Runels Reading Challenge

Great Escapers know that our kitchen crew is helmed by Fluke, whose summer job is director of Camp Runels.  The Runels staff has a wonderful challenge for their campers this year. 

Campers who read 20 books that fit into a list of general categories by the end of their camp session will be awarded the "Love to Read" patch shown above.  Head over to the Runels blog for more details.

Here are some of the categories - can you think of books from your own experience that would qualify? My old favorite "Sal Fisher at Girl Scout Camp" could fit the final category, for sure!  If you have suggestions, feel free to  comment!

• A book with a color in the title.
• A book about an interesting girl/woman. 
• A book with a time of day in the title.
• A book set at sea.
• A book involving a sport.
• A book with an animal in the title.
• A book with alliteration.
• The next book in a series you started.
• A book about twins.
• A book that is a childhood classic.
• A book with an ugly cover.
• A book set in a library/bookstore.
• A book with a fruit or veggie in the title.
• A book that was a gift.
• A book that involves a mystery.
• A book about one of your heroes.
• A non-fiction book.
• A favorite of another Girl Scout you know.
• A book about summer camp!

Workshops for 2018

This weekend we started on our list of workshops for 2018.  Already we've got:


Stained Glass Presents (yes, she's back!)
Canoeing

Good Luck Birds
Wet on Wet Watercolors
Fleece or Fabric Wreaths

Watch this space for registration information!  Of course, sometimes presenters have to change plans unexpectedly, but this gives you a sneak peek.

Instagram #gsgreatescape

Did you know that Instagram recently made a change which means that instead of just following accounts, you can follow hashtags?  So if you are on Instagram and you follow #gsgreatescape you will see any post tagged with #gsgreatescape.

Yesterday we had our big meeting and came up with lots of great ideas!  And we has some yummy yummy food, which I have insta'd!  So take a look!

Planning for 2018

Like most of you, right now the GE committee members are caught up in the craziness of the winter holidays!  Children (grandchildren!) home from school , child care centers closed, work schedules disrupted, travel, parties, planning and cooking special meals, gift buying – wonderful but tiring.

No wonder many of us give a relieved sigh when the New Year begins and schedules go back to normal.  

 For the GE committee the New Year brings a marathon planning session for the 2018 fall event.  We’ll be meeting the 1^st weekend in January to digest all the suggestions made by presenters and participants last fall, tweak old processes and formulate some new, exciting events for 2018.

The committee takes all suggestions under consideration, so if you have a wish or a hope you haven’t already expressed, let us know in the comments, below, or on the GE Facebook page.  An email to gsgreatescape@yahoo.com will find us, too.

If you have a workshop suggestion, we’d be especially interested in hearing about those!

Need a good salad for a party?  http://gsgreatescaper.blogspot.com/2014/12/wreath-salad.html

Girl Scouts Ski!

If you are a registered Girl Scout, here's a couple of opportunities to take the family skiing!https://www.facebook.com/GirlScoutsEMass/?hc_ref=ARRbiBoq0wnSkSTMvmf-uQOwTAdjl8TUWYacrHqKVEgCT5D6yXyyRha_Z-2cBv5YRhE&fref=nf

Raise Your Hands!

She's 10, and she wants girls to raise their hands!  Read her opinion article in the New York Times.
Raise Your Hand! Article Link.

Raise Your Hand Program Materials

Parents! Go here for tips on helping your girl raise her hand!

Take the pledge!

Teen Escape

I just returned from Teen Escape at Camp Wind in the Pines.  Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts offers this program twice a year for teen girl scouts to blitz through a ton of exciting scouting activities in one weekend, and meet a lot of other teen Girl Scouts from across the council.  If you are a GE attendee who wishes that your troop had the chance of attending a program like GE, this is it!
(Some leaders and staffers at TE wished there were a program for them - so I told them about GE!)

Girls had a choice of 5 individual activities from a list of 8, including archery, high ropes, kayaking, matchless fire starting, campfire cooking, pumpkin carving, and making luminarias and flower crowns.

Saturday Schedule

The food was great, with options for vegetarians, gluten free and 'I just don't like it!"  Those who opted for campfire cooking feasted on apple and pumpkin pies.  The seeds from all the pumpkins carved were roasted and offered as a snack on Sunday!

Although it rained all weekend, nothing was cancelled and no one was daunted.

There are 11 kayakers in the picture above, but the mist descended so quickly and heavily that you can't find them!

Pumpkin with rain gear!

Bottomless coffee and tea for leaders and hot chocolate for girls helped keep everyone warm.  Night time activities included a glow in the dark hunt through the woods on Friday and a campfire, singing and smores on Saturday. It was a dark and stormy night, but the doughty GSEM staffers, including Hollywood, Binx, Crunch, Grace, Alex, Goosey, Moosey, Giggles, Sparks, JoJo and many, many more had no trouble getting the party (and fire) started and keeping it going all weekend long.  (These guys are some of the unsung heroes of our GSEMA council.  Thanks, all you camp counselors and outdoor facilatators, past and present!)

All the pumpkins the girls carved were lined up on the basketball court and lit up during the campfire - which added a lot to the atmosphere!

Learning to paddle

These are the same kayakers who are obscured by the mist in the photo above.

I'd love to add some photos of the ropes course and archery to this, so if you have some, let me know!

An owl carved into a pumpkin!

Someone had a big dinner in our unit, and here are the remains!  Can we count this as part of our wildlife badge requirements?