally had a court to ourselves. Jonathan and Thomas beat Andrew and i 3 games to 1 before it became too dark to continue playing.
It wasn't too dark, however, to attend the impromptu dance party at the camp pavilion, where we found our parents (and the other kids) on our way back tot he site. This must've been interesting to witness: me dancing, my little brother who will one day be the life of the party) busting out to the Umbrella Song, Emily and posse (my mom included) doing cat calls to the sound of Justin Timberlake's "Sexyback," and the Langford duo pulling the Electric Slide. Jonathan and i improved upon the crank move we invented at Applebees and Richie invented the Vegetable Slicer and the Typewriter (the latter of which is awesome). Sadly, we had to leave before Cascada's "Everytime We Touch" came on, but the bass followed us back tot he cabin and lasted for another good hour or so.
At some point quite a few of our group acquired glowstick necklaces, which found their way around (and, thanks to Mr. D's curiosity, even IN) the fire as every kid but me remembered how great Disney's Robin Hood was.
Ultimately Jonathan, Andrew, Sarah, Joshua and i stayed up with Danielle til about 1:30 (the point at which the Sauders had to turn in for the night). At midnight we'd sung Happy Birthday to Danielle, who's now 19 years old.
As i said earlier, i was woken up by my mom's blowdryer at around 7:30 this morning. I got dressed, went outside, and read a couple chapters of Kafka, while Thomas *tried* to make a fire.
Breakfast was provided by the Langford clan and incorporated rolls, scrambled eggs (60), sausage and watermelon. This grounded me for quite a while, and by the time i'd packed away my few belongings into the van, it was time for church.
Richie imitated our traditional morning greeting, complete with visitor welcome and explanation of the visitor card. We then sang "Light of the World" to the tune of my father's guitar. Next came the sermon, although Jonathan (who delivered it) said it was more like a devotional. He spoke on wisdom, and how althought we out to strive for it, it's useless without a strong commitment to God in our hearts and lives.
While the other families finished loading up their vans, Andrew and i skipped stones on the putrid lake. Soon it was time to take the traditional group photo. Although the setup was decent, i for one didn't appreciate how my knees felt after tottering on them for ten minutes waiting for the multiple photographers to figure their angles out. Plus, *i* don't smile.
We're on our way to lunch (we'll stop at around 1-ish somewhere) at which point we give Thomas back to his parents and head home.

2:55 PM
Despite my brother's initial plan to keep Thomas forever, we did in fact give him back--however not quite RIGHT after lunch. We ended up pulling off the highway a few minutes after 1 at a town named Hassock. After unanimously voting down a seedy establishment (ironically, the "Family Restaurant") we perused the area and found the Circle E Diner, one of those off-the-beaten track places that looks like it did when they built it in the 60s. I noticed the wary looks of some of the waitresses as i followed Andrew to the back room, the sort of look that says "we don't like outsiders around here; you'd best be getting on out of here now."
Eventually we figured seating out, got our menus, and ordered from a woman who also looked the same as she did back in the 60s (i imagine). This woman was fairly interesting. Her voice was something between a biker chick and a broken chainsaw, and her demeanor suggested a keen familiarity with both.
A bit later our waitress plopped a few sodas down at our table "for whoever gets them" and did likewise when she returned with the waters. Thankfully, the food was good, but i never did get the ranch i requested. For my part, i had a bacon cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato, a pickle spear, and "spicy waffle fries, the last four components being optional upgrades.
Now, as much as i've been told to avoid the bathroom stuff, i can't help but mention that i somehow failed to locate the light switch in the men's lavatory until after i left the throne.
Andrew hopped in the car and we drove all of three minutes before reaching a gas station/Nathan's/minimart hybrid, the purpose of the stop being the celebration of Danielle via the consumption of ice cream. They didn't have soft serve.
Outside we sang Happy Birthday (again), and this was the point at which we bid farewell to Thomas. The upshot is we kept Andrew, who presently sits beside me.


Epilogue

The trip was fun, though perhaps not as much as in previous years. Thankfully there weren't any major issues and it's always good to kick back by a lake with nothing to worry about, even if that lake is quite clearly on the receiving end of the local plumbing. We returned home around 5 PM, leaving mere hours to recover, pack our suitcases, and get ready for a week in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. But that's another story altogether.