…blogtober day 24 :: camp wrap…

When we first did camp from home, in 2020, it was sad to be missing it, but 6 months into the pandemic, everyone was used to events switching to virtual. We rolled with it. Looking back on my photos, I threw myself into a weekend of self indulgent crafting. It was 2020. The theme of the year was “roll with it”. We’d learned flexibility and adjustment and it was fine because it was just for one year.

Reader, it was not for just one year.

This past weekend, we marked our third Quilt Camp From Home weekend. The gifts got made at the last minute, as is tradition, and entrusted them to AusPost’s fastest carrier pigeons. I wrote a big, impossible list of stuff to do for the weekend. The group chat was going off all weekend. My family were very gracious and tried to not bother me too much. My husband was forever hunting the kids away, reminding them to ask him for things, cooking the meals. “Guys, mummy’s at camp, she can’t hear you,” he would tell them. I had a box of snacks and magazines and all my projects to hand. Despite doing everything “right” though, it was a very different vibe to previous years. We’ve hit the point of “this sucks and it continues to suck”, rather than the semi optimistic “this sucks but it’s only temporary” of 2020.

But still, it was fun. I didn’t get as much done as I had hoped, which I had known would happen. It’s the same story every year. And I’m glad I did it, despite the tradition Camp Recovery Day lack of motivation turning up. It certainly doesn’t take a covid imposed break! I think it’s safe to say though, the overall result of the weekend was a positive one, based on the number of photos in my camera roll this morning!

To start with, I had my Device And Object Support Crew lined up from Day One.

All the important things to fly into the weekend set up for success! My laptop and AirPods were fully charged, ready for blogging and patterns and binge watching. I got all of Seven Types of Ambiguity finished on Stan, and started Castle on Disney+. The AirPods also got a work out as I knocked over a couple of chapters of my audio book.

To set the mood (and disguise the smell of mud and wet dog thanks to so much rain), I threw Island Mint in the diffuser. I was planning on using Coast, but “someone” had already pilfered my stocks for his office. I quite like this blend anyway, and it’s light enough and beachy enough that it worked for camp.

An important part of camp is All The Coffee, so my mug from last years presents was my go to. Clearly, it is very well loved, judging by the state of the supposedly “permanent” vinyl! And a party ain’t a party without some epic tunes, so my Boom was fully charged, ready to pump out our camp playlist.

A good camp includes plenty of down time. Over a cuppa, I flicked through the latest Frankie mag, and also knocked over a couple of chapters of “The Ship That Never Was”. Do you like my Super Fancy bookmark? I didn’t get as much reading done as I would have liked – I got distracted with the chatting and the binge watching (and also a few rounds of Lemmings and Solitaire on my phone).

I did make some progress though! I got a couple of colours done on my gnome (I had hoped to finish it), and got my 20th repeat done on my shawl (I’d been aiming for all 23).

I even managed to get messy, pulling out my gelli plate and stencils and pulling some prints. Some I love, some I hate. One I am inspired to pull into a multimedia project. Another has reminded me that even the ones I hate have the ability to be redeemed with some extra layers and TLC. I even saved the piece of paper I used to clean my brayer and stencils with – it has a fun, grungy feel I can used as a base to build towards something else.

I will confess, I did far too much scrolling. Friday was pouring rain, so there were half hourly updates of river levels to check and a drive down to assess the crossing and doomscrolling Facebook to see what was predicted for the evening ahead. We had water come in the house (thankfully only a small amount due to drainage overload), so that needed cleaning. The normally outside dogs couldn’t comfortably curl up in their now-wet kennels, the wind having driven the rain all the way in the usually protected doorways, so they came inside. Have you ever tried living in a tiny house while surrounded by three children with water on the brain, two large wet dogs, and a cat that the German Shepherd hates? It was an adventure for sure.

But despite the pandemic fatigue vibe and the flood watch and the lack of productivity. I switched off all but the bare minimum of my parenting duties, abdicating to their father. I chatted. I crafted a bit. I drank too much coffee and probably too much wine and definitely not enough water. I let the children build cubbies with sheets and play more Minecraft than I would usually allow, in the name of surviving cabin fever. Mr Barefoot cooked me the traditional camp big breakfast. Butterfly took and printed a photo of me and set up a “beach” with our play silks and some shells, and Beetle found a beach soundtrack on Spotify to really ram the vibe home. I went to church and iPad arted my way through the sermon. I hit Bunnings to buy supplies for Boy2’s current craft project and had a browse through the craft section on the way. Behold the power of my will that I didn’t buy a single thing. I had a “Brisbane Breakfast” tea to feel a bit like I was with my favourite cane toads. I rolled into bed fair too late and slept in not enough.

Today, I feel like I’ve been hit by a truck. In retrospective, a diet of mainly chocolate and coffee is not a wise life choice. I have managed to tidy away the majority of the camp detritus, and in the sunshine, got some of the washing backlog dealt with. We’ve been for a drive and inspected the flood damage around the place and accidentally tripped over an order of hot chippies for lunch. Dinner time beckons, and the end of camp recovery day with it. Camp never truly feels like it’s over until bedtime the day after. I remain cautiously hopeful this might be the last year at home, that next year I might get to spend an entire weekend with five fabulous friends, but if this pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that predictability is like, sooooo 2019. Who knows what 2023 will bring. For now, though, I bid adieu to Camp Covid, for hopefully the last time… the novelty has well and truly worn off!