Our Early Girls did not disappoint: despite our garden’s late start, today Thing Two was able to harvest his very first tomato. He decided that he would like to eat it for his before-bedtime snack.
The verdict? Delicious!
He was a little disappointed that the second reddish-looking tomato on the plant wasn’t quite ready to pick yet, because he would have happily eaten another one. The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes, though, so it won’t be much longer before Thing Two will have many more. The cucumbers and carrots are still pretty tiny, and we’re waiting anxiously for the pumpkins to start growing.
I looked out the window and what did I see?
The back yard has turned into a Scout Jamboree!
The Scoutmaster brought me such a big surprise:
Tents popping up right before my eyes!
Would the shipping container produce a treat
Wet, hot gear that would smell so sweet?
That wasn’t really so …
But it seems to me
The back yard has turned into a Scout Jamboree.
We should probably explain: after the jamboree, all of the troop gear, which was brand new for the jamboree, was available for purchase at a heavily discounted rate. As this was a great opportunity to replace and upgrade our home troop’s equipment, The Gimlet was able to get a dining fly, five of the two-man tents, and two propane cook stoves. The patrol boxes were also available; Thing One’s Eagle patrol box had already been spoken for, but the Bear patrol box was still up for grabs, so The Gimlet grabbed.
On the last night of the jamboree, the troop packed up most of their gear so it could be easily loaded into the shipping container the following morning. At about 3:00 in the morning, a large thunderstorm rolled through, drenching all the boys (most of whom had chosen to sleep out under the stars, as their tents were packed), their duffel bags, and the gear. There was no way to dry out the gear before it had to be loaded, so the wet bags and equipment sat in the shipping container for a week in the 100° Virginia heat before arriving in Seattle last Friday.
Aren’t you glad that these photos are not scratch-and-sniff?
Your Humble Narrator is not usually fond of hot weather, but our recent heat wave is perfect for drying and airing out camping gear, so we hope the sun stays around for the week.
After the Gimlet Patrol was assembled, we asked Thing One, just returned from Camp Parsons, if he would prefer to continue sleeping outdoors, as he has spent nearly his entire summer doing so. He declined.
We hope Thing Two’s garden will produce a harvest, in spite of the late start of summer. Every day he enjoys watering and caring for his rapidly growing plants.
The spearmint and peppermint are doing great in their new home.
The basil and cucumbers make their debut. So many different shades of green!
Meanwhile, Thing Two has also become interested in astronomy, and on the few cloudless summer nights we’ve had, he’s been allowed to stay up and look at the stars. Thing One also liked planets and stars when he was about the same age, so the books, solar system mobile, and bed sheets we had bought about ten years ago are now being put to good use again by by a new little stargazer.
As with all of Thing Two’s interests, he is eager to talk to anybody and everybody about constellations and the planets. Much of the information is accurate, and some is his own invention. He especially likes to create his own constellations.
All about Boötes, the herdsman or ploughman, and the first constellation Thing Two was able to see in the night sky. He was so excited to finally see a real constellation that he danced all around the deck.
Last Thursday morning Thing One arrived home from the National Jamboree. He picked up the sharp hat at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. He also brought home two memory cards filled with pictures, some of his souvenirs (others, including most of his patches, were packed in the container which arrives in one week), new friends, and many stories to share.
But before we could extract a blog post from him (much less sort through the pictures), he was on his way out the door again, this time for a week at Camp Parsons with his scout troop. We barely had time to wash and dry his uniforms and gear before they had to be repacked.
Will we catch up with him before he heads off to NYLT staff?
The 2010 National Jamboree ended yesterday, and Thing One’s troop was scheduled to leave early this morning. They will spend the day at Busch Gardens Williamsburg, then fly home to Seattle on Thursday. We’re eager to hear Thing One’s stories and see his photos. Until then, here are a few final glimpses of the Jamboree.
We’ve been impressed by how orderly and sharp the troop has looked in the photos. The scoutmaster reports that the scouts have been learning how to work as teams and how to be effective leaders. They have learned to count on each other and be counted upon.
Friday evening the troop had a very special guest: President Charles Dahlquist, the recently released LDS General Young Men’s President and head chaplain for the National Jamboree. President Dahlquist, his executive secretary, and two other LDS chaplains ate dinner with the troop, then held a special devotional service for the two LDS troops from Chief Seattle Council. President Dahlquist spoke with the boys about making the decision to serve a mission, effective scripture study, and quite a bit about how they should treat girls and how to honor and respect them.
