Volume LIII, No. 2, October, 2012

Dear Campers, Parents, Staff, Alums &Friends,

We would expect that everyone has settled in nicely to their “off-season” routines by now.  Schools are underway (except for a little hiccup in Chicago), if you’re playing sports, those are up and running, and camp has found a nice little spot in the back of your head to feed you some warm memories as you toil through classes or whatever it is you’re toiling through.  Right?  We get it, and we hope those memories aren’t causing you too much distraction at inconvenient times….like when you’re supposed to be paying attention to your teachers or coaches.  Hang in there, y’all.  If the rest of the months ahead fly by as fast as September did, we’ll be back in the Northwoods before ya know it!

It has been a whirlwind month for us in our southwestern and midwestern offices.  That sure sounds fancy, doesn’t it.  Those offices consist of Leslie and I here in our house in Tucson, and MICHAEL BREEN in his house in Chicago, but we like referring to our “regional offices” just for fun.  Camp enrollment has gone bonkers, and that’s kept us very, very busy.  We’re also talking with lots of prospective new campers, which is so awesome.  This past month we also participated in the 2nd Annual Camp for All Kids “Around the Campfire” event, and with help from the Timberlane community, CFAK raised more than $50,000.  We want to thank everyone who donated and/or participated, and helped us support this incredible organization that does such good and important work that we ALL benefit from.  If you would still like to make a donation, the Around the Campfire web page will be up for one more month.  We urge everyone to chip in a bit and make a difference in kids’ lives.  Thanks very much, and special thanks to Michael Breen for heading up our group at the big event.  Bravo!

Folks, we are happy to tell you that BILL MILLER, our amazing Kitchen Manager of 19 summers WILL BE BACK IN 2013 FOR HIS 20TH SUMMER AT CAMP!!  That is some very happy news.  Bill was unable to return last summer so he could remain in Tucson and help his daughter take care of her brand new baby.  Momma and baby are doing well, and Bill is itching to get back up to camp and stuff us all with his fantastic cooking.  Not only are we happy to know that we’ll be tasting some delicious food, but as you might imagine, after so many summers together at camp, Bill has become a great friend to so many of us, and we’re just so pleased to welcome our friend back to camp again.

It’s been a wild ride this past month, and we are blown away by your enthusiasm!  Welcome back to the following “old-timers” who re-enrolled this past month: JACK BARUCH, DANIEL ENGEL, and ARI & ETHAN GORDON of Buffalo Grove, IL; ERIC THOMPSON, EZRA & GABE WALLON, and CHARLIE WEISS of Chicago, IL; CHARLIE & HENRY LOVETT of Los Angeles, CA; JACK KNUETTEL and JACKSON TURNER of Denver, CO; ETHAN & JARED LETWAT, and DYLAN SALDINGER of Deerfield, IL; JORDAN ALLEN and DANNY LEVY of Evanston, IL; LUCAS GOTTSHALL, JESSE McCAULEY, JONAS & OWEN MONIESON, ADAM RUBIN, and JACOB WILSON of Glencoe, IL; JUSTIN & MAX GOLDENBERG, JERRIS KIRKWOOD, ADAM POGER, and CHARLIE SMOLLER of St. Louis, MO; DREW & ELI MITCHELL of Glenview, IL; ALEXANDER & HENRY ECHT, JACK EICHNER, NOAH KRAUS, and ALEXANDER ZLOTNIK of Highland Park, IL; JOSEPH FIELDS and GARRETT GLOVER of Bellaire, TX; SCOTT GOLD, KESHAV KRISHNAN, JARED MARGOLIS, and JARED ORKIN of Houston, TX; MATEO D’AGARO, NOAH FOSTER, ADAM SHERMAN, and JACOB ELIAS and ZACH WALDEN of Northbrook, IL; DOX & LEVI RASKIN of Oak Park, IL; GRANT KIBEL of Brookline, MA; and ZACH RUDNER of Dallas, TX.  Awesome!

And welcome aboard to new campers DANIEL FRIEDLAND of Glencoe, IL; NAVEEN KRISHNAN of Houston, TX; and ARI & BEN KADEN of Highland Park, IL.  We’re so happy to have you all with us!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Reunion Season!  Our very first reunions of the “off-season” begin in about a month!  Many of our camp cities’ reunion dates are set.  Please take a look at the schedule below.  We thank everyone who offered to host us in their hometowns. We still have dates to set up for Los Angeles, Tucson, Indianapolis, Denver, Dallas, and perhaps Omaha and Brooklyn, and one or two others.  REMEMBER, EVERYONE IS WELCOME AT TIMBERLANE REUNIONS, including campers and staff (duh!), parents, siblings, friends and relatives.  About a month before the reunion in your home town, we’ll send you an invitation via US Mail.  And just ‘cause we know what busy people you are, we’ll send you an email reminder a few days before the reunion.  Starting times may change once in a while, so we’ll make sure you have the right info before the reunion day arrives.  Y’know, some of us travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to visit with our camp buddies at these reunions.  So please, mark your calendar now, and be sure to join us.

