Baby It's Hot Outside!

This past Monday marked the return of my summer camps for kids down here in Austin. I offer six sessions in all, including Writing Camp, Arts & Crafts Camp and-- I know it's hard to believe-- Fashion Camp (for which I get lots of help from my young fashionista seamstress assistants). Every year when I announce registration time, I get a flutter of feedback from adults who say, "I wish I could come to camp."

To which I am likely to reply, "I GET to go to camp!"

I try not to sound smug or sassy about it. But when I start thinking about what a tradition the Knitting and Yoga Adventures Monhegan Island retreat has become for me it's hard-- nay, impossible-- to contain my excitement. When I was a little kid, I got to go to a week or two of Arts & Crafts Camp one year. It wasn't a sleepover camp, just a daily operation. For a few hours each day I could transform old bottles into vases, make potholders with those stretchy loops and, yes, play with yarn. That was a super formative experience for me and the memory of it even four decades later probably helps explain why I host my own camps for kids.

So this week I've been thinking a LOT about Monhegan Island. And more so given that the temperature down here has hit and/or cleared 100 degrees several times already. I hear that over on the East coast there's some pretty warm weather happening, too. My recommendation for dealing with this too-early-too-much heat? Remember that soon enough, WE GET TO GO TO KNITTING CAMP! Visualize yourself sitting in one of those big white chairs on the porch of Monhegan House as a slightly chilly breeze gently encourages you to snuggle into your hand knit sweater. Imagine yourself by the toasty fire in the evenings as we come together for a group knit. Think of those early morning hikes through the forest, stopping to take in all the marvelous Fairy Houses before heading out to the cliffs to look across the water dappled with sunlight diamonds.

Can you feel the fresh cool air? Are you getting excited for sleepover camp yet? I certainly am.