This is an illustration I did in 2016 and I feel it rather fits my upcoming weekend.

My friends/family are coming to Toad Hall for a camping/rustic weekend. We usually try a camping outing once a year about this time and this year I suggested why not come to me at Toad Hall and we can camp here.

Now for those of you who don't know, our place( lovingly called Toad Hall after the Wind in the Willows) is a quiet rather secluded spot. We are lucky to be perched on the shores of the Atlantic and are surrounded by woods, shoreline, and field.

This time of year, especially, is quiet.

Many of the homes (of which there are not many) round here are now empty. This little spit of land stretched into the sea is mainly a Summer place. That means shutters open, lawns get mowed and things start picking up after Memorial Day in June and subsequently get re-shuttered and quiet after Labor Day, which is the end of August. That is the Summer season.

My gals will be arriving with tents and coolers and camping kit as if they were heading into the woods.

Of course, we will have the benefit of better bathroom facilities but we do intend to stay outside almost the entire weekend. Sleeping in the tent, cooking over the fire, playing cards under the pergola by fairy light and lantern; It looks to be good weather. I am rather excited.

We have camped out here before.

We have even put our tents up on the beach. To have the sound of the sea and waves so close coming in and out is really a great way to experience nature.

Of course, when we had our sailboat, that was a sort of camping ON the sea and I loved that.

Since we have sold our boat, I think one of the things I missed the most was being up early with the coffee percolating and the fog just lifting off the harbour, wherever we were moored. This weekend I can have that a bit, waking in the outdoors and then that scent of coffee brewing over the fire whilst the sea laps quietly on the sand before the morning fog has lifted. It should be sublime.

We often joke that our camping trips bring the rain, as many of our trips have been washed out.

However, having decided to make it a staycation camp seems to have warded off the Rain Gods, as it is predicted to be a lovely cool but sunny weekend.

I hope my absence won't be seen too harshly.

I try to comment and upvote everyday, even if I don't manage a posting. However, I hope I can be excused it for a couple days. I have not set up any auto votes or such so every vote is hand curated by me; the downside being that on a break such as this I will be absent.

They do say all work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) dull.

And I shouldn't like to be dull. And I should like to take a tiny break.

On that note, I hope all of you shall have a lovely weekend and that you get a chance to take a moment to look up from the screen and breath in the fresh air. And maybe you will even be lucky enough, as I shall be this weekend, to smell the wood fire smoke and the brine of the salt air mingled with the rich aroma of morning coffee.

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And check out my other posts.