Day 1, August 13th: Together at last!

After waiting what seemed like a gazillion days, camp finally arrived! We are here in the Berkshires for the second year of the Ashmere Project. It is amazing to welcome back so many old faces, and meet some new friends too! 

Yesterday, all of our volunteers were hard at work preparing the space for our group. This morning, we nearly doubled in size and finally got to wrap our friends in long-awaited hugs and welcomes. 

We are so lucky to have Dan and Wallis come back again to fill our bellies and manage the kitchen. They brought their friends, Shops and Brad, who are professional chefs to cook us dinner for the first week! We all gathered in the dining hall for lunch which was prepared by our other professional chefs, Larkin and Stoddard. We ate scrumptious sandwiches, and managed bites in between all the catching up we had to do!

We unpacked in our cabins and handled all sorts of housekeeping. We are so lucky to have our three nurses: Jojo, Maggie and Kellen, keeping us safe and offering TLC when we need it. After settling in, we suited up and gathered at the beautiful lakefront. Some of us went canoeing and paddle boarding, while most of us stayed ashore to dance and continue chatting. 

After showering up, we all reunited for dinner. We ate a delicious meal prepared by our chefs which included freshly made focaccia bread! Then we circled up on the grass and took turns sharing updates about our past year with the community. It was so wonderful to be all together again at last!

All the love, Ashmere