I missed last week because we were up north, but I really wanted to participate because I LOVED SUMMER CAMP! I went twice, with my cousin Gail, to a week-long YWCA-sponsored residence camp in Minnesota.
Ten on Tuesday: 10 Things I Loved About Summer Camp
1 – Riding the Greyhound bus to camp. I did that at least once (my first solo travel!) from Appleton to Duluth, taking "the long way" (all those bus stops), and it took about 9 hours in my memory. On the return trip I forgot/lost my pillow on the bus.
2 – Horseback riding. "My" horse, both years, was a seemingly huge palomino named "Taffy." She was the sweetest & gentlest of all. I guess you'd call her a "rescue" now; she couldn't be tied up or she'd go nuts — one can only surmise what that signaled to her. I loved learning how to saddle up and groom a horse!
2 – Arts & crafts time. Making lanyards and all that stuff.
3 – Swimming. Except that time I wandered into the weeds and had a giant leech on my leg.
4 – The kitchen staff. Not because the meals were memorable (or even all that good – I don't remember), but it was one of the cooks who ran out of the hall to save me from that leech!
5 – Archery. I was pretty good at it, too.
6 – Tetherball. It was for casual recreation, and there was always a game underway.
7 – Canoeing. That was likely my introduction to canoeing and learning how to paddle.
8 – Camp songs & campfires!
9 - Goofy games, skits & contests. I won the title of "Miss Ugly" in a pageant after my cabin-mates dolled me up… smearing toothpaste on my legs, teasing my hair to high heaven (no fun brushing that out), dressing me in all sorts of mismatched clothes… and for "talent," I sawed on my violin (which I had inexplicably brought along to camp) and shout/sang "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with no discernible tune nor key.
10 – Free time. You'd find me playing tetherball or reading in my bunk.
Ten on Tuesday: 10 Songs "About" Where I Live
Hm. Well, Wisconsin…
1 - Cadillac Ranch - Bruce Springsteen (Drivin' alone through the Wisconsin night)
2a - Milwaukee, Here I Come – George Jones & Tammy Wynette
2b – or by Porter Wagoner & Dolly Parton
3 – Wisconsin – Bon Iver
4 – My Cousin In Milwaukee – Ella Fitzgerald
5 – What's Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me) – Jerry Lee Lewis
6 – They're Not Tryin' On The Dance Floor – Jonathan Richman (Like Sheboygan or Eau Claire, they're just there)
Sure, there are a few other obscure songs that mention Wisconsin… but if you ever actually CAME to Wisconsin, say to Lambeau Field in Green Bay and attended a Packer game, you would most certainly hear these songs (among others), so by association…
7 – Start Me Up – The Rolling Stones (kick off)
8 – Bang The Drum All Day - Todd Rundgren (TOUCHDOWN!)
9 – Beer Barrel Polka / Roll Out The Barrel (start of the 4th quarter)
10 – I Gotta Feeling – The Black Eyed Peas (WIN)
True, it is not guaranteed that you'd hear #10, but we certainly hope so! (How can it be that the Packers' first pre-season game is less than 3 weeks away???)
I don’t want to talk about pre-season football being so close. But that’s an excellent music list. I’m so glad you did the camp one, too. Free time was one of the best parts of a day at camp, thanks for jogging my memory on that!
Love your camp and song combo (which makes me think about Little Bunny Foo Foo, a Girl Scout camping standard song). I loved lanyards, but I’m with you on the repulsiveness of leeches!
Camp AND Ella!! Excellent lists!!!
You have many, many great songs on your ToTx2 list. That type of summer camp is decidedly more common east of the Mississippi. We had nothing that fun. Start Me Up must be played in every ball park in America! Springsteen’s Promised Land has a mention of the Utah desert, but the Beach Boys did Salt Lake City!
Two great lists! Bon Iver’s Wisconsin is new to me (thank you!) and I love those last four songs you added…. songs have a wonderful way of transporting me to a place and/or time – and nothing like football to make me think FALL!
I found most of those when I was googling for WI songs, but it became much easier to find MN songs.