Retreat

Sometimes you just have to get away from it all.  Do something entirely different from your usual routine.  Take time out for yourself.  This is the theme that resonated with me this month.
About a week after Corbin was born and the twins were returned to their parents, my yoga teacher held a day-long retreat here on the island, including lunch, a trip to the Sculpture garden, a lovely dinner at her restaurant, and of course, lots of yoga.  By the end of the day, I swear, it felt like I'd had five massages in a row.  The effects lasted several days. 

The very next week, a different kind of retreat--this one a basket making class held on Shaw Island for 2 and a half days.  So the nine people in our class stayed at the guest house of one of our members.  A big, three day slumber party on one of the quietest locales in the San Juan Archipelago.  The Tahitian Market Basket was difficult, but satisfying.

Anita and Monique make bling to decorate our baskets

The very next weekend, we went farther afield for our R&R.  This time to Seaside, Oregon, to join friends in a big house a stone's throw from the boardwalk.  This was the first time since August, that Roger has ventured off-island for anything other than business.  Roger got to hold his grandson for the first time.

We got to stay one night with our friends in Raymond and take in an interesting exhibit at the museum in Astoria called "Envisioning the World"  The First Printed Maps, 1472-1700.  Columbia River Maritime Museum  Check it out if you have the chance.

The Mighty Columbia



My last example of retreats from the past month is a little more obscure. Burying myself in a book for a few days is a way of retreating from my day to day cares. My new book club (that I will now refer to as the Rock Island Readers) just read the first book in the Maisie Dobbs series.  This mystery set in post World War I London dealt with shell-shocked veterans who were mysteriously disappearing from their place of refuge called "The Retreat".  The book was surprisingly relevant as we hear more and more of Afghanistan and Iraq veterans returning to their lives with their own battle scars.  

Now the retreats are in the past and its back to the hustle and bustle of Springtime in the San Juans.  I feel like I've jumped on the merry-go-round which is accelerating toward the June reunion.  I'm already looking forward to a "Spa Day" in May--and perhaps another yoga retreat.

Arcade ride at Seaside