The sailing class had long since finished and the windsurfers had paddled past chatting happily when my bottom started to hurt from sitting in the folding chair so long, so I decided to pack it up. I placed the folding chair back in the box. Where to now? I stood for a moment as I slipped my backpack on and again took in a view of the calm waters of the lake. I shook my head. A little bistro table, covered in a crisp linen cloth, a tiny candle, a lovely bubbly bottle of Prosecco chilling in a bucket of ice. I could see how this spot would be a perfect location for a hotel. But, no. No. It was a camp for kids. Good thing too. There is no way I would be here if it was. And for that, I was thankful.

How about if I can see about painting my bowl? I headed towards Arts ‘N Crafts. I passed by the canoe dock and noticed the war canoe was now in the water and a stack of supplies, duffle bags, tents and paddles were gathered by the boat house.

As I started up the stone steps toward the main house, I passed Ashley. Her arms were full with tents.

“Can I help you?” I offered. “You look overloaded!”

“I’ll manage. Thanks though.” She said as she continued down the steps.

“I left the first aid kit for you in my office. It’s ready to go.” I called out to her.

“I appreciate that. Thanks Anne!” Ashley called back to me as she continued on her way.

I continued on to the Arts ‘N Crafts building and stepped inside onto the tiny balcony on the left to see what was happening in the drama room. It was almost entirely silent. Campers were grouped in twos and the pairs were standing opposite each other doing a mirror game. One camper was moving slowly and the other had to mimic the motions as if looking in a mirror.

“Actors need to be aware of their bodies and be able to convey their message through movements. Emotions do not have to be entirely expressed by your face. A smile, pulling your eyebrows down, for example, can make you look happy or angry. But even the slightest movement of a shoulder for example can express emotions too…”

I walked over to the balcony on the craft side and saw the class busy making dreamcatchers. I decided I would be less conspicuous in the craft studio so I headed that way.

A chorus of “Hi Nurse!”, greeted me as I entered. I smiled and waved, “Hey guys!”.

“Wanna make a dreamcatcher?” Erin offered.

“Actually Erin, I wondered about painting my pot that I threw last night. Is that possible?”

“Barb has the pieces from last night in the kiln right now. So that’s a ‘no’.”

“OK. Then I think a dreamcatcher would be a great idea!” Erin laughed and motioned me to follow her.

She led me over to an empty stool beside Danny, a Rock Hut camper. I placed my backpack on the floor, kicked it under the table and sat down.

“Danny will help you, right Danny?” Erin placed a hand on his shoulder and Danny turned to look at me.

“Absolutely. I am a rock star at dreamcatchers!” Danny said as he laughed and waved his dreamcatcher at me. Erin thanked him and walked away to supervise other campers.

“May I see it?” I asked as I held out my hand. Danny gently gave it to me as he held on to the loose yarn. “Wow, Danny. This is beautiful. Now tell me, what is the legend of a dreamcatcher?”

“The Chippewa Indians tell a story of a Grandmother who stopped her grandson from destroying a spider’s web. In return the grateful spider made a magical web for her. The web would capture both dreams and nightmares or dark spirits but allow only the good dreams to slide down the feather to the person sleeping below. The captured nightmares trapped in the web were destroyed in the light of the morning.” He explained as I selected a hoop and some gray yarn.

“Cool! What about the beads?” I asked as I touched the black bead in the center.

“One bead in the center would represent the spider. Or you can do five beads to represent a star. Bead color is symbolic too. Like red is love and orange is energy.”

“What does a clear bead represent?” I asked Danny as I looked at the small bowls of beads spread out across the craft tables.

“Purity, simplicity.” Danny responded.

“Perfect.” I said as I gave Danny a thumbs up. I thought back to the dock spider’s intricate and delicate dew covered web.

Sweet dreams of camp