Re-treating secrets

Monday January 28, 2013

Some of you may have guessed from a prior post, I went away for the weekend.

No kids, men, or winged creatures allowed.

So where did I go you ask.

My church womens retreat at Jackson's Point.

That's north, up on Lake Simcoe.

No, not quite igloo country.

ohhhh....and what does a group of only women do at a retreat?

I am sure you are picturing a group of 60 women, praying all day, 

knitting socks for the homeless, sharing soup recipes, 

singing songs, feeding stray cats and dogs , making bazaar crafts...

Um, yeah...  until I showed up.

Let me take you back... waaaay back to the beginning...

First there are the bags.

One must be prepared. It did take place up on Lake Simcoe...

Extra prepared if one happens to be a Scout leader.

And, no, those bags were NOT filled with chocolate.

Might I add that this is light packing... 

compared to some that brought bins and suitcases

fit for week long excursions in the Amazon jungle...

We were NOT anywhere near the Amazon.

But it certainly was beautiful :)

I arrived early in the day, and so had time to myself.

That was one comfy bed that was needing someone to nap on it.

Someone had to do it... tough I know.

There was a theme for the weekend...

Heart to Heart Connections

There were some lovely decorations

Candles to set the tone...

...a lovely fireplace

Needless to say I had no need to go outside...

not even a wagon ride in the freezing cold night

pulled by a diesel tractor could lure me out.

Sadly I missed the part where it got stuck.

Drat, missed those fumes too.

There were even late night snacks and goodies

oh yeah....they must have known I would be there...

no need to pull out the stuff I brought.

Did I mention that I brought a sandwich 

since Friday night dinner was not included.

So what happens when one is in a rush ,

and at the very last minute realizes that one has to bring something to eat

Yup - you guessed it. 

One might forget to remove the paper wrapper from the cheese.

So I have been hounded by throngs of people wondering

WHAT did I pack.

I did decide to take some cross stitch kits... mostly Mill Hill.

Yeah, I guessed that would be enough for 2 days.

In between speakers, and planned activities...

Let's just say I was a tad ambitious ... and dellusional, lol

Did I finish any? 

Well, there were a few activities over the weekend, besides the wagon ride.

No, sadly naps were not scheduled.

There was a wonderful speaker, discussion groups and yes songs were sung.

(It is the Salvation Army after all, lol)

We all made bracelets for our prayer partner.

The one I made is on the left.

I received the one on the right.

Each evening, some of the ladies offered to paint nails.

There were some pretty cool designs.

I really wish these were my nails. I have none to speak of.

Did I mention they even had door prizes?

Whoo hoo - I won !

So did everyone, lol.

Now Saturday night, things got a bit.... interesting.

We were divided into teams and played a fun game

which involved different challenges, 

Did I mention that some of us wild women get a little 

competitive?

This is my game face - don't mess with me!

Well, I have been sworn to secrecy as to what exactly else happened.

I won't go into any more details, 

but there was one incident of charades that involved Michael Jackson 

and a 72 year old woman doing the moon walk and grabbing her crotch.

If you happened to be there and see women rolling on the floor, howling in laughter, 

you might just know why.

I did have some free time, not spent napping.

Some of this free time may have extended into the morning hours.

(Hence the Monday spent in a sleep deprived daze)

Some of the ladies decided to knit.

I did some Zen tangling.

Oh - what's that?

It's meditative repetitive pattern drawing.

I dare not call it doodling, in case they hunt me down 

and throw cotton balls at me.

 I maaayyyy just have completed 2 Mill Hill kits...

This strawberry is all beads, no cross stitching.

I added some of the extra beads to the stem on that one.

There was a heart theme in the decorations... so I thought I would stitch this one as well...

So there you have it.... some of the secrets of a retreat revealed.

Oh, I'm sure there are plenty of unanswered questions 

like when did I go to bed 

and what the heck do we do at 3am...

but some things are left best a mystery.

Tonight was a guild night and I experienced a little S.E.X.

... but that's another story...