Well, it is upon us. What’s it been? Three years? Yes, this is the third annual week-long book camp with me, my three boys, and my two nieces. For our purposes, we’ll call them Robin (11yo girl), Eldest (11yo boy), Middling (9yo boy), Froggy (9yo girl), and Third (8yo boy). These are not, in fact, their names – those are saved for their uses as time goes by.
The girls arrived this evening and we shooed away their parents. First on the agenda: tee shirts! They each brought a plain tee shirt and we painted them with gold acrylic paint to read: Book Camp 2016, Craft. That’s our theme this year – craft. This doesn’t mean making crafts with popsicle sticks and glue. I’m not the proper aunt for that.
Craft means an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill. Tonight, we watched Paddington, a lovely movie that blends reality with magic that everyone fully accepts. A bear stands in the middle of the train station and no one thinks it’s at all odd. Flowers blow off the painted tree in a house to demonstrate the loss of hope. They bloom again when hope renews.
The telling of this story involves craft, as does the telling of all stories. That’s the point of this fantastic week together. We will string words into stories. We will create art. We will practice our craft of creation.
Join us, won’t you?