Lakefield Adult Music Camp 2026

A week ago Sunday, Jen1 and I loaded up the car and headed to Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo ON to attend Lakefield Music Camp. It's kind of a misnomer now because the camp is no longer held at Lakefield College School outside of Lakefield ON on the shores of Lake Katchewanooka. Now that it's operating at Laurier U, it's really no longer a 'camp' setting either but it has been running for 49 years so it continues to be called Lakefield Music Camp for tradition's sake.

Check in was easy - same process as last year. Just as I finished getting my dorm keys, I heard a voice call, 'Geri!; behind me. It was, Duncan, a band buddy from long ago, whom I played with in the Pickering Community Concert Band from 1990 to 2002. 

Duncan had seen my Facebook post about camp last year and made a mental note to look into attending. And he did! He didn't even know if I'd be there this year so it was a very pleasant surprise for both of us! Although he's not very active on social media, I have somewhat kept up with what he's been up to all these years.

Up in our dorm rooms, Jen1 and I got settled; installing the foam mattress pads we had brought, making up the beds, and unpacking for the week. Ernest and Thomas settled right in.

That night was the welcome meeting in the recital hall. Andrew Wolf, the head of the camp went over some details of what to expect and introduced the faculty.

Classes started at 9:20am on Monday. They are an hour long with a 20 minute break in the morning and 10 minutes between classes the rest of the day. Breakfast in the dining hall starts at 8 and finishes at 9. Lunch is from 1 to 2. However there are drop-in classes for 45 minutes, starting at 1:45. Classes resume at 2:40pm and end at 6, which is when supper starts.

Then there's a break until recitals begin at 8pm. There were over 15 hours of recitals over the week. Culminating recitals started on Friday evening. Saturday morning were large ensemble rehearsals, then recital time again at 3pm and again at 8pm.

Wednesday night was Cabaret night so we met at the Turret, a campus bar. Many of our fellow campers entertained us. It was also the only opportunity we could purchase alcoholic drinks on campus. 

Thomas posed beside Duncan's beer can.

Ernest inspected my gin and tonic. No 'roofies' for me!

I really enjoyed every one of my classes this year. First period was Choir for All. Of the 113 campers about 80 of us participated in the choir.

I am a pretty good sight-reader and have a strong voice. Lots of altos (my new best friends) wanted to stand beside or in front of me so my loud singing would help them out. I have never felt so popular!!

After snack time, second period was Spirituals Choir. We received the music as .pdfs ahead of time and were able to find the same settings (SSA) to watch and play along on YouTube. Although I didn't really internalize the pieces at that point, I was pretty confident I'd do OK in the smaller ensemble. 

There were 17 of us plus Lyndsay, our director, and Kathleen, our accompanist. Kathleen was also our handbells teacher.

Third period we had ukulele with Sara. 

She was an excellent instructor, taking us right back to the basics of ukulele playing; lots of helpful technical tips, such as, holding it by the 'small bump', pinching the neck with the thumb, plucking technique, picking out scale notes, etc.

She also lead a play-along at the lunchtime 45 where we played along with videos - all accessible on YouTube. I only attended this once because I had a 'spare' in period 4 and usually headed back to the dorm to rest before my period 5 Concert Band class. Duncan, being a clarinet player, sat beside me in band.

It's really important to pace oneself as the day is not over when classes are over. There is a lot of sitting around, waiting for things to start. Lots of knitting opportunities. With recitals starting at 8pm, the last 3 nights they ran until almost 11 each night.

Friday night, I was involved with three performances so I actually put on lipstick!

At some point last week Jennifer and I took a selfie with the boys.

The campus at Laurier U is very well maintained with lots of beautiful flowers in beds and planters.

Our last period was Handbells. The 3 octaves of bells only need 11 players so it is very much in demand. By a stroke of luck (and emailing Andrew as soon as registration opened) Duncan and I got into the class as well as our new best friend, Katherine. Several of us are going to suggest there be 2 handbell classes; one for beginners, and another for those of us who have played before.

Each of us was assigned two notes on the staff and any sharps for that note. Middle C is always notated in Bass Clef. My notes were middle C and the B just below it.

The music is clustered notes of the chords. The bell ringer must pick theirs out and synchronize ringing with the others playing at the same time. 

We also learned a couple of other techniques: swinging the bell (Sw) to create somewhat of a doppler effect, tapping the ringing bell on the padded table (upward curved arrows), and striking the bells with padded mallets.

We also learned to damp the one bell at the same time as ringing the other one. This was achieved by resting the ringing bell on our upper chests, like this:

It was a really great way to end our day's instruction. 

