Well.......couldn't find any digital pictures we had taken at the camp, we think they are all prints and packed in boxes. So, in lue of camp pictures we share three pictures of our trip in 06-05 when we rode our motorcycles back to New hampshire and were at the Weirs, had the family reunion and visited with Curtis and Tudgey. It was a trip of a lifetime. Great memories. Love to all. Susan

Dad in Land of Entrapment

Far From the camp but near to the heart - Dad's trip to the land of entrapment in June 2006!

A limerick From Susan

A young Man Named George

There once was a young man named George,
Who took his young daughter to a Gorge,
With much anxiety and to his chagrin
At the oceans edge George almost fell in,
Scared his poor daughter at the age of seven,
She never grew more that five foot eleven,
Ah but now an older and wiser man is he,
Of four decades and another three,
With a mix of offspring numbering four and one,
Four lovely daughters and one handsome son!

Happy Birthday Dad

Blue Blossom & Bob

Same Day Different Perspective

Everybody's experience at the camp is personal. We can all be there at the same time and see and do different things. That's what makes it so great. Here are a few pictures from the same Memorial Day Weekend...mostly chilling.

Arlo cooking us breakfast:

Anna, the last to wake up: Sarah & Henry (his first visit):
Emma, wearing her designer pjs:
Andy zoning out (what, did you say something?)

And Lily, who has just discovered all the "toys".

Taking Down the Tree

How many men does it take to cut down a tree?











Depends on if it WANTS to come down.

Celebrating Dad's 70th at The Camp

We all gathered at the camp to help Dad ring in his 70th year. There was much food, drink and laughs. Here is the birthday boy contemplating something serious.

Dad and Arlon gave Sarah a lesson in how to properly truss up a hank of rope. Isn't that beautiful?

Anna & Lily down by the water....and Sarah & Emma having a few laughs before dinner

Reta & Lily chilling after breakfast.

Installing the Toilet

The toilet didn't get installed before we all arrived at the camp to celebrate Dad's birthday, but it was pretty darned close. There were a few tense moments and an extra trip to Aubuchons in the big city, but the boys were able to get it installed and working. Yippee!

Scotch Drinking Hat

Here is Dad and a party girl (Em?) vogueing in Dad's patented scotch drinking hat. Dad knows the appropriate face. Emma is just warming up to how to be a proper Chaffee.

Moto madman

Tree huggers be damned! George, in his pudding pot, conquers a mountain on his trusty steed. The mountain in question is Moosilauke (if I'm not mistaken) and the steed is a Bultaco Matador 250cc. OK, so it's not a Camp shot but it is a photo of the man while he still has 10 fingers. Vintage? I'll go with '68, it was a very good year..........

Idyllic Dock Scene

No Camp collection is complete without an idyllic dock scene...............

Harvard Yale

Ah , the infamous Harvard - Yale game. Ask George about it; he has the details memorized.

Nude Froggy

Another fine example of an idea gone awry - George somehow let on that he had a small frog collection and, of course, many found it their duty to bestow him with gems like the one above.

Cheroot hoot!

A little reminder for the old man, in case he forgets what to do on the back deck. This sign is in front of the wood pile under the Main Camp.

Work Weekend Ritual

I can't remember the date of the first "work weekend" but perhaps this picture was from that era. It is when Dad recruited us to come to the camp to help stain the camps, etc. Of course, it didn't take much to give us an excuse to all be together...for an enjoyable, if not relaxing weekend with non-stop banter, poking, jabbing, puns, etc.

The scheduled work is usually light, and more often than not Dad and/or Arlon had a good amount of it already done before the masses arrived. Which usually meant that we retreated to the dock or went for walks, swims, etc.

Here we are treating all of Curtis Pond to a free concert... whether they wanted it or not.

And here's a work weekend photo from 1991...when most of the grandkids were either pre-teen:

Pre-Camp Era, circa 1971-2

This is definitely from the pre-camp era of our lives...however,

I think it helps to explain the roots of our family. Included in this cast of characters are 2 of the 3 McGovern workers, Jeff & Barry, and our neighbor Debbie. This is a classic.

Work Weekend 2000

Abby, Arlon, Sarah.... clearly Abby is the only one who cares if she is clean for a whole weekend. Pansy!

Learning to Blog

Sarah says "if I can do it...so can you." So here we are getting our first lesson in how to blog. Arlon successfully added a post of his own (See 5.11.08). After our lesson, we got back to celebrating mother's day 2008.

George in a reflective pose

A pic of Dad as taken by another George, pal of Peg's friend Joan. Circa 2000

1986 or so

Louise, Sarah, Reta...... just one of my favorite photos. Looks like we are heading for the sauna.

Dad, Any Year, Every Year

Here is Dad, confused. It doesn't matter what year this picture was taken. It could be any year.

You do sort of wonder what is going through his mind though....hmmmmm.

Sarah holds something other than wine glass

Concerned that she was only pictured with a wineglass in her hands, I dug out this photo circa 1998 (?) where her hands were carrying a much heavier load.

Anna's debut at the Camp

Well, here you have it...Grump is holding Anna and neither of them are crying. Anna is only about 1 month old here (August 2005) but she requested to go to the Camp. We shared the camp with Arl and his family this weekend so there was lots of entertainment for the girls.




We got back up to the camp later that fall for another family trip. Lily was clearly getting the hang of things. Anna needed some prompting.




Of course, the trip is not complete unless one goes down to the Morse Farm for playing with tractors... goats and eating maple creamies.




...and a couple of photo opps for Lily. The stump is a source of lots of enjoyment... and back ache, depending on how you are using it.

The Next Generation...

I can't even remember how old I was when Dad first got the camp, but a lot of traditions have been started since then (about which I'm hoping we can begin to document here.) So, we've all gotten older and the grandkids (well, Zach anyways) are already reproducing. I'm just trying to get up to speed with my own contributions to the family lineage...and wanted to make sure "The Camp" is part of their childhood memories. Here are some pics of one of Lily's first visits to the camp in 2004 (with Mom, Reta, and Dad, Andy, in supporting roles.)

There appears to be a chapeau theme going on here.

The Year of the External Fixator- 1989

Here is George resting his leg. In an effort to sell "the boat" Dad suffered a compound fracture while trying to swing a marine battery overboard from a 10 foot ladder. It brought his modeling career to an abrupt halt and put him into the external fixator- basically a metal lobster cage surrounding the broken ankle and held in place by several screws going directly into the bone.

While it brought some puttering to an end it did not keep him from teasing anyone who came within an arms length. That is Reta getting a back rub.... look at all that hair







The girls- left to right Susan, Sarah, Reta Abby... all related by teeth. This is us horizontally....






....and vertically.