Everyone did their Saturday work on Sunday and after a week of up and down weather the forecast of a great deal of wind and rainfall wasn't entirely unexpected for our day off on Monday. Some of us left to visit Iona across the sound on Sunday afternoon and we were expecting a significant gathering of visitors, friends and family, who were during the milder Sunday afternoon making their respective paths towards Camas.
As Sunday moved on the weather's intentions became apparent and we all began to realise that we would either be kept indoors for the whole of our day off or we would have to make a sincere effort to make the most out of such moody weather. The folks who had left for Iona the day before were indefinitely stuck and the folks who unwittingly decided to travel to Craignure in Mull for a day of possibility were met with a furious wind which brought down trees by the roadside, carried the tops of streams and waterfalls into the air and generally was a bother to everyone and anyone.
After a short time in Craignure the car we had brought with us began to hobble and the tyre had to be changed. In the wind and rain, with very little experience of such a predicament... Well, it seemed to work out anyway besides. You can't blame the weather for the occasional outburst; it's usually so well-behaved. Island weather is everything all at the same time. It makes the days highly original and unexpected.
The squall...
The week that followed was all preparation, maintenance, putting odds and ends together and getting to know each other better. There was tent pitching, throw line training, first aid box maintenance, track maintenance with lots of chicken wire and pieces of planks, we salvaged some wood from the garden and did a good deal of trimming, tidying and all the rest. Our guests visited and several parents, siblings and friends joined us, considerately helping out with general keeping Camas tidy and comfortable.
Making a tent...
A completed tent...
A completed tent...
Tents, tents, tents!
Pots and pans, pans and pots...
Preparing to repair the track...It had begun in a very unusual fashion, this week, and it didn't look at all like we would give very much done. But the wind gradually began to subside and as we settled into all our preparation for the week ahead things began to happen again. There was a delicious dinner or two and we began to prepare for what we had all been looking forward to for sometime: a visit from children from all across Iona and Mull to take part in an array of activities including storytelling, rock-pooling (exploring the wilds of the sea), games activities, art and poetry and a trip to our very own organic garden just at the entrance of Camas. The planning wasn't exactly familiar ground for us all but our respective enthusiasm made sure that nobody worried all that much and as much energy as was possible went into the day itself.
The children arrived on Thursday morning as a cavalcade of stomping feet and excited voices all around Camas and we had some biscuits ready for them all. They came and we split them all into groups so that there wasn't too many of them all at once; the crabs, the starfish, the seagulls, the sharks, the jellyfish, and whales. The sounds of stomping feet everywhere never stopped except for lunch and everything buzzed with curiosity and excitement. It was a thrill to be able to share the experience of Camas with so many children and leave them with memories of here.
An evening gathering...
It is always important to have a stick...
Later on on Thursday we had some delicious pancakes in the evening and had a little Camas get together, dressing up as what we used to look like (or what we thought we used to look like) and sat next to a warm old fire. The evening then took an exciting turn when a cardboard box was unveiled and revealed a whole host of different ways to spend the rest of the evening.
How to fit inside a box...