May 17, 2003 - Carlinville, IL - 7 (Lake Williamson Christian Center)
Barb went to town with one of the other women to do some "shopping," it's raining like stink, and here I am keeping up to date with the website. Is this a great lifestyle or what?
Son Doug and his wife Kerry had gone off to race in a rally somewhere in MN for the weekend, and we got to pick up Robin and go listen to Holly play in the St. Louis Youth Symphony, the last concert of the season. Anytime I go up a staircase with velvet on the banister I know I'm in a classy joint. Robin and Barb paused long enough for me to catch a quick shot of the stairs to our seat. The lobby below had refreshments like carrot cake for $2.50 a slice, and red and white wine along with punch for sale. Our seats were waaaayyyyy up there, but the view was great and, of course, the sound was too. Holly, the youngest of the group, is the one in the middle of those three kids tuning up, and then at intermission I sneaked backstage and got a quick shot of her in her not-so-little black dress. I thanked her for dressing to match me for the evening. And because the conductor was moving on after this season, they had a cake for him, and we all hung around to enjoy some of the free cake and punch. Great experience for all of us. Barb and I felt privileged to be able to see so many talented young people, particularly our beautiful granddaughters.
Looking at one of the little inlets of Lake Williamson (where we're volunteering with the SOWERS this month) from the dining hall porch, and then the dining hall from across the little inlet with its fountain. See all that nicely mowed grass? Well, I didn't mow it. I've spent 6 days mowing other places so far. One day playing at being a mechanic, and most of another in an attic running some vent pipes for newly installed bathroom vents. Great fun to ride the mowing machine, and the rest wasn't bad either.
Barb is taking these pictures, and doing a great job of it, too, don't you know. She has an artistic eye for it that I don't have. The little gazebo with more of the lake visible, along with some of the homes on the lake. Most of the homes are owned by the camp and staff live in them, but not all. Some have been sold to retired pastors and other church staff as retirement living. And then the "Moo-Tel." Take off of "motel" of course. Originally this was just a normal barn. Then Al Capone owned it and made changes to it, and then the camp got it and made dorm rooms in the bottom of it we understand, and changed the name. Even though it's only used as storage today, the name stuck. That silo is made with glazed blocks, and shines up real nice after a rain.
Back stairs up to the dining hall, and then the inside of it. Those chairs are all recently (within the last two weeks) cleaned, thanks to Barb (from Barb--yes, but you only see about 40 or 50 in this picture. I've actually cleaned probably 300 so far, and not done yet). That's been the only job she's had since we started this project.
Wayne, one of our SOWERS working with Ron, a retired pastor who I think is a volunteer as well. Lots of workers around this place, as you can imagine, and it's hard to tell the staff from the volunteers. We all just work like it was important, and take our orders from whoever gives them. Sure is fun for me to have a loose structure like that, but Barb, the Government retiree, would just as soon see an organization chart so she could figure out who's responsible for what.
That's Katie getting a "break" from folding laundry. And then the super-duty commercial washer that can clean sheets, pillow cases and towels faster than the three women (our two volunteers and the one staff person) can fold it.
Kathy got a break from folding sheets to wash some windows, but we didn't get a shot of it. And there goes her husband Wayne with Ron in the shop area. Woodworking shop, garage shop, metal shop, and storage buildings here.
Our rigs, two Nu-Wa Hitchikers, and us. Moby Dick is down at the shop with me because I needed my tools. And the lighted sign visible from Hwy 4.
For the life of me, I don't know how that bride of mine can do this so regularly. She got a shot of me coming out of the bathroom again! She's been doing that since July/August 1970 when we were just dating, for crying out loud. But then she redeemed herself by getting a shot of me "working" on one of the broken mowing machines. They're called Grasshoppers. This one has no hopper for the cut grass, it just slings it out onto the ground. The one I use has a hopper, and I get to drive some distance to dump it. Time consuming, but it sure makes the lawns look better.
A couple of the water treatment holding ponds above the shop area. Full of turtles and frogs. Saw a huge (to us) snapping turtle. Must have been at least 18" nose to tail. Made me think there must be some fish in here as well.
Break time. One of the women usually brings some snacks. What with the way they feed us here, neither Barb or I are loosing any weight. Probably the opposite, actually. I'm standing by a robin's nest to give you the idea about how far off the ground it's built. Now, in spite of its rather precarious position there on that signpost, it's solid. We've had some pretty severe winds, and the nest has weathered them all.
There's the twins in the nest. When Barb climbed up to peek in, she held onto the sign to steady herself on the stool we'd brought with us, and one of the babies opened its mouth for her. When I went up to take pictures, the mama bird was diving at me and hollering, so we made our exit quickly after taking the picture. And then there in our pipe rack behind one of the shop buildings is another robin nest. It's right in the middle of the picture.
Can you say "Robin's egg blue" as in the color? We'll keep tabs on this nest for the next couple of weeks and see how many of the chicks actually hatch. And then there's the water slides and some of the inflatable toys. At the right of the picture on the shoreline there are the blue paddle boats.