May 27 2016

Pet Peeve About Badges That’s Been Beaten to Death

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations    4 Comments    , , , , ,

beaten-horseI’ve already covered a pet peeve about the Girls Guide notebooks and how the three additional Skill Building Activity Sets packets barely fit in it.  This next pet peeve concerning how the badges are set up in general has been discussed ad nauseam on various GS Facebook groups and town halls and service unit meetings I’m sure, but let’s beat the dead horse some more for posterity’s sake, shall we?  I have to share this experience in order to demonstrate to everyone how absurd the current badge system is (in case you’re not already aware of it).  Well, that’s not really the reason.  I just wanted to vent and get it out of my system.  It’s been a long year. Continue reading

May 25 2016

It Was the Best of Times, It Was the Worst of Times

Experiences as a Leader    1 Comment    , , , , , , , , , , ,

I read this in ninth grade. Didn't do much for me.
I read this in ninth grade. Didn’t do much for me.

Other than turning in the paperwork for our financial report and troop forecasting form, this year is wrapped up.  We had our end of year ceremony Sunday afternoon and bridged six Daisies and six Brownies.  We are waiting to bridge our Juniors until the start of school due to us merging Juniors/soon to be Cadettes from another troop.  They are still working on their Bronze Award, plus it makes sense to kick off the new year by bridging together as a new unit of Cadettes.  We did go on and have our Bronze Award ceremony though.  Thank you Lord and council for expediting our Bronze Award paperwork because I was starting to sweat about it.  I was gone all last week on the 5th Grade DC Trip from Hell, so a friend of mine picked up the pins for me after I forwarded the approval paperwork to her.  Thank you Hannah!  Continue reading

May 11 2016

Black Holes and Random Patches

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me    1 Comment    , , , , , ,

the black hole
I’ve never seen this movie and really have no interest in seeing it.

There was going to be such a huge gap between the last post and the next one that I thought I’d throw in a quick one just so everybody didn’t think that the Girl Scout Mafia (wearing official scarves, of course) finally caught up to me.

In case you’re not familiar with them, black holes really aren’t holes.  Because I don’t feel like coming up with something in my own words, here’s a description from NASA Science:

Don’t let the name fool you: a black hole is anything but empty space. Rather, it is a great amount of matter packed into a very small area – think of a star ten times more massive than the Sun squeezed into a sphere approximately the diameter of New York City. The result is a gravitational field so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape.

Continue reading

April 10 2016

The 2016 Service Unit 639 Encampment is in the Books!

Experiences as a Leader    2 Comments    , , , , , ,

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:

Continue reading

April 3 2016

Troop 20 at the J-Low Birthplace

Reminiscing    2 Comments    , , , , , , , , ,

welcome to savannahIn 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    , , , , ,

Foamflower
Foamflower at CME

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 ElizabethFor 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