Sunday, March 07, 2010

Journeys

The knitters' retreat was very...interesting. Heh :) Veronica and I hit the road a little before 6PM and arrived around 7PM...at the wrong "lodge." Evidently, when the instructions were emailed that said, "Go to the lodge!" they really meant, "Go to the hall!" We found this out after Veronica parked her car, we unloaded it, and schlepped into the lodge with all our stuff.

Eventually, in the dark and over the unpaved, muddy road, we made it to the correct building, where it was freezing cold. Freeeeezing! Apparently, the heating ducts were not working, which resulted in shivering knitters standing in front of the fireplace trying to warm up.

And then, our "rustic cabin" that turned out to be something out of Army basic training, with concrete floors and musty bunk beds. Fortunately for us, we were in the uphill cabin, as once the eight of us in our building began running water, the toilet overflowed across the concrete floor in one of the cabins downhill from us.

We did not see any bugs of note, other than spiders on the ceiling. And the mousetrap beneath Veronica's bunk (which neither she nor I had noticed, and Catherine wisely refrained from mentioning until this morning) wasn't set or occupied.

While I'm not sure I will ever do this particular retreat again, I did have fun hanging out with Veronica and Catherine. Our mutual discomfort in the surroundings as well as our love of knitting naturally bonded us together.

I took a nice little walk along the muddy road, trying to find the hiking trails. While I didn't find any real trails, I made my way out to a set of wooden swing benches in a snowy field and sat swinging in the sunshine. It was a good opportunity to be alone for a little bit during a busy weekend.

The result? I'm happy. I love living here, I love the women I've met through knitting, and I'm enjoying being me. Feeling content has been a long time coming, but as you can tell in this photo, I'm really smiling. And not just because my Skew sock is turning out mostly okay.

3 comments:

  1. whooo hoo!!! I'm so happy for you, although the left coast DOES miss you that other coast DOES have a lot going for it as well.

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  2. Wait, does this mean after years of you pooing my east coast is better you're starting to agree? Glad to see you smiling! :)

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  3. Living out here isn't so bad, is it? And at least the retreat got your spirits up, even if your internal temperature was a little low.

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