Monday, July 5

Well, there goes the neighborhood...most of the campers packed it in and left early this morning, soon to be replaced by other campers. The current crop is a bunch of guys, who are here for a fishing derby. It must be an important derby, because in the evening, an ESPN RV rolled in, with a crew to cover the event.

We were up at 7 a.m. to shower and get ready for the first day of the photography camp at the Capital City children's museum. Sis arrived today to keep Mother company while we were at the museum.

This morning, we needed to be at the museum by 11:30 a.m., to get things set up before the kids arrived. The "darkroom" is again the elevator maintenance room, which is not only a narrow space, but is near the elevator mechanisms (enclosed), which make a huge noise when the elevator is in use. Obviously, the room hasn't been swept since I used it two years ago, because there is still a strip of film on the floor. But it is servicable and adequately dark, so I can make do with it.

We have been assigned a nice big workshop room with a sink (wish the sink was in the elevator room, though). There are plenty of tables and chairs in the room, so the kids are seated comfortably.

When we first arrived, we needed to close a partition to the adjacent room, where a dissecting workshop was being held. But because the museum was short-staffed, no one seemed to know how to operate the partition. Hubbie and the workshop leader for the other room struggled with it and got it nearly closed. To completely close it required a special tool, however, so the museum director searched for a tool and someone to operate it. She finally succeeded, and we were ready to begin the session.

Eight kids, ranging in age from eight years old to thirteen are enrolled in the workshop. The first thing I did was write some words on the blackboard I wanted to impress upon the kids. I wrote "opaque," "translucent," and, and....(I drew a blank). What was the word I wanted for a (for instance) clear pane of glass? Hubbie offered the word clear. No, there was another word for it. Neither of us could think of it. A young helper arrived, and we asked her if she could cough up the word. No, she was flummoxed, too. When the kids filed in, I pointed out the two words I'd written, and confessed I couldn't think of the third. The eight-year-old said, "transparent?" YES, I exclaimed, hugging him. Thank you!

Today's project was to make sunprints. The kids created designs using "found objects" on sheets of photography paper, and then exposing them in the sun. From those designs...positive images that are a brownish color...we made black and white negative images in the darkroom, and then used the negative images to make black and white positive images.

During a break time, while the kids were in the break room, Hubbie and I watched a live animal show. A museum staff member showed the audience a tarantula, which she allowed to rest in the palm of her hand, and which she brought around for us to look at close up. The kids in the audience (and I) were fascinated with it, but the other adults were repulsed by it.

The other animal the staff member brought out was an Autralian bearded dragon, which is a lizard about a foot and a half long that has a rough, scaly back that we were allowed to touch (the kids and I touched it, that is). The scales feel a little like Velcro, I think. These lizards are often kept as pets.

The workshop went off without a hitch, except for a couple of things...we forgot to bring hairdryers with us for drying sunprints, and Hubbie had to return to camp for them. Then one of the kids (a boy, naturally) caused one of the dryers to overheat, when he held his hand over it. Fortunately, once the dryer cooled down, it worked again.

For this workshop, we have five boys and three girls...not my favorite gender divide. Boys are just so all-over-the-place, hard to keep quiet, and prone to annoying each other and everybody else.

The workshop ended at 4:30, and once we'd cleaned up, we were ready to head back to camp. Arrived about 5 p.m. Niece and Nephew had arrived earlier. Sis and Mother had cooked spaghetti and sauce, and we decided to take our supper to the pavillion, where again, a pleasant breeze was blowing off the river. We enjoyed the spaghetti with sides of a corn/green bean combo, salad, cottage cheese, and slices of sourdough bread.

Niece and Nephew left around 7:30 p.m., and Mother, Sis, Hubbie and I played a few games of Skipbo. Mother won two games (yay!), and Hubbie won one. Sis and I were left out in the cold.

After that, we were all ready for bed.