History Camp

So I know we tease a variety of friends for going to math camp or similar, but here is where I confess I went to a couple of 'history camps' when I was a kid in Toronto.

I know. Shocking.

Anyway, I had cause today to make some apple cider, and thought, oh hey, let's stud an orange (well, clementine) with cloves and bung it in, as one does. I realized as I was poking my fingers on those sharp little bastards that I had learned to do this at, yes, history camp one school break when my sister and I were in elementary school. In High Park, there is an 1837 cottage built by one of Toronto's first architects (who also founded the park), called Colborne Lodge, and even at 8 I saw the docents and thought: best.job.ever.

Useful knowledge, studding an orange with cloves? No, nor was the learning to make soda bread. Tasty? Damn straight. Top that, math geeks.

Perhaps only *as* geeky as history camp, but for a number of years I attended foreign language camp. We spoke nothing but French, lived in cabins with French names, ate authentic French food, had all English language books and music confiscated at the start of camp, learned about various Francophone cultures....

Ah, geek youth. I loved it.