Campfire Chats with Mia | A Soft, Meandering Wind-Down

In Campfire Chats with Mia, Marco welcomes his niece Mia for a softly spoken, summer-tinged conversation filled with warm nostalgia and gentle curiosity. Mia shares stories from her recent camping adventure — from archery and capture the flag to mysterious camp games and the calming presence of tall trees overhead. The chat drifts toward lake memories, must-have camping essentials, and even a Swatch watch that sparks a quiet reflection on how quickly time seems to pass.
As the episode meanders, Marco and Mia reminisce about playground days, school supplies, and the mixed feelings that come with heading back to class. There’s light reassurance about friendships and growing up, woven into an easy exchange that feels steady and kind. The conversation eventually circles back to nature, grounding the episode in the peaceful imagery of trees and open air.
Like every installment of this calming podcast, the tone is unhurried and relaxed — a relaxing conversation designed to help you fall asleep, ease anxiety, or quiet racing thoughts. It’s perfect for background listening at bedtime or during a middle-of-the-night wake-up. Let the gentle campfire spirit and soft dialogue guide you toward rest.

​Campfire Chats with Mia
(Original airdate: Aug 8, 2024)

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. I'm your host, Marco Timpano

Welcome to the Insomnia Project. Sit back, relax and listen as we have a calm conversation that's meant to help you sort of find your way to sleep. Thank you for joining us. I'm your host, Marco Timpano. And joining me, who you haven't heard in a long while is my niece, Mia. welcome back to the podcast, Mia.

Mia: Hi. So glad to be back.

Marco:  Now, Mia, we are recording up here by the cottage. So there's going to be some car sounds behind us because we just can't take, those out. I'm afraid you can sort of hear them. we're, we're closer to the road than I'd like to be.

Mia: That's all right, that's all right. I'm sure the viewers don't mind.

Marco:  I'm sure they don't either. And by viewers.

Mia: Listeners.

Marco:  Listeners indeed.


Mia just came back from camp in Ontario with a bunch of friends

So Mia, a couple things. You just came back from camp. Tell us, did you enjoy that experience? And what were some of the highlights for you? So this was a camp you went to with a bunch of friends because summer is coming to a close. Tell us about it.

Mia: well, this camp we stayed for five days. I just got back yesterday Sunday.

Marco:  So you just got back and did you have a good time?

Mia: Yes, it Was amazing.

Marco:  So tell us some highlights about going to camp here in Ontario.

Mia: well, there was a lot of activities during the day. We had, like, our little groups, and they would divide us up and we would do activities. There was canoeing, archery, some nature walks. The food was amazing. They had different dinner nights. And, possibly m. My favorites were zip lining and this thing called the swing, where it's almost like. Like a swing. They pull you up with a rope, and then once you're at the top, you have this rope. You can pull it, and it sends you sweet swinging back and forth, and it's really fun.

Marco:  Is it like a slingshot?

Mia: No, no. It's like you have. You're on a swing. You're. It's not something you sit on. It's something you have a harness on and you're attached. You can go with one other person and the rope. The people on the rope, they pull you up. And once you're at the top, they say, three, two, one, and you can pull the rope and it sends you down.

Marco:  I see. Okay. So that's not what I would enjoy, that's for sure. But it sounds like you enjoyed it. And, I should clarify, this wasn't a camping trip, but rather it was a camp that you went with, but with a bunch of friends.

Mia: Yes.

Marco:  And you got to sleep in, like, cabins, and then you had all these activities. Tell me about archery. Are there any archery tips you would give us as someone who's just done archery?

Mia: Well, it m. It's not as easy as you might think, especially from the distance that I did it. So probably about maybe 20 meters far away.

Marco:  Okay, fair enough.

Mia: So, one thing. Watch your arm, because when you pull back the bow, it can sometimes hit your arm, and that causes you to be very sore. So they give you arm guards sometimes. But for this, I, had to be very careful so it wouldn't hurt my arm. And once you have an arm guard, I would suggest putting it right where your elbow is. Right on the bend between your elbow.

Marco:  I see your forearm. Okay.

Mia: Yeah. Because I put it too low the first time and it hurt a lot. And. Yeah, you should. Also, when I'm doing. When I'm aiming, usually I don't put my eye directly on the target. I either go to the upper left or to the bottom right, depending on where the target is. If I'm shorter than the target, taller than the target. You know what I mean?

Marco:  Yeah, that's fair. And how close to the bullseye would you say you got?

Mia: I Did get a couple bullseyes.

