Back from Gilwell and onward to Iceland

Yesterday I returned from Gilwell (Wood Badge).  The weather was amazing!  I headed up to Stearns Scout Camp on Thursday afternoon.  My birthday was on Thursday, so Wednesday evening Jim and I went out to supper and then to Cold Stone Creamery for dessert and then bought a cake to share with Ben on Sunday.

Besides the nice weather on Saturday and Sunday (with just a bit of rain on Thursday and Friday) the course was a success!  The participants had a good time, finished writing their tickets, presented their projects and camped.  It was a pleasure to visit some of the patrol in their campsites for lunch and supper.  Sharing delicious food with old friends and new friends is always special.  The leaves are beginning to turn and there is just enough of a nip in the autumn air to wear a jacket.

As with any event such as Wood Badge, logistics and facilities have their challenges.  The participants are not aware of the near kitchen disasters of  putting meals out on time, blown fuses, large coffee pots that don't perk, and having to drive to another kitchen to use the large convection oven!  We Quartermasters managed just fine and worked together as a team to feed the hungry staff, participants, and guests.  Never a dull moment in the kitchen/s!

Looking from the front of Landes Training Center at the beautiful sunset

Colors from the sunset gave a pinkish cast to the wood.  Below the Wood
Badge sign is the course number.  Our motto is "Envision Scouting Service."

My new hiking boots were very comfortable through the long weekend!

The patrols entertained everyone at the campfire.

I started Oats (the cowl) when I drove over to Heritage Lodge to
use the convection oven for baking the brownies.

My bears visited the Bear Patrol's table every day--this was Saturday.  Smoky and Woody Bear were the last ones to visit on Sunday.

Home again.  Tired bears, laundry to do, and projects to finish...

I managed to knit a bit on Oats, an easy cowl from Tin Can Knits.  It is one of eight free patterns for new knitters.  The patterns from The Simple Collection posted thus far (they are being released over a six-month period) are simple and stylish.  I am making the short cowl.  Working on the Pine Bough Cowl has me not wanting to do another large cowl!  Also, there was enough time for me to work on the project for Spin-Off Magazine for the Spring 2014 issue.  My goal is to complete the project this week.  When I return from Iceland I can edit my article and send everything off to Interweave Press in Colorado.

The Oats cowl is coming along nicely.  I made the ribbed border just a little bigger than 1.5-inches, and need to have the piece 8.5-inches wide before adding more ribbing.

Later this week is the beginning of an adventure to Iceland.  I am going on a Stitchtopia knitting tour through Arena Travel and Rowan.  I cannot wait to see more of this lovely country than just as a stopover.  Time to charge the camera and get some knitting together!

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July!

The Roosevelt Bears

Grrr...I'm a BEAR!

C-08-09 Bear Patrol
Mike, me, Naveen, John, and Gerald

Wow, what a wild ride over the last weekend! I spent last weekend up at the Scout camp for Wood Badge (BSA adult leadership training). It's a very intensive course for team-building and leadership training. Of course, I was extremely happy to be in the Bear patrol, as Jim is also a Bear! Our patrol's Patrol Guide is Phyllis (she's involved with Grey Wolf--the equivalent training program for Scouts). Our patrol consists of five--three of which are in Cub Scouts and two in Boy Scouts. The other photos are from the soda-pop rocket launch. Each patrol made their rocket and we had a launch on top of the hill. Ours is the very tall red one. It was general craziness and fun. The staff was dressed in costumes and music was playing, everyone had a great time with it.
My birthday was on Saturday. It was a lovely day, although a little warm. We rode our bikes with the Lifetime group to Stillwater. We loaded the bikes at Lifetime, drove a few miles from the town and rode in. We saw a group at one of our stops and it turned out to be John (from my patrol) with scouts and adults from his troop doing a trail clean up. It was great to see them out and about doing their good deed! We got to town early and the ice cream place wasn't open, so Jim rode ahead and found a great place called the Bikery. Wow, a bike shop/bakery! The coffee, cocoa, and scones were so good. If we had not been biking, I'd have tried a piece of that really good-looking chocolate cake!
Later Jim took me out to a late lunch and then we came home for cake. Ben called, which was an extra-special treat.