October 04, 2007

Gone wild

I leave early tomorrow morning for a four-day retreat in the mountains with a group of women friends. It's a trip we've taken every October for years, a long weekend that we jokingly call The Wild Women Weekend. We'll stay in a place owned by my friend Signing Woman's family, a camp with a big fireplace and floor-to-ceiling glass windows that overlook Lake Named After Dead King, or Maybe One of the Beatles.

Our plans include canoeing and hiking, eating and talking. We'll find a mountaintop in the sun where we can relax and soak in the last sun of the season. We'll walk the winding roads to a nearby church that has an outdoor labyrinth at the edge of the lake. We'll have time for things like reiki and meditation and massage. We'll talk, sometimes in a big group, raucous and laughing, and sometimes in quiet pairs, for serious in-depth discussions.

Over the last year, one woman in the group has filed for divorce, one has lost her partner to cancer, one has become a grandmother. Several of us have sent children off to college. So we're likely to have some serious talks as we sit in front of the fire, but we'll have fun, too, playing music and dancing and being silly.

From the top

This photo is from last year: Reiki Woman and Beatiful Hair talking in the sun.

17 comments:

my15minutes said...

Sounds like a great time. Enjoy yourself!

listie said...

What a beautiful place to spend the weekend; have fun.

purpleteardropsofhappilymarriedness said...

Have fun joe, I hope one day I'll be able to do something like this,alas I'm stuck in the city for now. Take a bunch of pictures!

Minoa said...

Thank gods for those times!

Cathy said...

Thankfulness for those times - have a wonderful time.

Anonymous said...

have a great time! THe weather's going to be beautiful, not very fall like though, good for canoeing anyway.

Patti said...

Sounds like so much fun.

Yankee T said...

I know it will be wonderful.

Anonymous said...

If you keep posting these beautiful pictures, we are all going to pack up and move there and, you know, just wreck everything!

Unknown said...

Ah, have a lovely time!

Marie said...

KathyR is right. I'm ready right now. Your pictures do something I can't explain to my heart. God, what beauty!

Sue said...

Sounds wonderful. I could sure use a weekend like that. Make sure you hang some bras by the fire, just for posterity's sake.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like heaven.

Gannet Girl said...

Oh, I am jealous. My women friends are off on our week-end, and I'm not there. Hope yours is wonderful.

Mike's Travels said...

Hope you had a great time. Sounds a wonderful time.

Bitsy Parker said...

You are always on a great trip! Color me envious!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

WOW! Incredible color! OH, I miss fall color (no good color here yet, anyway) and retreat with women friends.

I tagged you for a desktop meme on No Polar, but it seems frivolous in the face of all the cool things you're doing.

Desktop Meme