Marco:  Oh, you got bullseyes? Oh, you did? I didn't realize that. That's not easy to do.

Mia: yeah, it wasn't easy. I went about three times, and, each time they gave you five arrows to try, and it was okay. It was nice. I really enjoyed it.

Marco:  Oh, my goodness. That was the sounds of my clicking. We have somebody who's gonna come give us a quote on cutting down a tree. And I was just, making sure that he knows our address, in case you heard that little tapping sound. Were there a lot of trees there at camp?

Mia: Very many.

Marco:  Tell me about them.

Mia: Well, what is there to tell there? There were pine trees, willow trees, oak trees, and that's about it. Weren't too many. They weren't very interesting. You know, some of them were easy to climb, if I'm being quite honest, but.

Marco:  Oh, you climbed some trees, too?

Mia: well, that wasn't an activity, but I just kind of climbed some by our cabin because, you know, just some smaller trees.

Marco:  Fair enough.


We also played Capture the Flag during camp, and my team won

Mia: We also played Capture the Flag, and I climbed a tree to see around.

Marco:  How did you do in Capture the Flag?

Mia: M. Well, my team won.

Marco:  Oh, wow.

Mia: Yeah.

Marco:  How does. Okay, so tell me, for our listeners who've never played Capture the Flag, what exactly is that? It's like a. If I'm not m mistaken, a game of tag.

Mia: Yes. So during camp, we played it. So basically, our area was by the girls cabins in the dark dining room, and theirs was by the baseball diamond. And then there was a no man's land area in between. So basically, you would hide your flag in your area, and they would hide their flag in their area. And you can either be a guard or a runner. I switched between both.

Marco:  Okay. And a guard would guard your flag.

Mia: Yep.

Marco:  And a runner would go after the other opposing, team's flag.

Mia: Yep.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: And, you. The runners kind of just run into the opposing area, and they just look for the flag. Try and look. But the guards there, if they tag

Marco:  them by touching them.

Mia: By touching them.

Marco:  Yeah.

Mia: They go to a designated area for jail time.

Marco:  Oh, wow.

Mia: Another person from their team would have to come and get them out, rescue

Marco:  them from jail time. Okay.

Mia: M. And. But there was this one rule that if almost everybody was in both the jails, they could do a jailbreak and everybody goes back to their areas.

Marco:  Wow.

Mia: And once you got out of jail, you would have to run back to your area, and then you could come back.

Marco:  So what color was your flag?

Mia: They were both orange.

Marco:  And who captured the opposing team's flag.

Mia: few. A few people from my team, they had also gotten our flag, but we got our flag for their flag. Their flag first.

Marco:  I see. Wow.

Mia: Yeah.

Marco:  Sounds like there was a lot to do there. And did you swim there?

Mia: Yes. Actually, one of my favorite activities is called Floyd, and it's Floyd, like the person's name. Mmm. M. Is Floyd a person?

Marco:  Yeah. Floyd is a person's name. Anyway, you may not have heard of the band Pink Floyd.

Mia: Yes, I know that. Spelled the same Floyd.

Marco:  Yeah. Okay.

Mia: but anyway, it's like. So we were swimming in the lake. There was this big lake, and.

Marco:  And this is Lake Huron.

Mia: No. Okay. I don't think so. It was a smaller lake. It was closed off, so it could have been part of Lake Huron, but I. I don't believe so.

Marco:  Fair enough.

Mia: This was up in Halliburton, so.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: Yeah, it could possibly be, but I'm not quite sure.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: Anyway, we were swimming. We always had life jackets on.

Marco:  And that's good to know.

Mia: These big inflatable, floatable. Inflatable slides and diving boards and volleyball areas were blown up and we could go wherever we wanted.

Marco:  Okay, I'm looking at a map here, and it looks like Head Lake is the lake that is in, Hal. So that is fed from grass. Lake. That is Head Fed from. It looks like Kashawagam.

Marco:  I'm sorry if I'm saying that incorrectly. Lake. And these lakes are fed from which great lake, is the question? possibly Lake Simcoe. Possibly Lake Ontario. There you go. Okay.

Mia: Yes.

Marco:  Lake.


If someone's going to a camp like you did, what are some tips

Talk with Marco and Mia.

Mia: Yes. So, this camp is called Camp, Ah, White Pine.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: And the camp that I went to is Edge Camp. It's called. So this was Edge Camp West. But, yeah, it was a great experience. Learned a lot of new things, had made a lot of new memories.

