Yeehaw for barn dance

It was quite the night for Crystal Lake last night as we hosted our Session 1 Barn Dance! By now we’ve perfected the perfect playlist of songs to get people hype to dance along to their favorite tunes – Electric Shuffle, YMCA, Cupid Shuffle, Hokey Pokey, Cotton Eye Joe, and many more. We spent the afternoon enjoying the warm weather … Read More

Celebrating Easter Everyday

  Mary Baker Eddy gave her church a Church Manual. The Manual gives lovely provisions for Mother Church members. Mrs. Eddy specifically gives a provision for Easter when she writes, “Easter Observances. Sect. 2. In the United States there shall be no special observances, festivities, nor gifts at the Easter season by members of The Mother Church. Gratitude and love should … Read More

Winter Camp Reflections

“You’re going to spend New Year’s at camp?” my friend said,”Isn’t that gonna be a little cold?”   Well, honestly, yes.  It was a bit cold.  But it made the hikes around the lake invigorating and the light dusting of snow beautiful.  The lodge and Alford Hall were nice and toasty, though.  With fires crackling, we toasted marshmallows for s’mores, … Read More

The Gift of Truth

This morning while driving to an early meeting I was listening to a program on NPR.  The topic was having a “no gift Christmas.” — the basic idea is that people have enough stuff and maybe the gift of time or presence is worth considering.  I didn’t hear the end of the program, but the idea kept coming back to … Read More

Pond to Table Cooking at Alumni Weekend, 2016

by Holly Buchanan   During Alumni Weekend we found a bumper crop of wild cranberries surrounding Hidden Pond! Several groups went picking, and then Betsy Huffman and I made cranberry bread for dessert on Saturday night in Alford Hall after a robust meal of spaghetti and meatballs, broccoli, garlic bread, and a fully-loaded salad bar. Making cranberry bread is a … Read More

April Nature Thought: March of the Salamanders

by Mark Catlin   Early each spring an extraordinary thing happens. On the first warm evening with a good steady rainfall, the amphibians come out all at once from their underground beds, where they have been hibernating. When I say all at once, I mean literally hundreds of frogs, toads, and salamanders pop out of the ground and make their … Read More

Nature Thought for March: Coming Back

by Mark Catlin Yesterday morning I looked at the bird feeders in our back yard and there was a Crackle, several Starlings, and two Red Winged Black Birds. I was excited! All of these species do not hang around here (Rochester, New York) in the winter so . . . . . . they’re back. The spring migration has started and it is … Read More

Surviving My First Winter at CLC

by Megan Gerould As the weather continued to get colder and snow became a part of the forecast, I went to work making my cabin into a cozy home that I could take refuge in while watching the pretty flakes fall outside. I made a list of warm soups I would make, had the cocoa and tea packets on hand, … Read More

Nature Thought for January: Mountaintops

  Recently I have been thinking about mountaintops. These are places one aspires to reach. This is because often it takes a great desire and discipline to accomplish a wilderness peak. One has to be wholly dedicated to giving extraordinary effort to make it all the way to the top. The rewards for not stopping partway are the simple exhilaration … Read More

Winter Camp 2015

After all the Christmas presents are unwrapped, and all the Christmas dinner gobbled up, many families struggle with boredom in the days following the festivities of Christmas and before New Year’s celebrations begin. This is never a problem for families who attend Winter Camp at Crystal Lake Camps. Despite the lack of snowfall, this year’s group of winter campers had … Read More