Home Again, Home Again

Maybe that’s the best part of going away for a vacation — coming home again
— Madeleine L’Engle

There is a magic in that little world, home; it is a mystic circle that surrounds comforts and virtues never known beyond its hallowed limits.
— Robert Southey

The magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave, and it feels even better to come back.
— Wendy Wunder

I just got back from a writer’s retreat, which is one of the reasons this post is late. It was four days, with twelve workshops, being held at the Delta Marriott in Kingston. If you registered early enough, you got a discount rate on a hotel room of the Delta, which I did.

Last time I was in Kingston it was for the Writersfest, which was held in the Holiday Inn. Same deal, if you registered early enough, you got a discounted room at the Holiday Inn, only that time I didn’t, and the only room I could find was at the Delta – for the full price.

I have to say, that discount makes a BIG difference. I paid less for the entire package – retreat cost, hotel bill (including two meals I had charged to my room), and parking this time than I did for just the hotel bill last time. So you can be sure, when I sign up for this year’s Writersfest, I will do so in time to get the discount rate for the Holiday Inn. :-D

The picture above, which is courtesy of Pixabay, is pretty much the exact view outside my hotel room window, except without the boats and the water inside the harbor was covered with a sheet of ice that was just starting to break up.

Anyway, like the fall event, this one did not get off to a great start. Once again, I thought that since I get up super early anyway, I could easily drive up on the morning of the first day. Once again, I was wrong. I might have made it on time, had I taken into consideration the abundance of trucks on the highway, trucks who seemed to like to play leap frog with each other, thus slowly traffic right down as they jockeyed for position.

So I was already running late when I got to Kingston, where my infallible sense of direction failed me and I turned right when I should had turned left and ended up almost back up to the highway. By the time I got to the hotel, the first workshop was half over, so I just parked my car and wandered up to my favorite coffee shop (the one with the amaze-balls almond croissants). The hotel was nice enough to let me check in early, so I was able to stash my stuff before heading up to the first workshop (for me) of the day.

The bad stuff about the retreat:
I was late and missed the workshop for writing memoirs.
The weather was really cold and crappy, so I didn’t get out and do much walking, like I’d intended to. In fact, I didn’t get out much at all.
The hotel restaurant was a little pricy, with a limited menu.
I had some kind of digestive issue going on, so I wasn’t feeling all that great.

The good stuff about the retreat:
I got a premium parking place right outside the hotel doors.
Everything was right at the hotel so I didn’t have to leave, like on Saint Patrick’s Day when it was pouring rain.
It was nice having a room to go to between workshops.
They had as much tea or coffee as you like at the workshops, and the oatmeal raisin cookies were still warm!

Between the weather and not feeling so great, it really took the shine off my stay. But I learned a lot and I met some really nice people, several of whom want to stay in touch.

I can’t wait for the fall Writersfest!

Maledicent Monday

maledicent ~ cursing; addicted to speaking evil

Well, I made it home again from my retreat, but it was a near thing. There was a tiny bit of snow on the drive up; day two it rained; day three there was extreme wind (with the chance of us losing power; and day four we had snow added to the wind. One of the major highways was closed both ways due to accidents, but fortunately it was not the route I’d planned on taking. However, driving conditions were abysmal on the route I did take and I only narrowly missed getting caught up in delays by two other accidents along the way.

Obviously I made it home, but it was not without a price. The sinus cold I’d been fighting off before the retreat got its hooks in my head and chest and turned into the mother of all colds/flus. This kind of sent all my determination and good intentions packing last week and other than popping cold pills and babysitting (granddaughter also had a major cold so we were quite the pair) I didn’t do much of anything.

Did you know the only difference between a cold and the flu is that the flu comes with a fever? All this years I thought the flu was a stomach virus, but apparently a stomach virus is just that, not the flu. Someone forgot to send me a memo when that changed. Just like I never got the memo that instead of coughing/sneezing into your hand you’re supposed to sneeze into the crook of your elbow. Just suddenly one day everyone was doing it that way and I’m like, “what are you doing?”

The retreat itself was a lot of fun and I got a lot of writing done, although mostly short stuff from the workshop prompts. There were 15 of us in a big old manor house that overlooked Lake Simcoe. It was kind of interesting watching the frozen lake fill up with ice fisherman during the day, and then the lights from the snow mobiles when night started to fall.

The house is owned and administered to by a group of nuns, which accounted for its well stocked library of religious tomes and the insanely narrow, hard beds we had to sleep on. Being a house, not a hotel, we had to provide our own food and we were divided into groups to make lunches and suppers. There were a handful of food sensitivities in the group, and one vegetarian, and only one meal that had meat – a lunch that consisted of soup and sandwich fixings. You should have seen how fast that meat disappeared!

It was a good group – from a young screen writer to a research doctor writing her memoir. There were a couple of others writing life-based stories, a couple writing non-fiction, a few writing fiction, and the rest just writing.

All in all, I’d do it again. Maybe not in winter though. And next time I definitely want a room of my own. :-)

Morigeration Monday

morigeration ~ deferential behaviour

If you live on the North American continent, then you probably have today off. While our friends to the south (the U.S.) are celebrating President’s Day, we Canadians are celebrating family day.

And here’s a bit of trivia for you: President’s Day was first celebrated as a federal holiday in 1885, commemorating George Washington’s birthday (February 22). In 1971 it was moved to the third Monday in February – I guess to give everyone a long weekend.

Family day, however, is not a federal holiday and hasn’t been around nearly as long. It was first observed in Alberta in 1990, then Saskatchewan in 2007 and Ontario in 2008. Personally, I think we were just jealous that the U.S. got a long weekend in February and we didn’t.

I must have had a brain fart or something, because one of the things I did on the weekend was make a big pot of chili. Now this in itself might not seem like a big deal, but everyone knows chili tastes better the next day, which means it needed to be refrigerated overnight.

My fridge was already pretty full. I didn’t just have the regular stuff from my weekly grocery trip, but I also had the ingredients for a double batch of broccoli cheddar soup in there. I managed to get the chili pot in there, but just barely.

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it on this blog, but at the end of the week I’m off to a writing retreat up on Lake Simcoe. It should be an interesting experience – no T.V., no WiFi, and we’re taking turns cooking the meals. I’m on the Sunday lunch team – we’re having soup and sandwiches, with ice cream for dessert.

I volunteered to bring my broccoli cheddar soup (hence the ingredients in the fridge) which I made up yesterday. I figure I’ll save time by making it ahead and freezing it for transport. All I’ll have to do when our turn comes up is heat it up and add the cheese. I even invested in an iceless cooler that plugs into the car to make sure it arrives safely.

The retreat runs from Friday through Monday, so that means there won’t be a post next Monday – I’ll be busy wrapping up at the retreat and driving home. And, like I said, there’s no WiFi so I’ll have no way of accessing the internet. Well, I’ve heard of people using their cell phones to create an access point, but that’s a little beyond my skill set.

I’m actually looking forward to being unplugged for the weekend – we’ll have to wait and see if it gives my writing a boost.

See you in a couple of weeks!