Lessons Learned from Chamber crew at Star Island

This past week, I volunteered with my friend Amy, on Star Island.  We were assigned to the Chamber crew.  This is where all of the entry level volunteers are assigned.  Bright and early on Sunday morning we reported to the Linen Closet, which is in the basement of the Oceanic hotel on Star Island.

I learned a lot this week and here are three of them:

1. If you say you "Can't" you probably can, with some practice.  At the beginning of the week, as we were occuping ourselves folding linens, I really resisted folding contour sheets.  My MOM taught me how to fold sheets as a young lass, so it is not that I DON'T know how to fold them.  They are just difficult for me.  Amy asked me what I do at home with contours, and being a path of least resistance kind of person, I strip the bed in the morning, wash the sheets during the day, and put them directly back on the bed.  No folding needed.  However, as the week wore on, and as I listened to the professional chamber workers, I realized that with lots of practice, and I mean folding sheets in the tens if not hundreds, that I actually learned to like folding contours.  Notice I did not say LOVE!  So whereas I resisted on Sunday, by Friday I was actually reaching into the never ending bin of folding opportunities, for a contour.
2. Bleach, is a really good disinfectant and cleaner, and it does whiten things.  Living on Star Island, which is 40 acres big, with 400 others, is tight quarters.  There are many procedures in place to make Star seem like it is 1900 still.  Part of the intrigue of the Island is that you can go back over 100 years, as you sit in a rocking chair on the front porch, look out across Gosport Harbor to Appledore and Smuttynose.  Things have changed, but very little in some ways.  One of our jobs, in our 3 times a day rounds, was to disinfect the common living areas and the guest quarters.  With a bucket of diluted bleach, a rag and rubber gloves, off we went to clean while the conferees were eating their meals in the 19th century dining room.  Because of our waste water treatment plant, and the regulatory discharge rules, we cannot let bleach get into the system.  The white towels, and wash clothes become stained, and dirty and we cannot use bleach out there.  One of the tasks is literally, with a tooth brush and a paste of cream of tartar and diluted bleach, to scrub stains out of the linens.  Believe me it was a thankless job, and one that we wondered aloud if there was any positive result.  However, we were sitting outside doing this, and talking with a few others while we scrubbed away, and we were looking out on White Island Light House, so the task was arduous but the scenery was fabulous.  AND, my favorite Star Island shirt is now covered with spots of white, from when I sprayed the bleach bottle in the wrong direction.
3. Our young adults are very wise, full of energy and dedicated and brave.  The job we had on Star is a difficult one, and keeping everyone clean and healthy was compounded by a virus among the community.  Working with the CDC, the management team has put procedures in place to minimize the impact of the virus, on the workers and the guests.  There were a few disgusting tasks that chamber has to do, that the young workers would not allow Amy and myself to do.  We are eternally grateful for this gesture.  As they put on their masks, and gloves, and other protective equipment to go clean up a bathroom, or guest room, I marvelled that they did not get on the next boat to the mainland.  We discussed in our three times a day meetings, what was being done across the teams on the Island, to ensure good hygiene and safety.  They had really good ideas, and alternate solutions to issues, and verbalized these.  Often times their suggestion was implemented.  This community makes it safe to be open and honest, and brave.  Let's hope that Star is a microcosm for the others communities that these young adults return to at the end of the summer

We returned home exhausted, and I wonder how the Pelicans (college age workers on the Island), do it day after day.  I do know in a way, why they work there.  The natural beauty, the lack of technology and the deep community that is built there year after year.

Measuring tapes gender differences

We were having some work done on a bathroom recently.  The male carpenter asked if I had a measuring tape.  I reached into my knitting bag and produced a measuring tape that I use in knitting and because it is a nice long one, I actually use it to measure most everything I need to measure up to 4 feet long.

This friend looked at me as if I had two heads and not being a person of many words, that was about it.  I wondered what the problem was.  I had actually laid my hands on it in less than 15 seconds, which is pretty good in our house.

I soon realized that he meant one of those measuring tapes, that retracts and lays on the item you are about to measure and has a hook to hold onto that end so you can measure pretty long things.  He meant a "measuring tape".

I said to him at this point, "You mean a male measuring tape?".  We both laughed and about 100 times since then, this expression has been of use.  "Oh, you mean a female measuring tape" or "Oh, you mean a male measuring tape".

Gender differences are pretty funny, aren't they?

We found the best Maple Cremee in VT!

This summer I am on the quest for the best Maple Cremee. When I mention this to many non-Vermonters, I get that "What the heck are you talking about now?" quizzical look. I am not even sure this is a broad Vermonter thing, but in the circles I move in, in the Green Mountain State, it is.

Two weekend ago, I drove north to our South Hero home, Coniston, with two girl friends. As we approached the middle of the afternoon, we were in the center of Vermont, and I asked aloud, "I wonder where we could get a Maple Cremee?". First two quizzical looks! Then the question, "What is a Maple Cremee?" simultaneously they asked. Just wait, and you will see.

Phone calls to two close Vermont relatives later, produced our first one, at Morse Farm in Montpelier, with brother Ken. This one was mapley and creamy, and a little too much of both. My two girlfriends ordered a mixture of chocolate and maple, and the chocolate seemed to cut the taste of the maple, in a good way. C+ score from me, and the small portion was not SMALL!

Fast forward to Sunday of this week. SIL Judy swears that Burlington Bay Market has the best in the same way that I swear Allenholm Farm 2.5 miles from Coniston has the best. They are the best, and the closest for both of us, which helps with our individual claims. We have both sampled the most from these two institutions and have a fondness for them. I tried the Burlington Bay one since I was staying the night with Judy and it was good, creamy and a B+.

On Monday as Judy and I headed to Long Point to spend two days with a distant cousin, Linda, we pulled the car over at the Love Shack in North Ferrisburgh. Their claim to fame are chocolate chip cookies (warm fresh ones and frozen dough to take home), AND they sell Maple Creamees!  We were approaching a near perfect one, we both agreed with chunks of actual maple candy in the creemee. The only deductions were for the size of the cone. Too big! BTW, this was our lunch on Monday!

Tuesday, also for lunch, we tried the Maple Frozen Yoghurt at Dakin Farms in Ferrisburgh. The counter person, when we mentioned that portions were too big, said she could split a small between two cones. A+ for customer service, and A for maple, but not a Cremee, rather a frozen yogurt. Again, this was our lunch.

Today, as we left Long Point after our heavenly two days, we returned to the Love Shack. We ate our lunch first this time.  Only Maple Cremees for three days in a row for lunch would be too much! We stepped up to the counter, and saw that they have a Baby size of a coffee/maple mixture, which we both ordered. Both of us agree that this was the A+, best Maple Cremee.

The purist among you will argue that with the coffee mixed in, this is not a Maple Cremee. We are ignoring any nit picking for this contest, and making up our own rules.

Best Maple Cremee- LoveShack, baby size, coffee/maple mixture!