The Pemberley annual meeting for 2000 was held at the Craigville Conference Center on Cape Cod. This is the same place we held the 1998 meeting and we were happy to be be back in such congenial surroundings. This year, we met on Saturday, July 29 and adjourned on Monday the 31st. We asked this year's attendees to send their Craigville Top Ten Lists. Some of their memories will be interspersed among the paragraphs.
This year, the meeting was held at The Craigville Inn, a large building which also houses the dining room. We had the run of the building except for the family of the clergywoman who was preaching at the Craigville Chapel that Sunday. Arrivals were met in the Inn's common room by Cheryl, who was only too happy to collect the fees and direct people to their assigned rooms.
Almost everyone arrived around mid-afternoon. Debra R, Ginny2 and Catherine pulled in last after a harrowing trip into and from the airport in Providence, RI.
JenK: Camp food tastes really, really good at the unfortunate hour of 7:45 AM.
As usual, one of the first orders of the day was a trip to the local supermarket for plenty of "women food". Nan, Laraine and Caroline volunteered to face the derision of Hyannis's checkout clerks in order to bring provisions for the weekend. They did an exemplary job. No Pemberley meeting would be complete without plenty of coffee, cheese and crackers, chips and, of course, lots of M&Ms. The wine had come down from Boston in various cars and up from DC in various planes.
Candace baked a giant Republic of Pemberley cookie and carried it from Sacramento in a pizza box.
Ann2: Getting to swim in the Atlantic sets you up - if not forever, so at the very least - for one more year!
And speaking of Candace, she found a huge and lovely bouquet of roses waiting for her, a birthday token from her husband, Louie. This only confirmed our earlier selection of Louie as "The Pemberley Husband". Everyone arrived in time for us to all dine together in elegant Craigville Dining Room which provides both the ambience and the cuisine of the best of New England Camping. It's always sufficient and the company is the best.
Naturally, when we returned to our little domain, our first thought was to open the wine and break out the goodies.
Linda: Tim Tam's - They lived up to their reputation. Thanks to Hil for sending them. If only she could have brought them herself.
Hil had sent us several packages of Tim Tams, Australia's gift to chocolate-lovers. We made a ritual of opening and eating them, making sure that everyone had at least one and toasting Hil with them before we began. Then we uncorked the wine and dived into the M&Ms.
Golda: It provides an opportunity to use Jane Austen expressions and receive a knowing chuckle rather than a blank stare.
AnneM, who couldn't be at the meeting, had sent refrigerator magnets that she had made from various images from the adaptations. We put these on the refrigerator (where else?) and let people know that they were there and that there were enough for everyone to have one. There was a mad dash for the kitchen and it didn't take long for the refrigerator to be denuded. Once everyone had settled in the common room, we played the Jane Austen Clue game. It turned out to be a weirdly bloodthirsty and hilarious exercise.
