Waickman Family Blog! I've been reading the posts here and have been known to comment occasionally. I think it's about time that I bring you all up-to-speed on the Life and Times of Bethany (via photo captions)!

In May I graduated from UMass, Amherst! My dear parents, mom's parents, and Nicholas came to commencement (graduating class of 4000-ish). Nicholas took this happy little picture.

I'm now at Pinewoods Camp in Plymouth, MA. It's a folk dance and music camp that runs different sessions from the middle on June until Labour Day (Early Music Week, International Dance, Scottish Country Dance, English Dance, American Week, etc). The camp crew is made up of a about 15 college-aged 

musician/dancers/enthusiasts. For the third consecutive summer, I'm on the grounds crew. 

We start work about two weeks before camp opens. After opening we all get 2 days off together and generally have a "crew outing". This year we went for a hike along the National Sea Shore. We had a picnic lunch on the beach and took this smashing crew photo.

We recently had a Kitchen vs. Grounds arm-wrestling championship. I sealed the win for Grounds with an excruciating ten minute stand-off (pictured below).

A number of my band-mates also work here. We're kept pretty busy during the days cooking, cleaning, and generally running camp for a 150 people. We have some great after-hours hangouts though. 

Above is a session with a fiddler from my contra dance band, Anadama (www.myspace.com/anadamamusic). 

Below I'm playing a game with the fiddler from my other band, The Hip Bones (based in Amherst). The game we made up involves spinning a penny ("serving") and then attempting to blow it into your opponents' goal through a home-made straw...

I hope you're all well and are enjoying the summer so far! 

Keep in touch, 

Bethany