Yay for work weekers!

8 enthusiastic people spent a week using their skills, creativity and energy to help us paint, repair, build, cook, renovate, adjust, restore, dig, plant, clear out, move, clean and generally get Camas ready for the busy season ahead. Thanks for all your hard work! (and thanks to Margaret for the photos)

Turning old pillows
into new cushions...

Painting benches and walls...













Spring-cleaning the polytunnel.

Run and become

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...

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

Corrections

So you'll be glad to know that we all made it home safely...to find that Becky, Chevaleresse of Camas, who'd returned early to hold the fort, had hosted some interesting visitors in our absence. I'll let her fill you in, meanwhile, the rare bird we spotted 2 weeks ago was a ptarmigan, not very common on the hills of Mull, and looking very beautiful in its white winter plumage.

I'm reliably informed that Chevaleresse is the French word for a female knight (well it sounds much cooler than Dame - we couldn't let Josef take all the credit...and emergency chocolate was definitely more crucial to our survival than the crisps!).

Em, Chevaleresse of Camas

The Glasgow adventure!

Before I start telling the tale of the Glasgow adventure, let me just say: WIND! Finally, we have wind. After having to save our electricity for the essentialls (which apparently does not include trying to catch some of the Olympics on the internet) for two weeks, we now have electricity up to our ears! Wind means electricity, electricity means hot water, hot water means less smelly staff, and less smelly staff means... well, cleaner staff. And the most important thing: The battery never got so low so that the fridge stopped working, which means that my icecream was still in it's original state, and I got to celebrate these new windy times with a good half a tub of chocolat icecream, while watching Sweden vs. Great Britain in curling. Happy Days!

Ok, so now over to the tale of the four brave Camasites, who dared to leave their home, battle through the snow and rain just to reach their goal: The City of Glasgow!

So, the four brave camasites set out from Camas early (not really) on the Thursday morning. The plan was simple: step 1, walk up the track. Step 2, get in the car. Step 3, go to Glasgow. A well thought out plan if you ask me. but they where all of them decieved...
The wind that we have all been waiting for, was like many other things not only a blessing, but also a curse. The waves were to big for the ferry to run. But the four were not to be beaten down but this. Legends say that this was the time when Josef, Knight of Camas, spoke those immortal words: "let's get some crisps and try the other ferry." This uplifted the moods of the others and after buying emergency crisps and bisquits, off they drove to catch the Fishnish - Lochaline ferry.
Once over on the mainland, they all were to regret their decision. On the drive from Lochaline to Oban they got almost completely stuck. The snow and wind made it almost imposible for them to make their way forward. Several other cars were stuck, and an extraordinary sense of comradery was shown when people emerged from their shelter to help their fellow travellers to push cars up one hill after another. This was teh second time that Josef, Knight of Camas, raised his voice to say: "let's eat some crisps and play 20 questions". So they did. And after 16 questions, they reached the correct answer: Arnold Schwarzsenegger.

Finally in Oban, after over seven hours, they decieded to leave the car and go by train. A wise move, and they did arrive safe in Glasgow after a total of eleven hours of travelling.

We have had a good weekend in Glasgow with our hosts, the glasgow and Iona team, and are now looking forward to coming back to Camas. Hopefully in less than 11 hours.

Josef

And then there were Four.......

Yipppee our forth and final member of the 2010 Resident team has arrived! Becky joined JOsef, Emily and Myself earlier this week to make the completed team.

We've been inducting, learning and joining together - and a lovely week to do so, we have had some days of Glorious sunshine and mornings of frosty glows on the moutains opposite... along with this however we have had NO wind, the turbine has been the lowest i have ever seen it - the battery power was down to 39% on tuesday (the emergency cut off being 20%). So this equalled 4 very smelly Camasites coming over to Iona yesterday, where we were sooned showered and fed, Yum was lovely sharing food with with Colleagues and friends.

Other interesting things that have happened this week - Emily and Josef went for a walk and spotted a very rare bird, i have forgotton the name of this bird but its quite impressive apparently - i will get EMily to update this!
My Marathon training has stalled a bit, after a sucessfull 8 mile run last weekend, a week with no running meant i struggled with a 6 mile - what should have been easy, run to Fionnphort and back :-( will try again tomorrow!
Pancake day - its seems Becky is the Pancake Master! We has delicious pancakes with Caramelised Bananas - Yummmmy, we have generally been eating well this week - food from the Garden, fresh fish from the sea its so nice having people to cook for again!

More updates to follow, and i'll make sure Becky and Josef get on here too,

Mary XX

Winter Camas

Josef arrived today :-) so we are now a team of 3 and looking forward to Becky coming soon to complete this year's resident staff team.

Camas is a very different place now from the busy summer season, it can be very dark and cold, especially when a north wind is blowing straight into the bay! But winter has its own beauty...navigating the track purely by starlight with the stars reflected in every puddle along the way...watching a huge full moon rise over the hill and light up the white wavecaps of a choppy sea...sitting on the island on a calm day listening to the swell and watching sunset light transform a grey cloudy day into purples, pinks and blues in the sky, rocks and sea as a seal swims past checking out what the humans are up to today...it's still an amazing place to call home! Wish you were here?

Emily