One night, we had a 'fireless campfire' singalong in the atrium at the recital hall.

Happy campers. Photo taken by Jen1. That's me in the pink shirt, Duncan to my left, and another 'new best friend', alto singer, and clarinet player, MaryJo, in the white shirt on the far left.

Jen1 and I packed up, loaded the car, and left Waterloo before breakfast on Sunday. We stopped at the Cambridge ON Route for a bite of breakfast and got home by 10:30. 

It was a very intense week of activity, music, and friendship. We hope to talk more of our friends into joining us next year.

Geri then (1972) and now.

I Knit a Hat at Music Camp!

I cast on a Helical Hat on Saturday night before coming to music camp on Sunday. I wanted to have something easy to knit during all the time I would be sitting at camp. 

We have recitals every night lasting from between an hour and a half and almost three hours so it’s good for me to have something to keep my hands occupied; knitting is a great activity for this.

I grabbed a random ball of Noro Silk Garden from my stash and a ball of my handspun - probably merino, silk and nylon blend. Both yarns were DK-ish.

I used the Classic Helical Hat from HiKoo - a free pattern on Ravelry. 

I cast on 96 sts which is the usual size for my small head and knit the brim, including the knit round which makes the fold line. The second colour was added and then in helix-style the two yarns chase each other around, alternating rounds but not creating a jog.

I finished it just now, using a crochet hook I borrowed from Jen1 to bind off the stitches at the crown.

There was an option to make it beanie style or slouchy style. I chose slouchy style to use up most of my handspun.  I thought the two colours went together very well. My handspun isn’t all that consistent, ergo all the lumpy bits. I like to think it gives it an interesting texture.

This evening was our first series of culminating concerts. My handbells class and spirituals vocal group performed first. Then after intermission the Concert Band performed second. 

I had an oboe malfunction and and the last minute gave my solo oboe part to the other oboe player, Monique. I haven’t had any work done on my instrument in literally decades. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had this instrument to a repair shop in the entire time I’ve owned it since 1972 when I purchased it second-hand from my oboe teacher. So the hunt is on for someone who can get the thing working properly again.

There will be a lengthy post more specifically dealing with music camp but that will have to wait until sometime after I return home on Sunday.

I usually made it to breakfast by 8:30am, classes started at 9:20 and ended at 6pm with dinner following immediately after. Then recitals started at 8am. Most nights I didn’t get back up to my dorm room until 11 or later. Then I’d visit Jen1 in the adjoining room for a half-hour or so then toddle back to my room to hit the sack for the night.

Tomorrow I just have a choir rehearsal at 9:20 for half an hour or so then the time off until recital time at 3pm. My last performance will be with the choir right after intermission at tomorrow night’s 8pm recital,

But with handbells, the spirituals choir, and concert band performances done, my most challenging work is over with. 

(To be continued…)

Sunflowers

I was asked to stitch a Durene Jones sunflower scissor case. The pattern calls for 25ct but I used some 28ct white linen from my stash. The original one I made years ago was on natural-coloured linen. I don't remember what count it was.

The Kloster blocks go very quickly and I finished up all of the cross-stitching last night. Today I did the cutting, wrapped bars, spider stitch in the centre, and the woven bars on the long, open parts on the string of blocks along the left and bottom. Where you see HotFix jewels above, the pattern calls for eyelets. I'm going to use the jewels on his one, too. 

I really like how it looks on the white fabric.

I wanted to make it a bit bigger so initially added a couple of four-sided stitch blocks and the outer backstitching (on the left and bottom). However when I test-folded it, it wasn't aligned properly; the fold was cutting off the butterflies beyond what was supposed to be the fold. I didn't bother to remove the outer backstitching as it will get covered up when I sew on the lining.

Instead, I did the called-for backstitching and extended the backstitching on the right and top by 2 more threads. 

I'm going to use the same fabric that I used on the other one to line it.

I think I have some leftover cording that I can use for the closure. 

I have to get serious about packing for music camp so I won't fully finish this until I get back.

Speaking of sunflowers, I took a few pics in the garden just now.

I grew this one from seed under grow lights in my kitchen. Several more were planted but for one reason or another this seems to be the only surviving one of this species.

Although not being visited now, I did see a bee gathering pollen on it before I went back in the house to get my phone. You can see excess pollen that has dusted the leaf underneath the bloom.

It no longer follows the sun and is permanently east-facing.

This one is now as tall as than I am (165cm). It still follows the sun.

I had to stake the stalk when I first planted it to get it to grow straight as the stem was damaged and bent over. That did the trick within a week or so. Now the stalk is as thick as my thumb.

