There has been much discussion about friends at this retreat. What is a friend? Do you have a friend you could call at 3 a.m. if you need help? As we went about our business yesterday, I looked at my pencil. Oh my!!!
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| Oh my!!! |
I got quite a chuckle from that.
But a bit of chaos happened at the house earlier in the day. You know what I'm talking about if you saw the picture on Facebook. Those red chairs around the firepit were calling for someone to sit in them. I had no takers. Seriously? We're friends, so why wouldn't someone volunteer to sit in them? Maybe they're not part of my gang after all!
Then Helen Anne said she would take a picture of ME if I sat in one of them. Well, that was all the encouragement I needed. And then it snowballed from there. Everyone else had gone shopping, and only Maryke, Helen Anne, and I remained at the house. Maryke was still in her housecoat. We made hasty plans, Helen Anne got her camera, and away we went! I laughed because someone commented on Facebook that we should be left unsupervised! Thanks for the vote of confidence - Sally!
Seriously - don't those chairs just scream for a photo op?
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| Come sit down - have a cup of tea! |
I have permission to post this, and it's so blog-worthy! Poor Maryke almost fell several times in that deep snow, which was NOT compacted, so she was up to her knees. Why? Because I didn't want any tracks showing how we got to the chairs. We circled around and came in from the back! But I was thoughtful and gave her the chair with the least snow!
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| A dedicated friend! Or she's just crazy! |
I came in from the other side, where the snow was much more compacted, so I only fell through a few times. I had my running shoes on but no socks.
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| Flopping into the chair |
We took plastic bags to save our butts from getting soaked. And I should mention that it was starting to drizzle. Also, Diane arrived about when we were getting ready to walk to the chairs. So we had an audience.
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| So how's the weather? |
Those chairs were wet with the rain, but the temperature was only minus 1. It was the perfect time because it started to snow heavily snow after, although that would have also been hilarious.
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| Oh my - what we do for entertainment! |
And there we are - the crazies. And a HUGE thank you to Helen Anne, who was the instigator of the entire process. We had to go back so I could take a picture of her taking pictures of us. I had my phone with me, but was laughing so hard, I completely forgot!!!
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| Another true friend |
We had so much fun, and I can't stop laughing every time I look at that photo. I'm uploading it to my Aura frame at home so I can randomly experience our joy.
Life is way too short not to get out and have fun. Be silly, be crazy - whatever it takes to keep you going! Thanks to Maryke and Helen Anne for a silly and memorable moment. I think it's the best retreat photo of all time. How will we top that one?
Maybe this has to be a new theme—some crazy setup from each retreat. Hmm—something to ponder.
The farm excitement of the day was the cutting down of some trees in the back of the house. As you saw, it doesn't;t take much to amuse us!!
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| Tree cutting and moving in progress |
There is no need to worry about running out of propane—the tank has been topped up. This has been a very entertaining retreat!
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| Propane delivery |
I decided to take some of my MANY bags to the car to avoid having to take it all out on the last day. It was snowing these huge flakes by then. I decided that it was warm enough to go for a walk.
I wanted to check out the snow on the creek since it was so warm.
It's not just snow on the water; it has to be partially frozen, as an animal walked right down the center!
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| Animal tracks on the creek |
But looking at the other side of the small bridge, you could see the water coming through the snow.
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| The water is seeping through the snow |
And when I walked down to the bridge on the main road, the water was definitely seeping through the snow.
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| Water seeping through the snow |
On the other side, you could see a little water seeping through the snow. However, it's cold this morning, so I doubt any water will show through.
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The creek on the other side of the road
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I swear there are days when I'm regressing in life. Obviously, I had to walk in one direction toward the creek. On my way back, I decided to walk beside my previous steps, so I was coming and going simultaneously! I sometimes do that in the city. Why not make people guess—coming or going? Or both?
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| Coming and going! |
It was so warm I didn't even have a sweatshirt under my coat. Neither did I have my scarf or a hat! But my jacket, which is so old, it's no longer waterproof, was getting soaked, so it was time to come home. My mittens were also wet from handling the car door handle when I put my stuff in. I seem to have lost my little black gloves from the dollar store. That's OK - they were on their last legs anyway. But where could they be?
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| It's getting wet! |
Lots of accumulating snow, and it was WET.
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| Heavy, wet snow |
So, I bet my water coach wants to know the status. Well, first, I emptied another spool of thread. Why do we have so many partially empty spools of thread? I threw in FIVE partially used spools. Three were close to the end, and all three are now empty! I might look in the box of thread and throw another one in for the next retreat, but that is far away. Still, when one retreat is over, you must replenish the supply box to be prepared!
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| Another empty spool |
As for the water, I went through two containers and probably half of another one, so I'm happy with that. I'm about 3/4 through the first one today! I will never drink the quantity of water my water coach drinks, but that's OK. I'm doing OK by more than doubling my water consumption, and that works for me.
I also managed to get some sewing done, but barely. After our little adventure, I returned to my sewing machine to find this.
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| Stopped midway |
I didn't even bother finishing the seam—that's impulsive. I'm okay with that!
You'll see what I worked on tomorrow, as I'm running out of time!!!!
I have some QUILTsocial blog posts to share with you. Since February is National Embroidery Month, the posts discuss what you can do with an embroidery machine and how to get started.
The first post explains why quilters need an embroidery machine. OK, so you may not need one, but this first post shows you how to embellish your quilts with machine embroidery.
Day Five - not posted yet
So much exciting stuff!!!!
On that note, I'm out of here!!!!
Have a super day! Do something so out of character that your family will start to wonder, and that's OK.
Ciao!!!!
