Food Glorious Food and the Best Kitchen Crew Ever

We have great friends, fellow Girl Scouts and great cooks, who make food for us.  They work very hard in the kitchen from dawn until dark, from Friday until Sunday lunch.

They cleverly manage to accommodate everyone's dietary requirements, too, and they are so careful about allergies and cross contamination issues.

Here's some of the food they made in 2014.

Chips, salsa, skinny queso.

Crackers and cheese - including gluten free and soy free crackers...

It was hard for Louse to get pictures of the food because everyone descended on it so quickly and blocked her shots.

Barbecued chicken, mashed potatoes, spinach with garlic,vegetarian baked beans and corn bread. Plain chicken, plain tofu and barbecued tofu were also available.

Brie en croute, kielbasa, crackers, salsa, chips were some of the appetizers this year.

Cornbread, regular bread and gluten free bread were on the menu.

Great Escape Kapers

Is this the world's biggest Kaper Chart?

At Great Escape our motto is gracious living in the out of doors, but gracious living doesn't just happen!  The committee and the kitchen crew needs help from attendees. We try to find everyone a job that they can do - helping at meals, cleaning up on Sunday and even assisting our council by disassembling and storing mattresses and cots from the tent units that are 'mothballed' until spring.  With everyone's help, all the floors are swept, the wash houses and bathrooms cleaned, the benches and tables in the dining halls stacked, and all is made ready for the next group to use our camp!

And speaking of gracious living, thanks to our camp concierge, Danielle, for her administration of the Kaper chart, tending the coffee/tea/cocoa/water bar and all the other little jobs she does to make GE a great experience.

It's a tough job, but quality control is important!

Did you know that the Hospitality team is expanding in the spring, BTW?  Best wishes to Danielle and Nick and the little stranger!

Beautiful House, Garden, Day and Friends - The Fells

On Saturday afternoon, some of the Great Escapers took a field trip to The Fells, summer home of John Hay, private secretary to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860s, and who finished his career as Secretary of State to Theodore Roosevelt.  In between he wrote poetry, a biography of Lincoln and served as a diplomat.  To escape the pressures of Washington, he spent summers at this beautiful house overlooking Lake Sunapee.  This picture was taken on the terrace where cocktails were served every summer afternoon.   See the lovely hydrangeas? 

Click to enlarge and see the Monarch Butterfly

What a wonderful time we had!  We saw a lovely rock garden, an amazing fountain and a maple tree planted by TR himself (it's massive!)

Rock Garden

The Fountain's source was an actual brook running through the property!

Maple Tree Planted by Teddy Roosevelt in 1905

The chatelaine of the gardens, Alice Hay, did not like yellow flowers so blues, purples and pinks prevail - so lovely.  The gardens are terraced, and there is still a view over Lake Sunapee to Mount Kearsarge from the end of the terrace.

Down the garden path

The land and house were donated to the Fish and Wildlife commission which didn't want to maintain the house, so a devoted band of locals has acquired it and is restoring it to its former beauty.  Well worth a visit if you are in the Sunapee area.  In early November, the house will be decorated for Christmas and you can visit - this only happens every other year.  Check their website for details.

Thanks to Jen and Laura for use of their photos!

If you have suggestions for field trips for next year's Great Escape, let us know!

http://www.thefells.org/

White Coral Bells

I love lilies of the valley.  Love that song, too, which I learned in first grade.  When I saw that Lesley had donated a GE bag to the live auction decorated with her zentangled artwork of lilies of the valley, I decided to bid for it, in spite of not needing the gardening supplies with which it was packed. I wanted the bag with the lilies of the valley.

I didn't even see the back until I had successfully bid for it!  And inside, along with 4 tools, a kneeling pad, and a potted lily of the valley, was 5 bags of spring bulbs.  I should have paid more attention to the tag that said 'everything you need to plant a beautiful spring garden.' I already have more lilies of the valley in my garden than I need (they are invasive) but I'm really looking forward to some more narcissus, daffs, tulips and the leucojum.  I'll need to get out there tomorrow!

Save The Date - September 25 - 27, 2015

The next Great Escape will be September 25 - 27, 2015.  The committee stuck around after the event and chose next year's date as well as the date of our first committee meeting in January.  Hope to see you there - put it on the calendar and gather your posse together! 

Where are they all?

From Near and Far

I think GE 2014 set a record for attendees from the most states!  This year we had people from Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington State.  Imagine that!  Until this year Florida was the farthest attendee home state, but we broke that record just one year later.  We had 22 new attendees this year, so many mother/daughter pairs (and one trio, above) that I don't think we could count them (I can think of 9 without strain and it's only 7:30 am.)

Laura and Lesley and our new friend from Washington!

Also, we had a few friends we've not seen in a while return this year, like Laura, Ann and Wynelle!  GE is a great place to retreat and reconnect.  If you have a photo or story to tell us, email it to  gsgreatescape@yahoo.com and let us know if we can print it here.

Saturday Activities

Here's some more pictures from Saturday!

Newbies meeting.

 Trying on one of our lovely auction items!

Yes, she did purchase it and take it home - isn't it stunning?