Marco:  What are some tips? If someone's going to a camp like you did, what are some tips you would tell them to bring with them that, like, essentials that you packed that you didn't expect were going to be vital or ones that you did pack, knowing that they would be important? What would you say your top three

Mia: or four are, knowing that they would be important? I would say, bug spray. Definitely bring a lot of that. You do not want to have any ticks.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: high, high socks. Again, for the bugs. You don't want any ticks. Okay. especially do not go into long grass.

Marco:  Okay. Good tip. Good tip.

Mia: Stick along the paths.

Marco:  Yes.

Mia: As much as possible. I Also brought sunscreen. The first couple of days were like, not too hot, but then it got really hot. especially up there, it was blazing. So bring lots of sunscreen, as much as you can. And I also brought, snacks for the bus ride, but they didn't allow it in the cabins. But if you're going on a bus or whatever, bring snacks because the ride was three and a half hours long.

Marco:  Oh, that's a ride, isn't it?

Mia: Yes, it was.

Marco:  Did you guys stop along the way?

Mia: Yes, we stopped just to go to the washroom. I see this stop point. And, I would also. It gets cold at night, especially in August, so bring warm sweaters. You can even bring a toque or mittens. Yeah. And here's one thing that I forgot to pack is a watch. So when you're going to camp, like the camp that I did, there was no phones, so you would never really know what time it is. You would always have to ask the leaders. So I, I was going to bring a watch, but in the rush of the moment, I forgot to put it on.

Marco:  Fair enough.

Mia: And yeah, I had to keep asking people for the time for a watch. What time is it? You know, because this was on a schedule. We Woke up at 7 and we went to bed at 10, so. And it was all at a very precise time, so you would really need to know the time.

Marco:  So can you describe what your watch looks like?

Mia: it's a white watch, kind of. It's like almost silvery. Silvery watch. It's a called swatch. It's waterproof and it has a circular kind of part where the clock is, you know. Ah, swatch face.

Marco:  Would you say?

Mia: Yes. You know, because some of them are in funky shapes, especially for swatches. But this one switches. Pretty simple, you know, a little bit of sparkle, I guess you could say.

Marco:  Sure.

Mia: Yeah.

Marco:  Okay, fair enough. Always like to know about people's watches. I have several watches that I've collected over the years. I don't even want to say collected. I was gifted one and then I had one, passed down to me. And then I was in, a country that had a lot of watches you could purchase. I'm not going to say that they're real watches, but let's say I have a Folex, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink. So I have a couple of those watches too. So I have a nice array of watches. I would say my favorite is much like you described. It has a plain white face with black numbers and black handles. Like the second, the minute an hour. Black, simple, elegant. Happy with that?

Mia: Yeah. It's great to talk about watches, isn't it? You know, it's something so simple and people spend tens of thousands of dollars on it. When you could just get simple watches like we have.

Marco:  Sure. Also, you know, it's funny, a lot of people don't wear watches anymore because they have phones. They have phones that tell them the time. And so it's one of those sort of things that is becoming a bit of a relic.

Mia: Mm.

Marco:  Yeah.

Mia: M. But I do like to keep a watch handy, you know, when you don't have a phone, especially at school. You know, when you don't really go on your phones at recess, you need to know what time it is so you can. So you can just know what the time is.

Marco:  Fair enough.


The playground that we have is a smaller one now

What do you usually do at recess? Since we're talking about, like, relaxing, times.

Mia: Well, I. Not as much as I used to. The playground that we have is a smaller one. We're not allowed to go on that anymore. And then there's this thing behind the recess area. It's called the peace garden. It used to be beautiful with lots of tre. Flowers, but a lot of the trees they cut down and there was logs there that you would sit on, but now it's just chopped up pieces of wood.

Marco:  I see.

Mia: They got rid of all the. The stuff. We used to like, sell markets there and, and stuff. It was very, very fun.

Marco:  What do you mean you used to sell markets?

Mia: Like, we would trade rocks for sticks and leaves. I would make these things called, like, tacos, which is like a leaf with, sticks and bark inside.

Marco:  And how much would a taco sell? A stick and leaf taco sell for five big rocks. Five big rocks. Okay. That's fair. Fair market price for a leaf and stick, taco.

Mia: Yeah. But unfortunately, the new generation can't go in there anymore. I don't know why we're m. Not allowed in there anymore.

Marco:  I see. Well, maybe they're cleaning it up.

Mia: No, they. They're not cleaning it up. It's honestly, like, such a shame. They kind of tore it all down. Now it's just kind of boring and bland. We rarely go in there unless it's like the teacher brings us out. I don't know why they closed it off. But the other parts of recess, we have the pavement, which is like, filled with hopscotch areas and stuff. And then the field which has a baseball diamond and these things called portables that you can. Well, you're not supposed to go behind them, but Some people do. I see you just hang out there.

