Drowned Rats

11 women and children survived the torrential downpour at Rowan's Ravine last night...

MOST of their trip was swimmingly hot and sunny.

But, last night, after the volunteer women had their weiner and S'More Roast and sing-a-long,

"The rains came down and the floods came up,
And the tent on the sand went SPLAT!"

And, although the RV and Soul's Harbour tents stood firm, Melanie and Vicki built their tent on the sand and found themselves sleeping in the van. The woke up... reclined their seats up, and lo... it was still raining!

Lightening had struck their hammock tree and two branches lay on the ground completely stripped of bark and leaves!

Mel looks over at Vicki in the passenger side. Vicki looks over at Mel.

"Looks like we're not going swimming before we pack up to go home to the Mission."
"Nope."
"What about breakfast?"

Some debate took place here... Melanie knew I wasn't about to pay for breakfast at the local restaurant, (Yes, I am cruel!) so she was wondering if she should donate this expensive venture. They couldn't figure out how to work the kerosine Coleman, and of course, cooking over the fire was not an option.

"We could feed the children marshmallows and dry hot dog buns." (A good choice I would have picked!)

Eventually, a toaster was discovered the the RV. So, while everyone furiously packed up, Rita was assigned the job of making everyone a piece of toast. (How civilized. Marshmallows would have been fun!)

"No plates! We're not doing dishes!" (So much for civilized.)

So, five children lined up outside the RV while Rita furiously buttered toasts and handed them out one by one to each drowned urchin, er, child.

Meanwhile, Melanie called me from the campsite and explained the situation, "There's 11 hungry women and children who will be coming home for lunch. Please cook lots!"

When they arrived, still wet, we had three sets of campers. I went into the Women's Dining Rooom and cheerfully asked, "So, did you have fun?!"

1. The children, sho slept through it all and happily ate their toast without a plate, shouted, "YEAH!!." This is a big deal. Mostly the children of the women stare blankly at me and are fairly non-responsive. I have this effect on kids.

2. The moms, not too far behind, in a slightly quieter voice, obviously happy to be home, smiled and said, "Yeah."

3. Back in the Staff Lounge, posed the same question, Melanie and Vicki, who look COMPLETELY fried, said, "Uh huh."

And this, dear friends, is why I don't attend the annual women's camping trip!


P.S. Several of the women had never had S'Mores... Myrna being one of them. (Myrna graduated from our program last year and attended the volunteer night of this event.) She said, "Melanie, I wish I could be as creative as you and invent food like S'Mores." Yes, that's right. You heard it here first. Mel is the inventor of S'Mores, and she works at Regina RESCUE Mission! Wow!