It’s almost mid February, the Spring Equinox is just five weeks from Sunday. The Bear Cave time of year is nigh over. Have you seen to your cubs yet? The books you thought you’d have time to read, the writing you thought you’d do, the class you thought you’d plan, the music you thought you’d play, the creative project you began last winter–have you tended these cubs yet?
Crone/Maiden on way to Stone Circle
Have you given your senses a rest yet from the noise of your life–the washing machine and dishwasher sloshing, the dryer rumbling, football games and action movies, the furnace running and running, and how many cell phone under your roof going off and then the louder than normal conversations that follow?
Have you kept up your busy pace right into the winter and are you aching to shut out the world for a while — to not have to go out, not have to wait on anyone and to do what you want to do, when you want to do it?
Me, too! Summer people always ask two questions. “How deep is the quarry?” and “What do you do here in the winter time?” What they really want to ask is “What the hell can you possibly find here to do in the winter time?”
You know how much time it’s been taking you to clear away the snow? We have five houses to clear for and a greenhouse, workshop, library and sauna to clear. David takes care of most of this work himself with his plow, backhoe and a shovel, no snow blower. The last few winters I’ve been saying, “Next year we’ve got to get a snow blower.”
We run our furnace as back-up and heat with a wood stove in our living space on the second floor. Wood cutting is a year round job for David. He is usually the one carrying the wood up the stairs as he wants to hand-pick it from the various piles. In a few weeks he’ll be burning sugar wood outside to boil down sap for maple syrup. Before you start feeling sorry for David, you have to know he loves working in the woods no matter what the task. The last few winters David has been saying, “Carrying wood up these stairs 9 months out of the year, is getting old.”
What do I do? Almost a year’s worth of bookkeeping, business planning, business writing, website design and maintenance for three out of our four businesses, all to be accomplished over the winter months. I do the house wife thing– I clean, do laundry and cook and cook and cook for Tall Bunyan. In the winter we do the cottage turnovers. I see to it that we have a community presence too. We entertain, we host circles and we travel to participate where ever we feel called to.
Winter is never long enough for either of us to get to delve long into the stuff of retreat, as we’re playing catch-up for having spent 9 months with outdoor tasks as our priority. Not really such a bad deal!
And still everyone needs to rest now and then. What does the first page of our website say? “To be as little children.”
Peace
David is off to California to visit his daughter and her family. He’s got a reprieve from winter and responsibilities. Me? I’m waiting for you to come visit the Huckleberry Hideaway for your retreat. I’ll move in after you leave. We’re too stingy to heat the cottage up for ourselves. I’ll ride in on your coat tails. Please come soon before I go cross-eyed from having to say focused on linear stuff for so long.
I am not beneath bribing you. Here’s my pitch.
Winter is breathtaking at the Huckleberry Hideaway at Light Heart Retreat. The views are pristine–how winter should look from your window. The quiet is so blessed! The light, the light, the light…if I had the time I would write for hours about the light, but it would mean taking my eyes off it. Right now purple shadows are reaching across the quarry…some clouds have moved in making it look later than it is. It’s setting up to be a great sunset. You could be viewing it from the deck of the Huckleberry, or from behind the sliders, or from the hot tub or from the window seat in front of the wood stove. All this a pot of soup, too. My treat.
Looking up at the Stone Circle from Patio
Spring is Coming Retreat Special. Last Chance for your Winter Retreat for the Solitary Soul, Seeking Sanctuary, Silence, Solace, Sunsets and Soup. And maybe a surprise, like seeing a porcupine slip-slide over the frozen snow on the Huckleberry lawn. One guest. Two nights. $260, plus tax. Add additional nights for $125/night. Click here to see more photos and particulars on the Huckleberry Hideaway at Light Heart Retreat. This offer good until April 1, 2011.
So fried you can’t remember a thing that you’d been wanting to do? Don’t worry, we have a library full of really good, nourishing reading materials. It’s amazing how fast a day can go by when you’re doing nothing much. And there’s the light…you can get lost for hours at one with the light.
Save me please, before my butt becomes at one with the office chair. Many thanks in advance.
Blessings for peace,
Joanna
Friends from High Places
P.S. Here’s what I was writing about last winter when on retreat at the Huckleberry. It’s all About Water. We have a personal collection of Raymon Grace DVD’s including Raymon Grace Energizes Water for guests. to borrow. I’m upping the ante. The first three guests that book their Spring is Coming Retreat will receive one of these very valuable DVD’s as an additional gift when they book on or before February 20, 2011. If you’re a reader who has had a positive experience using this DVD, please would you tell others about by clicking on the comment button below or using the contact form. Thank you.
