Maqua After Camp

Camp Envy/Out of Isolation 2020

Published on by Kathy Baker

Michigan is finally opening their doors after long months of quarantine from Covid-19. The beautiful spring flowers seem to be celebrating by opening their blooms and showing us all is well. Social distancing and masks still seem to be the norm, especially for the small family businesses in Hale, but I feel fortunate to enjoy two rural areas to call home, with fewer cases of the virus.

Our kids and grandkids had it the roughest, teaching and working from home, plus agonizing through two successful emergency surgeries for one family. With all the time at home eating up vacation time and loss of income, we won’t have the same amount of family visiting this summer. Our eldest grandson, Keegan, drove up with us to help open up and begin the first of many projects with my husband. A new clapboard ceiling is being installed after a leak on our roof ruined our previous installation. (The porch has an addition from the original to accommodate all the historical tables and benches for our entertaining.)

Our Adirondack chairs, that survived a few Florida hurricanes, received a new coat of paint, but my favorites are the old heavy metal lawn chairs. Years ago I had them sandblasted and powder coated, and they look like new. Does anyone remember them at camp? They were beige and rusting and looked beyond repair, but these heavy chairs are great on the lawn. We sit out there at twilight until the mosquitoes chase us inside.

Our campfires and outdoor seating areas will be the new summer meeting spots. The residents of Maqua are predominately retired folks with underlying conditions and our hearts want to hug and socialize, but our heads know that if we want to keep ourselves and family visitors safe, we need to continue to distance. The original spot for the campfire pit is the most used, but my sons built a small one for us on the lodge lawn, so young mothers could hear their toddlers inside and still enjoy a campfire.

Thank heavens for our pontoon boats, where we can dock side by side, converse and float on Loon Lake, We have one baby Loon to watch this summer, but the resident Eagle enjoys tormenting Mama and baby. Our boat was in for new upholstery, console and motor, but the businesses are just opening up and work loads are heavy, so we are praying it is here before our son and family arrives for the July 4th festivities and boat parade. The highlight of every sunset cruise is spotting the Loons, but we pray the geese don’t stop and “drop” on our decks.

Clean-up of the surrounding property is a never-ending project, but beach and boathouse area are all weeded. The lake had a high water level this past winter, so erosion is evident, and it’s pine pollen season, so there is a fine yellow powder dusting on everything. It is nice to sit on our boats and deck area and watch life go by, but many of our porches are still under tarps until the pollen eases. To all the previous campers and staff, we wish you a happy summer outside!

Happy New Year!

Published on by Kathy Baker

I “kinda” miss those fun posts and stories from all my Maqua girls. My camping experiences at Burningman were posted after the fact. (Post camping, but the memories were vivid.) Once the stories from campers and staff ended, I probably could have kept on going with interviews from other women, but as one camper so aptly stated, “YOU HAVE TO STOP SOMEWHERE!” (She was so eager for the book to come out and her name will remain a secret–Nancy, you know who you are.)

I am on Facebook with so many of the girls I interviewed and many have become such great friends. This week Randi Wynne-Parry will visit me in Florida. It is so fun meeting the women who left their joy in the walls of my summer home, for I believe I can still hear their voices. The stories continue and the relationships evolve. All of you have brought a wonderful dimension to my life. There were some who were annoyed at me for their own reasons, but as my editor said, “Where there is controversy, there is readership”, so I accepted the good with the bad.

Having sold our golf business and home in Florida, life has become a simpler life and I am enjoying it. We are living in our guest house for the time being and enjoying the ability to lock it and leave to visit family and friends. Soon, our Michigan golf course will be a business of the past. Retirement has been lovely! My husband and I worked together for over 45 years and still enjoy being together, so I guess that makes us a rare breed of marriage material.

This past summer was a family summer. Our children grew up on Loon Lake in the lodge with mixed feelings of leaving their friends in Florida for the entire summer. Now that they are grown with families of their own, they wonder why their appreciation was not greater. We, as parents, are grateful that they realize what a treasure this little slice of heaven in Hale is. We managed to get 99% of our brood together for one day this summer, but many of them spent a month. Many new memories were made with our children and grandchildren.

Every once in a while I get a message from a previous camper who will be passing through the area, wondering if they can stop to say hello. I am always happy to host a little tour, but only if they promise to bring me a slice of their happy memories of summers at Camp Maqua.

I wish you and yours the best in 2020. Thank you for always sharing your memories of this happy place!

Camp Envy–Closing up

Published on by Kathy Baker

I have mixed reactions this time of the year. I love the autumn in Michigan and with my newly-retired husband by my side all summer, we have decided to visit the fall color in the upper peninsula, which is a first for us both. But, with the temperatures getting colder and the lodge with no heat, it means time to pack up and head south. The porch and lawn furniture have to be cleaned; linens laundered and stored; food emptied from the pantry and fridge; screens covered to keep the snow from damaging the floors; bulbs planted and covered and water shut off to keep the pipes from freezing.

