When I was a just a gangly, all arms and legs pre-teen, my big sister, Rose, was in charge of the waterfront activities at Camp Big Canoe in Bracebridge, Ontario, a couple of hours north of where we lived on a little ten-acre vegetable farm.
Summers were taken up with picking cucumbers - acres, and acres of cucumbers. Our little family would work from sun up to sundown then deliver the little green treasures to Willy's Pickle Factory at midnight.
You can imagine how thrilled I was when Rose, who is seven years older than I, convinced my parents to let me join in the camping fun. What an incredible world she opened up for 12-year-old me.
At the edge of Heart Lake, Camp Big Canoe sat nestled, offering treasures in canoeing, archery, nature walks - including a bog walk where campers would trudge in the sludge up to their armpits - come back to camp as muddy bog monsters to terrorize the clean and shiny campers that were waiting their turn at boggy baptism.
When we settled down after a day of the greatest fun I've ever had, the staff and children would gather round camp fires for sing-a-longs. Those were the days where people passed down tall tales and political statements through folk tunes. We campers learned to harmonize, blending voices, offering a daring undertone to those clear sapronos that rang out over the evening's summer breeze. So come on, campers. Take a trip down my memory lane and see what I learned at Camp Big Canoe.
The first three verses of Where Have All The Flowers Gone were written by Pete Seeger in 1955, Joe Hickerson added verses in 1960. Once you hear the song, you'll know that the world has not changed all that much. Here's Pete Seeger at 89 years old revisiting our youth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXqTf8DU6a0