Marco:  Are you a good hopscotcher?

Mia: I'd say I was. I'd say so, yeah. Mm. Yeah. I don't play it often anymore, but fair enough. You know, every once in a while.

Marco:  Love it.

Mia: Mm. And at recess? Well, it depends on the season. Sometimes in the winter, that's. There's these big, ice blocks, snow blocks. When it snows, they get these big, almost like trucks with snow plows, and they turn it into these big boulders, and you can go on top. And people make slides and forts and that kind of stuff. And they bring shovels that weren't, Again, we're not allowed to go on them anymore. This one's more reasonable, though, because sometimes people slip. But sure, Yeah, I know. They kind of suck the fun out of it.

Marco:  Well, that's school for you.

Mia: Yeah, school does suck the fun out of everything.

Marco:  Truer words have not been said. Although you enjoy school, you do very well in school. Or are you not enjoying it much these days?

Mia: Well, I. I guess I do do well in school, but. Has become kind of boring. You know, they took a lot of things. Things away. They're always separating me and my friends. Every single time I make a new friend in one class, they separate us. Which is why I'm, like, not very excited. Because I already know, like, my teacher had it out for me this year, and she was always separating me and my friend.

Marco:  Could it be because you and your friend were a bit verbose?

Mia: what do you mean by talkative? not really. I mean, we rarely ever set. Sat next to each other, only really the. Only really. June and October, we sat next to each other. And, Well, no disrespect to my teacher, but I don't know. I honestly doubt that she is gonna let us be in the same class this year. I. I don't know. I think she's too. I think she thinks that we're too attached at the hip, you know? And I know, I just don't really want to make any new friends this year. I just want to keep my old friends. I wish they would put us in the same class. And this. The camping experience was a very healing experience, because they let us. We just had to recommend who we wanted to be in. I was in the same cabin, the same group, same activity thing, same, seating arrangement as all of my friends. So that was really healing. Cool.


I'm not as excited as I used to be going back to school

But I'm not. I'm not as excited as I used to be going back to school, especially Since I'm going to grade eight, a lot of things change. You don't even have desks anymore.

Marco:  Oh, you don't in grade eight?

Mia: No. You have tables that you sit at.

Marco:  Really?

Mia: Yeah. Which is, I guess a good thing because you can sit really wherever you want. But. But I don't know, I'm just not very excited to be that. I kind of like the desks that we have and I don't really know whose class I'm gonna be in. I just feel like this year is kind of going to be like more of a. Not boring, but you know what I mean?

Marco:  Sure.

Mia: Like a more unmemorable year than the previous years. And I don't know, I'm just. Summer went by way too quickly.

Marco:  Always does. Always does.

Mia: Even this one more so because, you know, I wasn't. I'm not really excited for this year. So it went by even more quickly where as, in previous years I've been awaiting the start of school.

Marco:  I see.

Mia: For the first day I like, I do like the first week of school. But then I wish we could just go to the first week of school and then go back to summer. Because when you go back to school, it's very nice. You get new teachers, new class. Like, it's exciting. And then after that, you just don't, like, you don't even put effort into, like, getting ready for school. You're like, oh, this again. And you're just toughing it up until Friday. And I never really got that until this year, you know.

Marco:  Yeah, that's fair.


Since high school is rapidly approaching, you have to pick your classes

Well, that leads me to, you know, it's important to. When you're thinking about what work you want to do in the future to pick a job that you will enjoy going to.

Mia: Yes. since high school is rapidly approaching this year, I will have orientation and graduation and I will have to pick my classes. And, there's a lot of opportunities. I'm definitely going to stick with sciences and math, so. So I have lots of opportunities. I also enjoy history. history is good.

Marco:  what is it you enjoy about history?

Mia: just learning about the past, having that knowledge, you know, like history, like how America came to be in Canada and how our history, you know, it's. Yeah.

Marco:  One of the things I used to get excited for when, when school was approaching was all the school supplies we would get at the beginning of the year. Do you get that excitement of looking at your school supplies and what you need and what you've got to get?

Mia: Well, this year it's very different because everything is on computer, which is also a reason that I'm not.

Marco:  Are you saying I'm old? Because.

Mia: Well, you are old.

Marco:  Okay, fair enough.

