Tag: retreat

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A Writing Retreat

You may have gathered that I moved into town 10 days ago, when Kelly drove out.  You also know that I’ve been taking a creative writing class this semester. 🙂

Well, I’ve been working on a story and needed a big chunk of uninterrupted time to concentrate on it, so last weekend I took myself on a private writing retreat and went back to the cabin for a visit.

At the lake (9)

I put a fire in the wood stove and made a pot of tea. I roasted a chicken breast and vegetables for supper. I listened to Loreena McKennett on the iPod and quilted in my lap with a notebook and pen at my elbow. Whenever I had an idea for the story, I’d put my stitching down, pick up the notebook and jot down my thoughts.

Later, I set up the laptop and started in earnest. I remember at one point lifting my head to see that it had grown dark while I worked. What a luxury it was, having all this time completely alone, all to myself!

fall winter 2011 076 - Copy

What thrills me the most, though st that I finished my story!  It came in at just over 10,100 words. I don’t know if it would be called a long short story or a short novella…

The lake is a truly beautiful place to write, but especially when you get up in the morning and the water is clear as glass and there is a fresh dusting of snow on the far hills.

At the lake (10)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn’t have my camera with me, so dug up these photos from the archives. The lake is timeless, though, and this is truly what my weekend view looked like. 🙂

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A sick day, a quilt blog and a little tea snorting

Before hubby left for work this morning, he made sure I was tucked up on the couch in my jammies and a quilt, with a cup of tea and 2 aspirin at my elbow, my laptop and iPad, and about a dozen sewing projects close to hand. Yup, he’s a keeper, that one!

Did you guess from the clues? This is my second day home from work. While it’s nice to be home from work, having a mouth full of cold sores  (did you know you can get cold sores inside your mouth? ugh) is not. It hurts to talk and it hurts to eat. Two of my favourite activities. Sigh. So what’s a girl to do but browse the internet and catch up on bog reading? (I hope Amanda isn’t reading this…she’s my NOST 101 instructor, and she’d probably be telling me that I should take this time to start my research paper that is due next week. Did I tell you I’m taking an on-line course called Introduction to the Circumpolar North? I thought maybe I should be introduced to it since I live here, and all that.)

So I’m sitting here under my quilt trying not to spill tea into my keyboard while being entertained by Katy over at Monkey Do (or I’m a Ginger Monkey, whichever she calls it, I’m not 100% sure.) Honestly, that girl made me snort my tea up my nose, she is so funny!

I’ve decided that there are some really cool quilters in England, and that I should probably go over there someday and meet them.  Like Miss Ginger Monkey. There’s also Lynn over at Lily’s Quilts, who not only has great tutorials, but also gives great blogging advice. And is very funny to boot. (what do you suppose “to boot” really means?). AND they have the London Fat Quarterly Retreat! Just listen to this: “ we have planned a fun-filled weekend of silly games, sewing challenges, tutorial workshops and more!” (now, if you ever took a bellydance class from me, you KNOW how much I adore silly games, lol!) So I figure that silly quilt games must be just as much fun, right? I just gotta go and meet these English quilter gals!

Meanwhile, Sam is keeping my feet warm. I just hope he doesn’t wake up and want to play ball or something energetic that requires me getting up. Besides, it hurts to laugh. Here he is snuggled with his favourite squeaky toy. Goofy guy!