New Year's Eve

I'm surprised to find wifi at Camp Myrtlewood, a little passed the turnoff to Remote, Oregon on Hwy 42 (Margaret explained to me later it's more for staff than for campers, given the low bandwidth).

Young Friends are piled in front of the fire, squeezed into couches, just like old times, as we await the witching hour or whatever.

The kitchen, nay the entire meeting hall, has been remodeled since my day, though I'd toured on an earlier visit (Men's Retreat probably). John says the flooring is still from my time.

I sneaked into the walk-in fridge for a glass of milk and got a bit weirded out when the door closed behind me, but of course it's perfectly safe (just push, says the sign -- unreadable in the dark, but really, I wasn't worried).

Joe and Jane Snyder are here, providing some continuity with a distant past, when another generation (mine) filled the chairs.

Jane was recently in Italy with her sister, celebrating her retirement from a creative and trend setting teaching career. We compared notes on Rome especially, my home sweet home for so many years. Dr. Joe is being his erudite self (another Princeton alum), seemingly studying that Bible 24/7.

I've brought along my XO, black hat, and some big city views, which I mostly keep quiet about (I'm here to listen and learn, not preach or teach).

Later...

Back at the Snyders, we got out some art books, on Subgenius, on Dali, prompting memories of Friend Gerard Roscoe and Salvador's Last Supper respectively which latter used to hang in the Stark Street meetinghouse when I was little. I had my Obey Giant book along, chronicling some of Shepard Fairey's engaging campaigns.

Note to Kathy Hyzy of Western Friend: Colin says hello, we had some intelligent conversation.

As an outsider, I couldn't help but pick up on some of the issues causing the most stress during business meeting. For the most part though, during meeting for worship, Friends expressed quite a bit of happiness and satisfaction with how things were going, unlike in other years I remember.

We welcomed in the new year with gusto.