At Sunny Camp

     Some days end better than others and yesterday was one of them.  We had nipped up to Seattle in the early morning where we spent a few busy hours doing errands.  We hurried back to be in time for Mary Garvey’s “Sunny Camp” in Nahcotta – an annual (I think) weekend event.  It was the Gathering Night, a potluck, and Mary had kindly invited us.
     We grabbed a salad at Sentry Market and pulled into Camp Morehead just in time to help with the set-up.  “We’ll need to wash all the dishes we use, before and after,” Mary said.  They were probably washed last by 7^th grade boys and you can never tell…”
     Camp Morehead is a fabulous facility that is used by various groups all year long – especially by 4-H groups and especially in the summer.  We were in the dining hall, one end of which is a fully equipped (though strangely laid out) kitchen.  The main part of the building has a large stone fireplace and six or eight big picnic-style tables and benches.
     By the time the potluck items (including homemade soup and chocolate chip cookies warm from the oven) were laid out, people were already singing.  Music is what Sunny Camp is all about.  Today and tomorrow there will be various workshops but last night instruments stayed in cases and it was a time for sitting by the fire and singing.
     There were eighteen of us.  Nyel and I knew only Charlie and Judy of Double J and the Boys and, of course, Mary.  And  Lorrie Haight who disappeared after dinner.  The others all seemed to know one another but were from the Seattle area, the Portland area – all over western Washington and Oregon and mostly from little towns we’d only heard of.  It seems that they get together at various times and places throughout the year to make music, though otherwise they don’t ‘know’ one another.
      They sang many songs, each spontaneously begun by someone and, if it was unknown to the group, everyone gradually joined in on the chorus.  One song seemed to lead to the next.  The harmonies were incredible.  I couldn’t help singing along and hoping against hope that my voice would disappear among all the others.  (Neither Nyel nor I are musical but we are great appreciators.  Maybe that’s why Mary asked us to come.}
     The only song I recognized was “The Sloop John B” and it was probably the best rendition I’ve ever heard.  It was followed by “The Sloop John A” – same tune but with fun, goofy words.  We left, reluctantly, about 9:30 but we’re planning to go back tonight – salmon dinner (five bucks a head!) and more music.  I can’t wait!