LOVE AT CAMP DAVID

At the 2018 Camp David at Bunker Hill, we, Larry and Linda, celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary.  We were blessed to have all our family with us to celebrate in My Corner of the Ozarks. 

The Bunker Hill Chapel is a beautiful setting.  

We renewed our vows with the whole family as witnesses.  

Music was provided by Lance, Brad, and Matt.

Our three sons have been a blessing, a pleasure, and an inspiration.  

The flower girls scattered petals for the "bride".  

But...someone had to pick up those "littered" flower petals.  

We were blessed to be supported by beautiful bridesmaids.  

Many, many sent greetings, memories, and congratulations.  

Thank you for your kind words.  

God has blessed us beyond measure.  

I STILL LOVE CAMP DAVID

Last year I posted some photos from our annual Camp David week with the grandchildren at Bunker Hill on the Jack's Fork in My Corner the Ozarks.  This summer all the grands were back including the two-year old rookie AND all the parents were invited.  It was a great week of fun. PLUS, we celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary at Bunker Hill with our family.  What a week!

Matt, Jackson, and Cami came from Illinois.  Lance, Grace, Karis, Olivia, and Emily came from Maryland.  Brad, Fatymah, and Mariam came from Kosovo.




August 2018 marked the 8th Camp David.  In 2011 when we started this tradition, only Karis and Olivia came.  Karis was 8 and Olivia 5.  Camp David has been held in My Corner of the Ozarks every summer except 2016 when we convened in Maryland to accommodate Karis' busy schedule.  2018 was the third time we had gathered at Bunker Hill for Camp David.

The water was very popular.  August heat made the cool Jack's Fork feel very good. 

These kids don't need many toys to be busy and have fun.  

The younger Davids at Camp David having fun.










When the river water feels cold, Mimi can always offer snuggles.

Thumb sucking is optional.

Karis and Olivia were our first "campers" eight years ago.  They have sure grown up.  They are pictured here with our oldest son, Lance, their dad.

Several evenings we gathered on the river bank for singing, stories, and laughter.

Brad, our middle son, furnished the musical accompaniment.

Seated next is our youngest son, our baby, with his baby.

Next is Lance followed by Mrs. Lance (Grace).





The older Davids at Camp David also had to join in the silliness.  As we watched from the bank, this canoe approached us.  Out of nowhere appeared a canoe full of giant chickens, clucking and shooting water guns.

Gene David and Corliss Depee would have been so proud!!

More about our 50th ceremony at "Love at Camp David".

Too Much Water

Although it did not impact my corner of the Ozarks, I want to mention the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1993.  This summer is the 25th anniversary of the most devastating flood in modern U. S. history according to the U. S. Geological Survey. 

In April 2017 we had flash flooding in the southern Ozarks, and it was devastating.  But when the Mississippi, Illinois, Missouri, Des Moines, and other rivers spread out over 400,000 acres in nine state in 1993, 47 people lost their lives. 

This image is from the Quad City Times:


It was a terrible summer all along the major Midwestern rivers.  Over 1,000 levees broke.  The flooding lasted 200 days in some places.  The damages cost $25 billion. 

Emergency volunteers were put to work all along the rivers filling sandbags to try to save the levees.  Illinois Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologists took their boats to the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to transport sandbags.  Actually the DNR lost some boats and motors in that effort.

In far southern Illinois a levee break allowed the Mississippi River waters to flow across farms and homes to dump into the Ohio River creating a new temporary channel.  I witnessed the scars and deposits of gravel in the middle of productive crop land.  For months farmers and levee districts removed gravel deposits and rebuilt levees. 

The historic city of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, was saved.  If the flood had crossed into that area, it would have been in the Ozarks, although not "my corner". 

In July 1993 I stood on the steps leading down to the Mississippi River at the Gateway Arch grounds in St. Louis. The river was lapping at the upper steps at that time.  It was a scary scene. 

An article, "Where Dark Waters Raged", in the August Missouri Conservationist describes the flood of 1993 and tells of subsequent restoration, including development of fish and wildlife habitat out of disaster.  That's what we do.  We rise from the mud and gravel and build something new.