Showing posts with label book club retreat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book club retreat. Show all posts

Saturday, March 17, 2018

SOL 17/31 & Celebrate This Week: Book Club Retreat!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
Thanks to Stacey, Betsy, Beth, Kathleen, Deb, Melanie, and Lanny
 for hosting this meeting place each day in March
and for nurturing our writing lives.


Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres.

When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.
Discover. Play. Build. 

   A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember.

Bobbi calls and arranges to pick me up at 8:30 am on Friday morning. Then we'll head to Jen's house where we'll transfer my many bags (that's a post for another day) to Jen's car and head to our yearly book club retreat. 

I love a trip that begins with a ferry ride. This one is short, but we decide to head for the deck where I convince a fellow traveler to snap a pic of us.


After arriving at Debora's lovely home and pitching in a bit with a few last minute preparations, the five early arrivals pile into the car and we're off for fun! It's hard to describe the giddy excitement as we gather each year, but it's palpable and we all drink it in. 

Bobbi blurts out, "Hey, that sign mentioned chocolate!" (*)


Debora, who used to live here, replies that she doesn't know anything about a chocolate shop. Nevertheless, we can check it out. We're thinking that it's something we'll look for on our next run into town. But Debora pulls into town, turns around, and we head back, looking for the "chocolate" sign with craned heads. Once we've spotted the rustic sign, we turn around and head back to town. We laugh with glee when the rustic sign that Bobbi had noticed has no mention whatsoever of chocolate, but instead has the words "Co-op housing."


We park in front of the highly recommended Snapdragon cafe. As we start to get out of the car for lunch, we realize that's it's only 11:15. But we're all hungry, having started the day at an early hour, and we decide it's okay to eat lunch before noon. 


After lunch stops include a walk to the "bike in a tree," a stop by a quilt show (not planned, but noticed on the marquee of the local arts center), and slow meandering through the small shops in town. With nothing on schedule until our evening dinner, we savor every moment of shopping, browsing, and chatting together. We stop by the local Thriftway to pick up a few last minute items before heading back to Debora's place to await the arrival of the rest of our baker's dozen. 


Here's the pic of our group taken just before dinner. Thanks, Karl, for taking this pic of our group before you left. 

I'm thinking that this once a year event will provide several more blog posts for the upcoming week. Stay tuned. 

*Note about the two colors used on this post:  Okay, I usually do my celebrate posts in blue, but Blogger and I are fighting tonight. It refuses to do the rest of the post in blue and also refuses to make the entire post black. I surrender! 
Blogger: 1 Ramona: 0.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

2016 SOLC 5/31: Book Club Retreat!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Tuesday Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna
for hosting this meeting place each Tuesday
and for nurturing our writing lives.

Join us each weekend for Celebrate This Week with Ruth Ayres. 
When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy. 
Discover. Play. Build.
  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


One night away.
Thirteen friends united by book love
Arrive at different times
The morning crew,
Two afternoon bunches,
The evening party van.
Two meals shared together
Constant chatter
Abundant snacks
Lighthearted laughter
And a scattering of feathers 
(A story for another post).
Careful book considerations
Followed by written ballots
Resulting in next year's book list.
A discussion of this month's book
Our late night tradition of hot cookies
And more talk.
Until the morning people among us 
Stumble off to bed 
How did we stay up until 1am?
Muted conversations continue
As we drift into sleep.
A morning walk on the beach
The sun peeking through the clouds 
Highlighting the mountains.
Fresh fruit, pastries, sourdough pancakes
And more talk, followed by
A hurried clean-up of the cabin
And a dash to make the next ferry.
It's home to our regular lives,
But filled to the brim with book love, 
Good food, dear friends, and memories
To last us until next March.
And a list of twelve books 
To read and discuss each month 
Between now and then.  

We didn't choose all the books you see,
but we considered twenty-seven titles.
Thanks to Lisa's sister, Becky, for this group pic.  
Walk before breakfast with mountains peeking through clouds 
My fun shopping find and the books I submitted -
Mugs with savor (my OLW from two years ago)
and nourish (another favorite word).
This was my grand slam year -
all three of my titles were chosen!
Mind you, I've also had years
when none of my books were selected.  

Sunday, March 15, 2015

2015 SOLSC 15/31: Telling our Story in Pics

                                    Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna
for hosting this meeting place each day in March
                                                      and for nurturing our writing lives.


Sharing some pics from our book club retreat on Friday and Saturday:
Friends in search of a lighthouse!
A walk along the beach yields no lighthouse, instead
the ranger tells of us about a "lightbox" on the bluff and
declines to give us a $99 ticket for exhibiting
the wrong pass (thank goodness)!



A fellow bibliophile on a sidewalk
outside a business
My traveling buddies - big smiles to match the sunshine

Someone offers to take a pic of yours truly!
Serious discussions over next year's book calendar
So many good books and only 12 can make the cut!
Almost time for Lisa's lemon cheesecake!
Ten of our lively group of twelve,
one left early to attend a wedding
and one took the picture.
Three book club friends, each expecting child #3,
Due dates in May, July, and September (pictured left to right)
Reluctant to leave, we chat outside for awhile!
We love visiting with members of our club who
have moved away, but still join us for the retreat!
Back from the retreat - my minimalist friend shows
me how to travel light (note her book themed bags).
Not divulging the # of bags I took, but it exceeded two! 

Saturday, March 14, 2015

2015 SOLSC 14/31 and Celebrate This Week

                                    Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna
for hosting this meeting place each day in March
                                                      and for nurturing our writing lives.

                               Join us each weekend for Celebrate this week with Ruth Ayres.  
 When we pause to celebrate, we find the joy.
Discover. Play. Build.
  A week filled with moments to celebrate and remember!


  Celebrating our annual book club retreat!

A communal sigh of relief
as we finally leave behind
work, husbands, kids, projects, and daily concerns
to revel in our time together.  

A shared love of books,
Time to linger at the table,
Delightful conversations,
Next year's book calendar,
Giddy laughter,
Too much food, 
Not enough sleep.

We treasure each moment. 
Our hours together pass far too quickly. 
We lock the front door.
We snap a few pictures
as hugs, love, and laughter
fill our final moments together.

We linger in the front yard,
unwilling to leave, longing for more time
before returning to our lives.
Memories will bind us together and buoy us up
as we journey through another year of 
shared books, lives, tears,
love, and laughter.