Mia: But, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying before, we had to get new markers and new crayons and new pencil cases and booklets, binders. You know, it was really nice. It's really nice to see all that colorful, exciting stuff. And this year, all we get is one small little laptop. It's a nice laptop, but everything really goes on there, and you don't really get to do anything outside of that. So really? No computer coloring activities and stuff?

Marco:  Well, you're in grade eight or eighth grade, so I imagine that's part and parcel of being in a grade just before high school for here in Canada.

Mia: Yeah. so I think all I'll bring is, like, a notebook to take notes and some pens, maybe a couple of, like, highlighters.

Marco:  Sure.

Mia: That's about it.

Marco:  Fair. Fair enough.

Mia: Yeah. There's not. I don't know really, what to expect very much this year. You know, all the teachers are fine. I've had one of them that are there before. I think I'm getting the teacher that I want. They're all very nice, though. I like the grade eight teachers.

Marco:  Good. That's always good. When you have a good teacher. It can really make a difference.

Mia: I'm hoping that I get a good class. I think I'll find out, the what class I'm in sometime soon, which will be exciting, but also make me nervous, I guess, because, you know, it's like looking. I remember doing this last year and looking on the list, and I couldn't see my friend's name there. And I was like, where is it? Where is it? And wasn't there. So me and my friend have been separated, actually. one of my friends I haven't been in the same class as since fourth grade.

Marco:  Oh, wow.

Mia: Yeah.

Marco:  So hopefully you'll. You'll have an opportunity to be in class with them in this crate.

Mia: Yeah, hopefully. I really hope that they put us together, but, you know, school is school and they like to separate us to, make new friends and give them opportunities. Because that's life. Right? That's what my teacher said. Be ready for life. Because you're not gonna have, These friends are not gonna really,

Mia: carry into life, I guess, because you go away to different colleges and you make new friends, I guess.

Marco:  But, yeah, I mean, I don't think I necessarily hold a lot of Stock in what that teacher said. With regards to that, I think you can keep your friends. I think oftentimes I know I went to school with a bunch of friends that I had, university, and then I made new friends, of course, and I hung out with them. And sometimes I would bridge the two friend groups. And in fact, I became very close to a friend group of a friend from high school who I no longer really see. very often I'll communicate on social media, but I still am much more in contact with that friend group that they introduced me to. So that's always interesting.


I have a question about taking care of trees at our cottage

I have a question for you. So we're gonna have a DREA person come to give, us a quote on cutting down a really big tree. This tree has to come down because it's, old and rickety. It's not rickety. It's one of these trees. So it's a birch tree, and birch trees only live so long, but they grow really tall. And this tree has lost some big branches. And I've noticed a lot of holes in the tree from woodpeckers, and I can just tell that this tree is on its last leg, so to speak. So we have to cut it down before it falls. Now, that said, we have a lot of trees that are growing from saplings and whatnot. So I have birch trees that are replacing it, but this one has to come down, and it's far too tall and thick of a trunk for me to take it down. So I'm going to have a professional come and do it. Will you accompany me with, to talk to them so you get to know about trees and how. And what, what goes in taking care of them?

Mia: I could certainly do that, but, you know, I don't. I don't really know how handy I am with the chainsaw.

Marco:  No, no, you wouldn't be helping. We're just. I don't expect you to. To wield the chainsaw and help me cut it down. Although I will show you how to cut trees, down when you get older so that you can help me with that.

Mia: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Marco:  I just think it's important to have you sort of see what is involved with the maintenance of trees here at the cottage.


Mia says she doesn't like December because of the cold

Cool. Well, that's about, the end of this podcast episode. Mia, thank you so much for joining me today.

Mia: Of course.

Marco:  Is there any, last thing you'd like to say to our listeners who I get a lot of response that says, you know, they enjoy listening to episodes with you and your brother. But, I also want to record a holiday, episode with you for December because I need some new holiday episodes.

Mia: Oh, don't even remind me about Christmas.

Marco:  Why?

Mia: Because that's winter. Sure, I do love the Christmas season, but one thing I don't like about December is the cold. And then after that, the months. my least favorite months are January and February.

Marco:  Okay.

Mia: There's nothing there except for cold, harsh winters, and they force you outside.

Marco:  Okay, well, maybe you and I could come up with some fun activities to do in those cold, harsh months. But. But enjoy the sun, because it's out right now.

Mia: Yes.

Marco:  And we will, go for walks and go to the beach and find out a quote on that tree coming down.

Mia: Of course.

Marco:  All right, well, we hope you all had a pleasant enjoyment of this episode. And until next time, we hope you listen and sleep.

Mia: Good night.