Volunteer week

2007-03-21 08:13:25.000 – Judy Richardi and Leslie Adler,  Summit Volunteers

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Here we are again. It only seems like yesterday thatwe were at the summit. But our last stint asvolunteers was in June. Now we’ve been back for a weekof winter, where the weather varied from utterlystill, white winter weather to winds whipping up to100 miles per hour. But we did not sit still. FromJudy’s focaccias and pizzas and Leslie’s cakes andmeatloaf we had the oven cranking. In addition to thestaff and intern and two visiting German universitystudents here for the entire week, we had an EduTripof 11, a DayTrip of 6 and a hiking group of eight, aswell as other sundry individuals, we cooked, baked andwashed an army’s worth of dishes. We started off theweek putting away a huge food order designed to stockthe pantry for more than two months — including two50-pound sacks of flour, two 25-pound bags of sugar,three French hens, two turtle doves, and a partridgein a pear tree.

But don’t think that we didn’t have fun. Jim gave us abasic lesson in walking in crampons, and Leslieventured out for walks down the auto road and shorthikes on nearby trails. It was inside the modestliving quarters of the Observatory, however, that wediscovered our inner dancer. Inspired by a viewing ofFred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in ‘Top Hat,’ wepracticed our soft shoe. Judy found an ersatz ‘boa’ inthe closet — almost as glamorous as Ginger Rogers’evening gowns — and we plotted a Summit musical. Mopsand brooms will be fine substitutes for the canes usedin a dance number in ‘Top Hat.’ But the piece deresistance was Judy’s idea that we tie on our cramponsto tap dance our way across the observatory. We’replanning dance number to herald the daily ‘changing ofthe guard’ of the observers at 4:30 a.m.

In all, the spirit of the week was one of irrationalexuberance (Alan Greenspan, eat your heart out).

And finally, our motto. In looking for the best way tostore an opened package of walnuts, Judy suggested aclear, ZipLoc bag. And thus we knew: When Judy andLeslie are at the Summit, the nuts are out in theopen.

Judy Richardi and Leslie Adler,  Summit Volunteers