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Embedding is disabled for this video, but here is an excellent reading of The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert Service (8:13). Happy Halloween!

Here.

(See the work in progress, about 1 minute.)

Acrylic on Canvas
36 x 12 inches
A.M. Otwell, 2007

An acquaintance of mine, David E. Jones, put this short film (2:38) up on YouTube. His other videos can be found here.

Perhaps this is not the time of year to be writing about this, but the other day, a friend of mine was wistfully wondering if there was such a thing as summer camp for adults. I already knew of a few places and events that might qualify, but I thought it’d be fun to take a look around and see what else I could come up with. Here are a few that captured my interest:

Here in Georgia, how about an overnight trip to the culinary studio at Chateau Elan? Not a summer camp but more seasonally appropriate (and practically in my back yard), make a gingerbread house at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge? There’s plenty of peace and quiet to be found at The Monastery of The Holy Spirit.

As far as activities go, Camp Ocean Pines in California has upcoming workshops about building stone walls, stone carving, and quilting. The 2008 calendar is not available yet, but Idyllwild Arts, also in California, offered a tremendous number of workshops and classes in 2007 regarding painting, sculpture, poetry, and more. In Oakland, there’s the Mosaic Summer Camp for Adults, and I personally can’t think of arts in California without thinking of Mendocino.

Moving on to states I visit less often, for perhaps one of the best outdoor/sports/nature experiences, how about rafting through the Grand Canyon? In Michigan, the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp has summer programs for adults, including for musicians (various instruments and ability levels). That reminds me of one of the camps I’d already heard about, Camp Bluegrass in Texas.

After spending a few minutes with a search engine, I’m pretty sure that, no matter what your fondest memories of summer camp, the activities, the scenery, sporting activities, etc., there’s a facility or institution that will allow you to re-visit that as an adult.

By the way, Great Clips haircuts are free if you donate 10 inches or more to Locks of Love (though you might want to call first and make sure that’s true for your area). I had a good laugh at how hard the stylist was working to get my hair to be straight and orderly. She had obviously never met my hair before.

Approximately 2 years ago today, Percy was born. He came to live with us in December of 2005, and we named him after Walker Percy.

We took this picture minutes after we brought him home.

They say that big dogs are fully mature after 2 years, so I guess he’s not a puppy anymore. Percy’s a dog. A GOOD dog.

But he’ll always be a puppy to us!

Actually, I’ve had family visiting for the past few days, and ALL of the days have been extra special! Thanks, family!