WHAT'S A RETREAT?
Hi Boys and Girls!We all have heard of retreats. As a verb, retreat is the act of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous or disagreeable, i.e. forced withdrawal of troops from an enemy. As a noun, retreat means a place you can go to be alone, to get away from it all. There is also a religious retreat where you get in touch with your spiritual beliefs. A synonym for retreat is beautiful and private place. Let's talk about the synonym!
Recently, five of my nearest and dearest friends had a retreat at Mountain Laurel Retreat in New Braunfels. Mountain Laurel Retreat. It is a beautiful and private place...to quilt, stitch, eat good food, laugh, oh, did I mention that? And, of course, to rest. Sleep in without the pressures of feeding the dogs, cats, husbands, etc.
We all arrived and unloaded out projects to be completed in four days! Yeah, right...retreaters always take more than is possibly feasible to finish. Anyway, this retreat center is high on a hill over-looking the hills of New Braunfels, Texas. Sunrises are exquisite and sunsets are awesome. Once we got settled in our room of choice, we set up our sewing stations. So many choices...face the view, face the land in back or face each other. The design walls cover the entire room. As we are working, we can display our progress on the felt-covered design wall. Heaven!
Now, lets get to the serious stuff....FOOD! We divided meals amongst us. MLR has a full kitchen with all utensils provided. The first night, Sherry cooked chalupas! So, good. Next night we had King Ranch Casserole by June. This is the best I have EVER tasted! Believe me, some people can ruin this to no end. June also made fresh Peach Cobbler. Peaches were from June's tree! Another night, we had homemade pizza freshly delivered from Wimberley, Texas just a short distance away. Jennifer did the honors. It was on my no-no list but did that stop me? Naw! Other meals included broccoli salad by Sue, quiche by Martha and quesadillas and flan by yours truly.
If you want time to just sew, sew and sew more, you must go on a retreat. You can book at MLR and take advantage of the specials or sign up with your guild. You will not regret going to a retreat! You will laugh until your belly hurts and your eyes water. You will learn new techniques that you thought were so hard. You will have fellow quilters give suggestions and advice....you will eat really good food! And remember, WHAT HAPPENS AT RETREAT, STAYS AT RETREAT!
Please share your favorite retreat center. What is so special about it? How far will you drive to attend a retreat? I know I will be driving almost three hours to my next one at the Compass Centre in Waco.
Until next time, finish that project and schedule a retreat!
Love,
Mary
