Cabin Fever Retreat 2009

I'm home, after a marathon drive in a blizzard that made the normal 7-hour trip an adventurous two hours longer. But the weekend was wonderful. Prayers and meditations, walks and wonderful food and conversation interspersed the crafting of quilts that will be given to the kids who attend Grace Camp-- a week-long camp program for children with incarcerated parents.





I pieced two quilt tops. The first contains remnants of our old jeans made new again. If none of the kids chooses it, there are several interested takers waiting in the wings.










The second has pretty squares donated from the sample supply at a local quilt shop; I just did the assembly.





Most of the weekend's two dozen participants at breakfast under the fruits of their labors. We hung them on the rafters as they completed various stages; this only shows about half the room.





After the closing Eucharist, we placed all the quilts on the altar for blessing.






It was a very Benedictine sort of weekend-- conversation and silence, prayer and work in balanced proportions. Nothing better for putting life into perspective-- especially when you get the chance to do all of it in the middle of some of God's best handiwork.

If you'd like to see more pictures, you can click on the view from our cabin doorway (as seen yesterday, before the weather changed).