We just wrapped up our service unit’s Encampment Weekend. It was a great one – albeit a little cold! I always get a little depressed after a big event has passed whether it’s a Girl Scout weekend or a church retreat. This song runs through my head for the next day or so until the melancholy passes. Really, it does:

Troop 20 at the J-Low Birthplace

Reminiscing 2 Comments I get injured, j-low, memories all alone in the moonlight, mrs. vickers, newspaper clippings, savannah, sonja, the 80s, trips, troop 20

In 1983, Troop 20 followed our 1982 World’s Fair Excursion with the pinnacle of all Girl Scout trips – a visit to Savannah, GA to the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace. There are things I remember about our Savannah trip – like the boot glass I got from the Pirates’ House (that I still have!) and being creeped out during the tour after finding out that graves were buried above sea level and at one point floated away during a flood. I remember asking the tour guide later if that white thing floating out in the river was a coffin – which made the tour guide laugh but some in my troop scared to go to sleep that night. Continue reading

March 28 2016

Camp Mary Elizabeth’s Wildflowers

Hikes & Outdoors, Traditional Stuff No Comments camp mary elizabeth, history, outdoors, squirrel, tina, wildflowers

Camp Mary Elizabeth is known for its wildflowers. Well, I don’t know for sure if that’s true, because I bet the average leader in our council would have no clue about this – but they should! But as I stated in the previous blog entry, the fact that it is home to so many types of wildflowers is part of its charm.

The area around CME grew and developed throughout the years, and at this point, CME is an island of woods and nature surrounded by asphalt and concrete. There’s a stream called Holston Creek that flows through it, and unfortunately, a lot of trash that makes it way from the surrounding parking lots ends up on the sides of the stream. Holston Creek turns into Fairforest Creek which eventually grows into the Fairforest River. Here’s the progression to the Atlantic Ocean, in case you’re wondering: Fairforest River → Tyger River → Broad River → Congaree River → Lake Marion then EITHER → Santee River → Atlantic Ocean OR Lake Moultrie → Cooper River → Atlantic Ocean. Yes, I followed it all the way on Google Maps. I’m weird like that, but I was curious. I MEANT to only say that it’s part of either the Tyger or Upper Broad watersheds and stop there. What’s a watershed? I’m glad you asked. Continue reading

March 22 2016

Camp Mary Elizabeth’s History

Traditional Stuff 5 Comments camp mary elizabeth, camping, history, summer camp, traditions

For those of you who are not familiar with it, Camp Mary Elizabeth is a Girl Scout camp located in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It’s a neat little camp, and it has its own sweet charm. It’s one out of only two urban Girl Scout camps in the United States. I had my outdoor training there, and it’s where I took our troop camping for the first time. Our troop has participated in a few events there as well. It’s got a lot of potential. There’s also some drama in its past. Maybe we could even consider it a soap opera! But not one of those Telemundo novelas. We wouldn’t know what was being said anyway. ¡Qué terrible!

In January of 1947, Dr. W.S. Zimmerman left 28 acres in his will to the (then) Spartanburg Girl Scout council provided that the land always be called Camp Mary Elizabeth as a memorial to Dr. Zimmerman’s mother, Elizabeth Simpson Zimmerman, and her daughter, Mary Zimmerman Ward (Dr. Zimmerman’s sister). A memorial marker would always have to remain on the property as well. More acreage was added in 1952 and 1953. Continue reading

March 16 2016

And Cookie Season Is Over (REJOICE)

Experiences as a Leader No Comments juniors, leader issues

We finally finished our journey last week, and cookie season is now officially over. Our troop and I just have this left (in no particular order):

Complete Bronze Award
SU Encampment trip with Brownies and Juniors
Beach camping trip with Juniors
Cherokee, NC trip with Brownies and Juniors
Delegate stuff in April
End of year bridging ceremonies (Daisies, Brownies, & Juniors)
Start planning City Slickers summer camp

But I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Unless that’s a train.

March 10 2016

We Finished the Journey Today

Experiences as a Leader No Comments journeys, juniors, troop 2562

Today, we finished the aMUSE Journey that we started back during the Junior Journey Weekend from last October. FINALLY. WE FINALLY FINISHED. THANK YOU LORD. ::weeps tears of joy:: It was as if I could hear angels singing somewhere in the distance:

March 9 2016

In Defense of Girl Scouts and Leaders and Rules

Opinions 4 Comments camping, comics, girl led, gsusa, leader issues, outdoors, samona, strongly worded letter, volunteers

Lately I’ve been doing my fair share of GSUSA bashing. But if you hang around me long enough, you’ll know that I am a huge proponent of Scouting. Sure, there are some things that I don’t like about the way things are going, but I still feel there’s value in it, and I’m hopeful that one day it’ll get back on track. I sincerely do what I can to try to “right the ship” if you will. Maybe not successfully, and I might even end up tipping the boat over, thereby dumping everyone out, but it is not my intention to do so.

It seems like Girl Scout bashing in the media has been the “in” thing for the past few years. Some of it is self-inflicted, sure, but some of it is just jumping on the bandwagon in my opinion.

In this case, it’s the article from this past October by Rachel Zurer called “How The Girl Scouts Failed Me.” It appears on the Backpacker website, which I’m assuming is an outdoor magazine or website. I know you are in awe of my powers of deduction. Samona posted this link on my Facebook wall back when it was first published and asked for my opinion. I’m finally getting around to it. Just a warning – I’m going to jump around the article, so quotes won’t necessarily be in order. I also start off by raking the author over the coals, but in the end I soften up. Consider this a strongly worded blog post. As opposed to a strongly worded letter. Continue reading

March 5 2016

We Interrupt This Program For A Brief Announcement

Experiences as a Leader No Comments cookies, leader issues

We interrupt this program for a brief announcement:

I HATE COOKIE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

March 4 2016

Thinking Day State Swaps

Ideas No Comments daisies, girl led, juniors, service unit, squirrel, swaps, thinking day, troop 2562

Our service unit held its annual Thinking Day event last month, and this year’s theme was States. I opened up the fifty states to the Juniors and asked them to come up with their top three choices to turn in. California was their number one, and it hadn’t been claimed by another troop. When we got down to business after the break, all five of them claimed they didn’t choose California. I asked which one they picked, and they each named a different state. Good thing I had taken a picture of their list that they had originally written on the whiteboard. I showed them the picture but they still looked at me like they didn’t believe it. I’m not sure what that was all about except maybe their brains rotted out over the break. I had already submitted California as our choice, so we couldn’t have changed it at that point anyway. Continue reading

February 26 2016

How to Win Friends and Influence People

National Governance, National Operations, Opinions 2 Comments da-nice, gsusa, membership dues, national board, OFFICIAL scarf, volunteers

Dale_Carnegie — “Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. “

To get right to the point, I seem to be continuously amazed, shocked and flabbergasted at how seemingly inept the National Board and GSUSA are when it comes to managing public relations with its volunteers. It is as if they don’t realize that ticking off people that your job depends upon is probably not the best idea. I really don’t get it. I’d love to sit down with some of them and just pick their brain to see where on earth they are coming from. But then I’d probably get escorted out by security, and who wants that? No one except Da-nice, who said she would love to take a picture of that event and post it all over Facebook.

In case you don’t know what I’m babbling about, here’s the latest from GSUSA (via a newsletter from the Historic Georgia council): Continue reading