The cornflowers/bachelor buttons grew from the random Burpee seeds I sprinkled last year. I'm pleased they turned out to be perennials. I have been conscientiously dead-heading them and have been rewarded with continuing blooms and a beautiful contrast from the plentiful gold colours in the garden.

The calendula and cosmos have started blooming. Unfortunately they're below taller plants so I'm not sure how well they'll do without enough sunlight. They were grown from the remainder of the Burpee seeds that I scattered back in June.

The zinnias were also grown from seed. I had hoped for more but will do a better job of growing them from seedlings next spring. They're also very tall and were leftover State Fair zinnia seeds from a couple of years ago. 

Skip used to grow lots of them to attract pollinators. Newly-eclosed monarch butterflies often were attracted to them as nectaring spots in preparation for their long flight down to Mexico. 

From 2017...

Skip used to fill in bare spots in the garden with marigolds which he either grew from seed or bought at the end of June on sale. They are a good companion to grow with tomato plants - possibly repelling critters from damaging the tomatoes. I had such bad luck with tomatoes last year I didn't bother planting them this year. Other than the Burpee seeds, I didn't plant any annuals and have just let the perennials go wild.

Taking it Easy Today

I'm back from an enjoyable overnight trip to a cottage just north of Wasaga Beach to visit Sue and Erin. The traffic up the 400 wasn't bad and the weather was perfect.

We gabbed the whole time. First out on the shaded deck, then down at the beach at 'sparkle time',

then later during supper at Balm Beach.

There was a Kawartha Dairy ice creamery there in Bingham's General Store and they had our favourite flavours. Mine is chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

Back at the cottage after supper we wandered down to the beach to take in the sunset over Nottawasaga Bay.

We stayed up really late gabbing then all slept in the next morning, got some breakfast,  then sat around and gabbed some more, had lunch, then I headed for home.

Both going and coming I screwed up the exchange at the $$$407$$$ and 400, both times ending up on Jane Street. Next time I'll to pay more attention to my GPS and not get cocky, thinking I knew the correct exit.

I took it easy last night, sewed some more lanterns onto the blanket while continuing to watch 'The Good Doctor' on Netflix and actually got to bed before midnight.

That's 126 sewn together. Only 2 more columns of 11 and 1 more of 10 to go. Oh ya, then the half lanterns to even out the top and bottom.

I'll probably do at least two more columns with the leftover yarn. Another use for the remnants could be another corner to corner, garter stitch, Excavation throw - the same design as the one I did with worsted weight acrylic yarn.

Today, I have nothing on the docket so am again taking things pretty easy. 

The girlies are on their way to Ottawa today for the Gathering Thread Retreat near the airport. Nora Corbet is the featured designer. They also plan a visit to Paisley's Quilt Shop in Carp. Jennifer and I decided not to go as we'll be heading to music camp late morning on Sunday. I didn't want to have to drive from Ottawa to Whitby, load the car with music camp stuff, then drive to Waterloo all in one day.

I think I'll have a nap.

Distracting Myself

I had the urge to do some sewing today - wanting to make up another of the Lori Holt zippy bags from a panel. But the two remaining bigger bags from the panel I had didn't really appeal to me in spite of the fact I had new vinyl and fusible fleece to cut into. I set them aside and started rooting through a container with random stitchery items. 

I happened upon a couple of spools of Sulky Petites thread and decided to start another Wildflowers Hearts scissor case. The free chart designed by Caroline Strickler can be found here. 

I've used this square design for several triangular scissor cases:

Rather than the Caron Wildflowers and Waterlilies threads, any embroidery floss can be used. I'm using 28ct linen and instead of two strands of floss, am using one strand of the Sulky Petites. (I much prefer not to stitch with two strands).

I really like stitching this pattern. There is a satisfying number of specialty stitches and it quickly and easily makes into a scissor case. The centre square of hearts can also be stitched separately for a scissor fob.

Supplies have arrived for a project for which I have been commissioned; sparkly bakeable sculpting clay and tapestry needles:

In crochet news, I have 110 lanterns sewn together,

and 49 more completed. Less than ten to go for the original size. However, there is TONS of yarn left over so I'll probably do at least one more column of 11 and column of 10. And, of course, the corresponding half-lanterns to even out the top and bottom.

Update!! I just corrected my arithmetic and I have enough lanterns knitted!! In fact, there's one extra. The pattern calls for 158(8 columns of 11 and 7 columns of 10) and I've done 159.  Now to do the 14 half lanterns and probably another 21 to add an extra two columns of 21 lanterns (and two more half lanterns). It's amazing how much one can do while watching TV. My latest binge is 'The Good Doctor' on Netflix which I never watched when it was first run.