The upper dormers and windows, plus the tall east and west sides of the building were painted last year. This summer my hubby finished the rest, with the help of his cousins’ from Texas, who took time out of their vacation to scrape and paint some trim. The project list will never run out, as the roof leaked this summer and ruined our front porch ceiling. “Next summer”, says he–next summer’s project to install new wood ceilings and fans with lights for the hot summer nights playing Euchre.

The leaves are turning color and dropping on the trail of our morning walks. All the foliage is turning brown. By the lake, seaweed is washing up to shore and with very little boat traffic or children swimming, the water is crystal clear. We have chores to do to in the boathouse with all the inflatables and toys and picnic tables to store for the winter. The boat will be taken out of the water and refurbished with new seats for next summer’s fun.

One of my neighbors gave me an old camp bench, presumably used in the craft hut with the interior colored with paint spills. The original rusty hinges are still on the lid, which lifts up. I bleached the old wood and gave it a new look with chalkboard paint to store my grandkids’ crafts and supplies. Our sons’ also built a fire pit on the front lawn, so the younger kids could be heard when the adults are still up. Along with little projects like this, the garden was hacked back to ready for the snow and the totem pole will be stored. Hut one is cleaned, wood ants are sprayed and it is locked up to keep the hunters from using it as a deer blind. Goodbye summer, hello winter. See you in the spring.

 

 

Silver Burners-We Have Been Placed!

Published on by Kathy Baker

“We have been placed!!! 4:45 and Jove. Co grata everyone. And they have us more space – 150×50 feet,” wrote our camp leader Sara, who has been to Burningman multiple times and appreciates the extra space in this city in the Black Rock Desert. Our camp sits on the outer rim of the horseshoe and consists of seven miles of named streets. Our camp-mates are on a Facebook page with all the camps in that sector, so it has been fun to look at the activities that will be offered.

The 2019 Metamorphoses theme selected the following names for their streets:

  • Esplanade
  • Andromeda
  • Bacchus
  • Cupid
  • Diana
  • Echo
  • Fortuna
  • Ganymede
  • Hyacinth
  • Icarus
  • Jove
  • Kronos
  • Labyrinth

The souls belonging to “Camp Nailed It” will be a group of thirteen from all walks of life, most of whom I have not met. Bubbly, effervescent Sara is the camp organizer and good friend of my eldest daughter and husband, who will be there, as well as my second daughter. Teri and I are excited about getting to know the people in our own camp, as well as those we meet on our journeys every day. Meeting new faces from all over the world excites me most about this adventure!

Most of our fellow camp-mates are from California, so we are on the receiving end of their organizational skills, equipment storage, and distribution. Memos, conference calls and one on one meetings for planning have occurred over the last few months to gather tarps, tents, coolers, furniture, rugs, shade structures, generators, outdoor shower, food, water, and other necessities, which will be trucked into the campsite. Teri and I will miss the set-up and tear-down of “Camp Nailed It”, as we bus in days after the opening day, but have been offered the job as ice-bearers for the camp.

We have been told the only two things that cost money at this event are ice and coffee. No money is exchanged within the confines of Burningman, and the traditional gifting from each camp can vary from a party to make-up, drinks, jewelry, massages, yoga lessons, TED talks, help with a flat tire, or a shoulder to cry on. In our own camp, two people will be dealing with death and grieving with those who need to discuss these issues. (We both know we will have some eye-opening experiences in relation to walks of life that may not be familiar to us.)

As the days get closer and I picture Teri and I either walking or biking around the Playa, I wonder to myself– how do we choose where to stop? How much will we actually be able to take in? Will we be able to stay awake long enough each night to enjoy the city alive with lights or will the heat wilt us like old flowers? Will the vibrations from the music camps seep through our bodies as we try to nap to keep up? Will we really get to the point that showers will seem pointless and hair don’t care attitude is firmly in place? The answer to these burning questions remain. Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

 

Silver Burners

Published on by Kathy Baker

We have been like little giggling schoolgirls ever since we began our plans to go to Burningman (google www.Burningman.org). Two gray-haired virgin burners with a penchant for costumes and design, watching every video we can possibly watch; reading all the “Jackrabbit Speaks” newsletters that arrive in our e-mail boxes; rabidly perusing Pinterest for ideas on new outfits and loading up our Amazon carts with the necessary camping items.

Teri and I are only going for six days. On a good day, we experience our own personal summers far too often and worry about the 100-degree heat, the porta-johns and the lack of showers. The upside of this adventure, we optimistically voice, are the cool nights, people watching, art installations, and dancing like ravers in our creative costumes.

I met this spikey, silver-haired bundle of 64-year-old energy in Florida and we became fast friends and walking partners. Her passionate career involves advocacy for women and children, but she loves to create costumes and dresses from bits and pieces, baubles and leftovers, especially for her grandchildren. Her loquacious 70-year old friend happens to have a background in fashion design and illustration, a love for mentoring children and is also a graying grandmother.

