I came to Camas just three weeks ago. What a place! And more to the point, what a garden. Those vegetables sure get a fine view. Waking up these still-chilly mornings and looking out onto the bay, I can't quite believe it. Mary, Emily and Josef have been helping me get settled. Three duvets are keeping me snug. We are munching through the last of the winter kale in increasingly experimental/desperate ways. Quite how it happened that I was here alone to host the first guests, I don't recall. But so it happened...
Fourteen runners were coming to stay. These were no run-of-the-mill runners. These were World Harmony Runners. By 7pm they hadn't shown up and they hadn't called. Maybe they had run off elsewhere? I went to put the kettle on just in case. A knock at the window and a bemused bunch of people rushed in from the cold, amongst them a Russian, a Canadian and a Guatemalan. This was to be my first go at hospitality, Camas style. Someone else did an expert job lighting the fire and a few courageous cooks got busy in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I did my best to bustle about and earnestly thrust extra blankets and duvets onto people assuring them, apologetically, that it would be a VERY cold night. With everyone fed, watered and to bed, I was satisfied. I had only to conjure up porridge early next morning and wave them on their way...
Fourteen runners were coming to stay. These were no run-of-the-mill runners. These were World Harmony Runners. By 7pm they hadn't shown up and they hadn't called. Maybe they had run off elsewhere? I went to put the kettle on just in case. A knock at the window and a bemused bunch of people rushed in from the cold, amongst them a Russian, a Canadian and a Guatemalan. This was to be my first go at hospitality, Camas style. Someone else did an expert job lighting the fire and a few courageous cooks got busy in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I did my best to bustle about and earnestly thrust extra blankets and duvets onto people assuring them, apologetically, that it would be a VERY cold night. With everyone fed, watered and to bed, I was satisfied. I had only to conjure up porridge early next morning and wave them on their way...
Turned out for breakfast in matching blue tracksuits our runners posed for their official photographer. Camas looked great in the morning light. Someone mentioned that often its 5-star hotels that put them up. I gallantly made some 5-star porridge. This thing was perhaps bigger and a little more orchestrated than I had imagined from the candle-lit chatter the night before. Carrying a flaming torch, they run all over the globe as a gesture of peace and goodwill. They were going to commence their remarkable run at Iona Abbey. From there, to Moscow! Would I like to come and see them off? As I grabbed my coat, someone asked if there was someone to 'say a few words' when we got to the abbey. I explained that the community on Iona had decamped on mass to Glasgow for training. Maybe you could say a few words, Becky? So there I was ceremoniously lighting the flaming torch, symbol of world harmony. And away they ran. I came back to scrub the porridge pot.
http://www.worldharmonyrun.org/great_britain/news/2010/scotland/0302
See the pics above and see how far they've got!
Becky
See the pics above and see how far they've got!
Becky