The leftover yarns make excellent sweaters for my little bears and kitties. I have another girl bear I want to do for someone before our next guild stitch day.

I have sent Bertram to live with his new friend, John. I (and ChatGPT) made a little photo of him reading to Bertram from his new book, 'The True North Talks':

In his book, John examines the legal, social, and human consequences of Québec's separation from the rest of Canada in the format of an action-driven political novel. It is available from Amazon.

And finally, I have been invited for an overnight at a friend's cottage near Wasaga Beach so will start packing for that after stitching tomorrow. I'm taking a bear to knit, a scissor case to stitch, and some lanterns to crochet and sew into a blanket. That should keep my hands busy between sips of adult beverages, relaxing on the beach, and eating good food.

A Very Busy Few Days

After last week's quilting marathon and Saturday's guild stitching day, I spent Sunday trying to recover from all the activity. That involved sleeping in, doing a lot of loafing, napping, and taking it easy.

Monday morning was our usual stitching time, then at 12:30 'the gang' met at Mandarin to celebrate Jen1's birthday. We have started doing the Mandarin thing for our birthdays and it lets everyone pig out on some or many favourite food options. Being a holiday, Poppy was able to join us, too!

Geri, Marilyn, and Poppy

Barb, the birthday girl, and Jeanette

And if that wasn't fun enough, we repaired back to my place to stitch for the rest of the afternoon.

It's always so nice when we can get together.

Yesterday, David came over in the afternoon to help me install the new ceiling light in the kitchen. The ballast in the old one blew and the light had been non-functioning for several weeks. It took quite an effort to find a suitable replacement; the old one had a nice moulding around it. Many I saw online looked too industrial or plastic-y. I finally found one on Amazon I liked. It was the same length and style but a bit narrower and doesn't require fluorescent tubes. I hoped I wouldn't need to repaint the ceiling after the new one's installation.

David and I worked for well over two hours, huffing, puffing, climbing up and down step ladders and stools, dropping and retrieving screws, swapping out drill and screwdriver bits, sweating, and using a fair amount of bad language but finally it was up and working. I could do surgery in there now if I needed to.

I had been managing OK with the two pot lights and the light over the stove but I'm really glad to have the new one in place. AND I don't have to repaint the ceiling! Just touch up a couple of spots with some leftover ceiling paint.

Since it was almost suppertime and to thank him, we toddled over to Hot Rocks and I treated him to supper. We both took doggie bags home. The leftover pizza will be my lunch tomorrow.

After a couple of Facebook posts about a potential reunion at the school I used to teach at 40 years ago, a former student contacted me and wanted to meet for lunch - just to catch up on what we've been doing with ourselves these past 40 years. 

Being a music teacher, I had the good fortune to teach students over a period of their high school years. We got to know each other quite well even beyond the classroom. I enjoy finding some of them on Facebook and have kept up on the activities and lives of several former students over the years. 

So Natalie and I met up and had a lovely afternoon getting caught up. We asked each other who we'd been in contact with since the late 80s. I had to laugh about an event Natalie reminded me of with another student, Paul. He was attending the Faculty of Music at Western (my old alma mater) and had a violin minor instrument exam coming up and was panicking that after the whole semester, still didn't know how to play the violin. Evidently, I gave him a violin lesson over the phone, dredging up what little knowledge I remembered from my violin minor class from at least a decade before. He ultimately passed his playing exam. I have a vague recollection of the event. I must have told my class the next day that I had done this. I haven't seen Paul in ages (possibly almost 20 years) and only have an old email address for him and probably a defunct phone number. I will try to get in touch with him so we can laugh about this anecdote.

Paul did go on to teach music and ultimately was a school administrator before his retirement in 2022 (I got that much info from Google). 

Anyway, just before Natalie and I parted, we took a selfie.

On the way home, I stopped in at Fabricland in Pickering and purchased some sewing supplies. Then on to the grocery store to pick up some more things, then back home. Boy, am I pooped!

I have NOTHING scheduled for tomorrow so will again take some time to recover from the frenetic activity of the last week or so.

I continue to work on the Mystical Lanterns afghan. When I get bored with crocheting the 'lanterns', I sew in the ends, when I get bored with that, I sew the lanterns onto the afghan.

I'm this far now.  Still lots of lanterns to crochet and add.

I did more stitching on my 'This Bee's Got Knees'. It goes quite quickly when spending a good chunk of time on it and I'm not distracted. You can see the 'T' at the top. I have started doing this on many projects but it was even suggested by the designer to maintain proper orientation of the fabric as the 4 arms of the stitching are quite similar. 

I like the fresh colours of this piece. It will be fun to get it finished and fully finished.