It is an absolutely wonderful place to meet year after year.
The weekend always begins with a 'voyage' for those of us who live on the mainland of BC; a ferry ride across Georgia Strait. The last three years I have been met at Duke Point by my friend Jeanne who lives on the Island and we drive the few miles south to Yellowpoint. Down the long driveway and it feels so good to be back. The days revolve around food and calligraphy! All the meals are served in the main Lodge and the accommodations are either in the Lodge or in cabins and cottages around the vast property.
This was Madrona Cottage, our home away from home for the weekend. It has a large living room with a pullout couch, large bedroom and large bathroom. The nicest thing was there was a table and two chairs so we could work! Jeanne worked on a watercolour painting she brought with her and I did a bit in my letter a week journal on Saturday afternoon after lunch.
This was our early morning view on Saturday morning.
Another beach view.
Saturday morning is always a 'shareshop' class where most of us there for the retreat meet in the large recreation room downstairs in the main Lodge. I had volunteered to lead the morning, sharing with everyone the Akim Cursive way of lettering. I have long used this for writing in my travel journals, discovering years ago that it is a little difficult for just 'anyone' to read over my shoulder! As the theme for this year was "Journalling", Akim seemed very appropriate. My emphasis was 'making it your own'.
Did I mention that the weekend revolves around food.....? Friday evening for dinner we start off with seafood curry, salmon, rice and lemon tarts for dessert. Breakfast is always eggs any style, bacon, sausage, toast, fruit, porridge, and juice. Yum. Lunch is make your own sandwich with croissants, sliced meats, cheese, cucumber, tomatoes, salads and soup. Saturday evening dinner is always a Prime Rib dinner with yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and vegetables and for those of us who do not eat red meat, we had fresh cod. Dessert was Baklava. Anytime you might have felt the least bit hungry during the day or evening, it seemed there was always a plate of cookies or cakes or muffins with tea or coffee in the Great Room of the Lodge. Sunday lunch is a vegetarian lasagne with salad and soup. They feed us very well at Yellowpoint!
Many years ago, maybe 27 or so, I thought it would be a great idea to hold a raffle on Saturday evening with the proceeds all going to the staff for a tip. It started out small and not taking up too much time and now it is "the" evening entertainment on Saturday. This year there were 135 prizes to draw for! a great time to spend with everyone sitting around the great room (huge room) with a roaring fire in the fireplace (big enough to stand half a dozen people in) and prizes to win! The staff really appreciate it too. Next year my friend Pat and I are going to be organizing the raffle.......we did the first one, we thought we should do it one more time! It will take some doing to crazy it up like the ladies who have been doing it for so long but I'm sure we'll manage. We already have some ideas!
The rain held off until we were all on our way home. Funny how the photos from Yellowpoint just don't look half as warm as the photos from Mexico!
Apologies again for my Photoshop skills on the photographs. I really must start looking for a scanner.
1 comment:
How I wish I lived closer! That and Auntie Rose would make good on her promises. Your travel journal made me smile.
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