happy day!

birght light, originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

Just having returned from a weekend retreat in Julian, CA, I can say that this turned out to be a happy trip for all of us. Some highlights:

-Everyone recovered enough from the FluB for us to hightail it out of town early Saturday morning. A lovely drive through the California countryside. Driving past blossoming citrus orchards with the windows down and inhaling deeply.

-Flowers. Everywhere! (including huge clumps of daffodils!)

-Discovering that the food at camp was truly worth gushing over. Local, green, fresh, handmade with herbs and ingenuity. Big salads of mixed greens, golden beet soup, chicken (and chick'n) marsala, crepe-pancakes, and the best sugar cookies, ever!

-Julian apples (and apple pie) and finding a local stand selling avocados 25/$5

-3 games of Ticket to Ride IN A ROW with a worthy opponent. Lost two, won one.

-Marveling at the burn damage from last Fall's fires. Blackened tree stumps everywhere. Joining a work crew on Saturday to plant trees in the burned areas. Digging deep in the ash-laden soil, making new homes for the small saplings.

-Time for quiet worship in the morning. In small groups and in a large circle with Friends. Sharing my thoughts and experiences. Being open to hearing others' stories. Realizing the joy that comes from striving together.

-Being away from it all: no cellphones, no wifi. Just a lot of wide open spaces and trees and meadows, and deer, and hawks, and frogs singing at night. And sharing it all with the people that I love. :)