All but one troop member earned the George Albert Smith award, offered by the LDS church at the Jamboree to scouts of all backgrounds who wished to earn it.
The Centennial Celebration arena show was held Saturday night, with approximately 70,000 in attendance at the arena.
Thing One isn’t much of a night owl; he looks worn out after the long, fun day.
We aren’t sure how the distance to Anacortes compares with Ushant and Scilly, but it was certainly close enough to spend last Saturday touring the Lady Washington and Hawaiian Chieftain.
The brig Lady Washington is a a full-scale reproduction of the first American vessel to visit the west coast of North America in approximately 1788. Now the Lady is Washington State’s tall ship ambassador and the state ship. She has been seen in several films, perhaps most notably as the HMS Interceptor in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. (And like so many celebrities, she is much smaller in real life than one expects from her grand presence on the big screen.)
The topsail ketch Hawaiian Chieftain is a replica of a typical European merchant trader of the turn of the nineteenth century. Her hull shape and rigging are similar to those of Spanish explorer’s ships used in the expeditions of the late 18th century along the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts.
Thing Two has been very pleased to watch his plants grow bigger and bigger. He is less excited about the need to thin the plants, as he hates to lose any of the seeds he has so carefully tended.
The mint starts we received last year from Thing Two’s great-aunt outgrew their pots, so this year we’ve moved the mint into small raised beds: spearmint on the left, peppermint on the right. The transplanted mint looks rather dismal; while we keep repeating the promise that “you can’t kill mint”, we’re reminded of Jane Austen’s 1811 letter to her sister:
I will not say that your mulberry-trees are dead, but I am afraid they are not alive.
However, today we were relieved to observe several tiny new shoots in the boxes, so perhaps reports of the mint’s demise are exaggerated after all.
We also added a rosemary shrub to our herb collection. We have been enjoying its fragrant leaves, and our honeybee neighbors have started collecting water from its drainage holes.
This is the extremely impressive gateway for Thing One’s troop, carved by the parents of two of the scouts in the troop. The thunderbirds at the top represent his troop, and the four animals underneath are the four patrols: Eagle, Bear, Orca, and Elk. The scoutmaster reports that visitors come from all over the Jamboree just to see (and photograph), touch, and smell the cedar totem poles.
One of the assistant scoutmasters shared the Makah tradition of the totem pole with the troop:
The Makah Indians would touch or slap the totem pole each time they left the village as a symbol to the ancestors to watch over them while they were gone. Then, when they returned, they touched it again to say they had safely returned. The tradition may also have included in the reason that the person was leaving and since the totem represented the life of his ancestors, that touching it was the symbol of having honor and that they would be honorable in all they did outside of their village and when they returned, they reported that they had returned with honor.
We discussed this with troop, and since each patrol has their personal symbol on the totem, as each member of their patrol leaves, they pat, touch or slap their personal totem on the pole. It also brings good luck, so when ever a visitor comes, the troop tells them to touch the totem as they enter, and of course, the Orca patrol tells them to touch the Orca and the Bear patrol yells to touch the Bear.
(Read the troop blog for the rest of the story of the gateway.)
The troop has settled in, set up camp, and are having a wonderful time. They’re having so much fun that they’re not posting much for now, but the official Jamboree site is full of slide shows and videos so those of us at home can keep up. Some members of our troop show up in the Day 3 Flickr Gallery!
For fun, the scoutmaster has posted a photo quiz for parents on the troop blog: which messy campsite belongs to your son? Answers will be posted at the end of the jamboree, but we’re not sure we want to know.
Fun fact from the official Jamboree site:
Every day, seven tractor trailers leave a Pennsylvania food facility to deliver 44,000 freshly prepared picnic lunches to feed hungry Scouts and Scouters.
Thing One called earlier this week from the free cell phone kiosk to wish Thing Two a happy birthday, since he won’t be home for the big day. He has already traded several patches, sampled a few of the activities, and had a ticket to see the Technology Quest exhibit later that day.
This is the set of Jamboree patches from our council, plus the special patches commemorating 100 years of Scouting. The scouts received the large red halibut patch in the center when they signed up to attend the Jamboree. Thing One is in the thunderbird troop (red patch). The other LDS troop from our council is the whale troop (silver patch). The other troops are represented by other Northwest animals: seal (blue), salmon (green), heron (yellow) and sea otter (tan). Above the Jamboree patches are the Order of the Arrow and Chief Seattle Council anniversary patches.
More reports and photos from the Jamboree as we receive them …
