It's a Beautiful Day in the Poconos

Sunday I drove up to good ole Bartonsville, PA for alumni day at Pinemere. I went to Pinemere for 9 summers, so it was good to see folks I hadn't seen, well, since the 80s. Former counselors were there, campers, and well, a mini family reunion. A bunch of my cousins went to Pinemere as well so they were all there too. It was nice to see them since I usually don't get to see them often.

One of my favorite traditions at Pinemere was Saturday morning Sing. We'd gather round the lower maple tree and sing a bunch of folk songs. Yeah, I know, the camp was perfect for me. We'd sing traditional Irish folks songs, freedom songs, American folk songs, blues, and others. They'd even introduce a Grateful Dead song here and there.

Here's a list of some of the songs we used to sing:

Rattlin' Bog

Come and Go With Me,

This Little Light of Mine

Where Have All the Flowers Gone

Frankie & Johnny

St. James Infirmary Blues

Mountain Dew

Hey Lolly

When the Saints Go Marching In

Oh, Rock My Soul

With the advent of You Tube, it's too bad that no one filmed Bob and/or some of those sings and put them up. It's one thing to download and watch other people perform these songs, but it's not nearly the same as siting under that tree.

On Sunday, we gathered by the lower maple tree again and relived a bunch of those songs from our youth. It's amazing how you may not sing the songs for years, but you still remember them. Mike Greenblatt, who used to come up once or twice a summer was there and did his traditional The Cat Came Back, which I love.

It seemed almost everyone that had ever played guitar (at least that I knew) under that tree was there.

Even Toby Lightman, a former camper, was there. She sang for us one of her songs.

I even tried to record a video from my camera, so let's see how it turned out:



All in all, it was a great day, reliving memories and good times from my youth.