Weekend Retreat with the Shadow Women

Spectacular. Beautiful. Gorgeous.

All the superlatives in the world cannot describe the mountains on an October day. Brilliant red leaves form intricate patterns against dark green pines. Yellows and oranges group together, deepening into gold. Roads curve through slopes of colour so vivid that it seems unreal. And everywhere, tucked into mountainsides, calm lakes sleep, their dark surfaces reflecting all that splendid colour.

Tomorrow morning early, I will drive to the mountains with a group of friends I have called the Shadow Women. We will stay in a camp owned by Signing Woman's family, a lodge with floor to ceiling glass windows that overlook a lake, a place surrounded by mountains that will be woven with colour.

We will talk. We will eat food. We will take a hike and find a place to sit in the sun on top of a mountain. We will talk some more. We will walk to a church down the road that has a labyrinth outside by the lake. Silently, each of us will walk the labyrinth. Then we will make more food. We'll talk some more. Some of us will take the canoes out, paddling along the shore, under the overhanging sugar maples. Some of us might swim, if the water feels warm enough.

In the evening, I will build a fire in the big stone fireplace. We'll talk some more. We'll listen to music. LongBeautifulHair and I will try to get everyone to dance. We'll give each other massages, using lavender-scented massage oil. ReikiWoman and I will do some reiki. We'll talk some more. We'll drink hot tea and eat homemade desserts.

At night, I'll sleep on the floor next to the fire, near the red coals that will fade slowly, and awaken to morning sunlight splashing through the big windows. And possibly, the sight of bras dangling at the hearth.