City

Date

Time

Chicago

Sat. Nov. 3

12:00 pm

Milwaukee

Sun. Nov. 4

12:30 pm

Nashville

Sun. Nov. 11

3:00 pm

Houston

Sat. Dec 1

2:00 pm

St. Louis

Sat. Dec. 8

3:00 pm

Cleveland

Sat. Dec 15

t/b/d

Columbus

Sun. Dec 16

t/b/d

 

There’s some excitement in St. Louis, and it’s not just the Cardinals making another playoff run!  RYAN GARLAND and his family are moving into a new house early next month.  While in St. Louis for a wedding, the Cohen familiy took in a Cardinal game, and right there on the jumbo screen we saw GRANT GARLAND’s smiling face!   He was having a great time, and the Cardinals won the game!  TYLER NEWMARK broke his ankle shortly after camp, but he’s recovered already. In Brooklyn, JACK VAN OOYEN broke his elbow goofing around in gym class.  Yikes!  Jack has had surgery, and has a great attitude, so he’ll recover quickly.  Congrats to ZACH ORLOWSKY in the Chicago area who made his high school golf team as a freshman.  Wow! JAKE FIEGER is competing in a debate tournament in Michigan next month.  And congrats and hearty thanks to DAVANTE GRACE who took time to speak to everyone at the CFAK “Around the Campfire” event.  Davante wowed them by speaking from the heart about what camp has meant to him, and we’re incredibly proud of him.  Milwaukee finds JOSH GLAZER playing football on a team that is 3 – 1.  AARON GLAZER is president of his BBYO chapter.  In Tucson, SAMMY ALBERTS and SPENCER LEWIS are both playing club baseball.  JULIAN BALIANI was spotted in the crowd at a high school homecoming football game.  That was the highlight of the game, unfortunately. 

The injury report continues….JOEY RODIN broke his wrist on the first day of hockey tryouts for his high school in the Chicago area.  He’s just about out of the cast.  Chicago residents RYAN ELIAS, and his brother, “old-timer” ADAM ELIAS are off on their trek to lands far away and exotic.  Seriously….they’re all over the place!  Some of our staff took time after the summer to do their own traveling around. JOSH BOLING and MAX WALLDER did some trekking up to Bayfield, WI; down to Bloomington, IN; over to Memphis, TN, and Josh is now applying for a field instructor position with a therapeutic program in Utah.  Max has vanished, but we think he may be back in the UK by now.  KATHY LEVERTON spent some time traveling in the US and Canada with HEATHER WRIGHT, then headed home to South Africa by way of Turkey where she did some hot air ballooning and some sea kayaking.  GRACE MCGOWAN is applying for a few jobs out in Portland, OR.  We’ve got our fingers crossed.  Here in Tucson, we recently had dinner with U of A students MAX WEINTRAUB and “old-timer” AARON ROSEN.  Both are doing well, claim to be studying hard, and certainly having some fun.  DAVID ARTZI is also at the U of A, doing well and making similar claims. 


THE JUICE

A special section from Michael Breen

AN ODE TO BILL MILLER

I have some news that will prove to be quite the thriller

Let’s all celebrate the return of our dear Bill Miller.

Search from East to West, from Maine to Colorado Springs

You won’t find anything as delicious as Bill’s spicy buffalo wings.

Everyone in the trips program will feel like they’re in a time warp

As they once again chow on Bill’s home-made GORP.

Hey all, get ready for a breakfast treat of premium grade

As we all have the pleasure of his cinnamon rolls, home-made.

While his cooking is tremendous, it is not his greatest claim

No, that would be that he takes the time to know every camper’s name.

Oh, and let’s not forget the ultimate kicker

We got another summer of Bill’s booming laugh and snicker.

Alright, alright, I’ll end this rhyming abuse

Let us all wheeze some summer 2012 juice.

  • You are a second session camper and you are all amped up for casino night. You heard rumors about the eating contest 1st session and heard there might be another tonight. It’s true! The chalet members gather around the table, each of them with a ten piece nugget in front of them. The odds are stacked heavily against Heather Wright as she had been a vegetarian for nearly the past decade. But, as soon as she is given the green light, Heather makes up for years of protein-deficiency and scarfs down all ten nuggets!

-Michael Breen


BRAVO TO OUR OCTOBER BIRTHDAY BOYS & GIRLS!  Jack Reed – 10/3/1997, Daniel Moltz – 10/4/1995, Jono Rosenblum – 10/5/1998, Jonah Hoffman – 10/6/1998, Kathy Leverton – 10/7/1984, Julio Baca Terrazas – 10/9/1998, Sam Alberts – 10/10/1998, Michael Breen – 10/11/1985, Ari Lackner – 10/11/1996, Jake Burstyn – 10/13/1994, Lucas Gottshall – 10/13/1999, Joey Pawlan – 10/16/1992, Ben Litman – 10/17/2001, Alex Pobereskin – 10/18/1997, Dox Raskin – 10/19/2003, Jack Barlow – 10/20/1998, Nick Pappas – 10/20/1998, Ethan Teich – 10/21/1999, Jacob Wilson – 10/21/1998, Daniel Newman – 10/23/1995, Michael Strawbridge – 10/23/1996, Sam Spier – 10/24/1995, Jack Kahn – 10/25/2001, Ryan Wagner – 10/27/1994, Ross Krulisky – 10/28/1995, Joaquin Zavala – 10/28/1998, Garrett Glover – 10/29/1998, Spencer Lavin – 10/29/1998, Ari Mazza – 10/30/1998, Clay Castronovo – 10/31/2001, Joseph Kuperman – 10/31/1995.

We’ll be racking up the frequent flier miles starting very soon.  Folks, please try to do 2 things for us: 1) When we’re in a town near you for a reunion, come by and join us!  We travel a long way to see you, and the more guys we get to see at the reunion, the more fun we have, and the faster the “off-season” goes by.  2) As events happen in your lives, school-related, sports-related, whatever-related, please tell us about them.  We love writing about you guys!

Have a fantastic October everyone.  We’ll write you again next month.

Benches up,