When I told her I was gifted a ticket to Burningman for my birthday by my eldest daughter and husband, she was so excited for my bucket list item to be crossed off! Come with me, I urged, and it took one minute for her to agree to this adventure with me. What could be better than a partner in the same age range to grope around the dusty Playa?

My trip to see my kids in San Francisco was the first leg of costume excitement, as I scoured Haight Ashbury shops looking for the right coat for the nights of cool air in the desert. I found a floor-length faux fur coat and a short pink fur for Teri. I waxed nostalgic at the fashions that were featured in the vintage shops, which I just sold from my 60’s and 70’s days in England.

 

My friend and I have purged our closets of all things that can be re-purposed and created butterfly costumes, Steampunk couture, denim designs, tutus and jewelry with ribbons. Daytime outfits will be anything that keeps us cool—linen and cotton, bathing suits with sarongs, and gauzy harem pants. The jewelry-making with beads and ribbons have been sessions of silly.

When I tell you we have lost sleep planning, it is due to a mixture of fear and elation. We walked for weeks discussing what we might experience. Will we be able to stand the heat? What about our personal hygiene? My son-in-law and daughter are the expert Burningman campers, hauling in all our food, water, tents, and supplies. They borrowed a shift-pod and rebuilt a portable air conditioning unit and will set up camp before we even arrive. Our duties include greeting people and fetching ice. We know we will be well-taken care of from many angles, but also know we must be self-reliant.

We have shipped our costumes, boots, and items in plastic bags to avoid the dust. We are ordering our last minute supplies. We feel ready, but we have no expectations. We will board the Burner Bus in Reno, Nevada on August 26 and return different women on our trip back. We will shuttle back to our hotel, probably take shower after shower to remove a week of alkaline dust and fly home. Stay tuned!

Camp Envy–Traditions

Published on by Kathy Baker

 

 

 

 

 

The evolution of the new Maqua traditions began with the previous owners, Bob and Luanne Sukenik. Their hot dog and champagne cook-outs, with a Native Indian theme, hosted many friends and family members with water relay races and games. (One year they invited us, long before we bought the lodge and property. Bob started talking to me in the grocery line and invited my husband and me out to their “camp”.  (This photo was of that very day in 1984 on the shores of Camp Maqua with my husband Bill and Uncle Aaron Starks.) For years our association meetings, held in September, continued the hot dog and champagne tradition on the lodge porch following our meeting.

What is summer without a campfire, and we have had many! The fire-bowl or campfire pit, rimmed in huge boulders, appears to be in the same spot as decades ago. Our pile of wood is artistically stacked by one of our wood-chopping residents and we have never run out of logs for our fires. The usual activities take place under the stars overlooking the lake—adult beverages, hot-dog roasting late at night on long pronged forks and the traditional S’Mores for little and big kids alike. We sit in comfy chairs instead of sitting on logs, but the ambiance is traditional and ageless.

The Independence Day traditions include our annual potluck at the beach with our residents, and if it is raining we gather on the east roadside screened porch at the lodge. (We expanded the porch years ago to accommodate five vintage camp dining tables and the original bootstrap benches.) Other traditions in the past have included naming the baby Loon contest at our festivities and decorating the beachfront.

The most fun in recent years has been the boat parades, usually on the Saturday closest to the 4th. The Loon Lake Association purchases a boat flag with a loon and the date to be given as the prize for the best-decorated boat. Some years the weather has prevented many from participating, but each year a handful of families go all out to get into the spirit. Last year our family boat won with the Teddy Bear’s Picnic theme, so we were the judges this year. My eight-year-old granddaughter was so sad not to be here for the judging, so she was number twelve with the decision by viewing photos taken and sent via phone.

One boat was filled with cousins dressed as firecrackers and a patriotic theme, complete with music. One double-decker was the movie theme “Frozen” and nine kids were dressed in costumes as the characters. It was such a difficult decision, but the winner was a bubble bath theme boat, decorated with white balloons and friends taking showers. We hated to see the disappointed faces of the losers, but there is always next year!

Walking the trails in the autumn or cross-country skiing in the winter is a favorite with all the residents. The trails are usually mowed after the mosquitoes are no longer a problem, and residents have named their trails with wooden signs. We walk the roadside with family and friends to the main gate and pick flowers with our grandchildren during the summer, but when the black flies and deer flies appear, we have to cover up to avoid the bites or run!

Sunset cruises never get old and we all have so many photos of the spectacular skies over Loon Lake. One neighbor races out to the cove at the far end of the lake and parks his double-decker boat, expressing his amazement as if he had never seen a sunset before, but we all love the slow cruises and try to spot the family of loons or the resident eagles. Sunrises are a specialty for one of our early-bird residents, who tries to compete with a friend’s photos.

One of the most fun summer traditions happens with the adults and kids when we hook our boats together.  Each boat has appetizers to share. If the gates are opened, it makes it easy to walk from boat to boat to boat, catching up with our friends and sharing food. The night parties sometimes include adult beverages, music, and dancing on top of the Mother Ship–the  doubledecker!