Wiawaka!!!!

I'm back! It's good to be back blogging and good to be home. I've missed you all!

I wanted my first Blog post, after my two-week hiatus, to address my attendance,this past weekend, at the art retreat I had the opportunity to be part of with my very dear friend Peggy Beck. We arrived Friday and came home today just before Noon.

The art retreat was held at the Wiawaka Holiday House.

It is located on Lake George, New York and as soon as Peggy and I got there, instant relaxation set in. What a beautiful atmosphere, the weather cleared and the air was refreshing with a constant breeze coming off the lake - pure comfort surrounded by nature at its best!

If you check out the Wiawaka website, (highlighted above) it will give you a little history of the place and it's actually a nonprofit retreat center for women. I'm sharing some pictures with you, here, and there will be more to come but thought these would give you an idea of the beginning of our weekend.

The Wiawaka sign - I just love it; the great spirit of women! How true right? :)

The sign is down at the dock on the boat house and you will also see a picture of some women on the dock and they were a spinning group that was there. There were 26 of them! They booked a whole cottage, for their group, and spent the whole weekend spinning their gorgeous yarns and roving - awesome to see! Wiawaka guests come from all over!

The picture of the larger Victorian house is the main house where we check in and meals are served. It's very much like communal living there. The smaller cottage is the Rose Cottage where Peggy and I stayed; we shared a room at the top there. The rooms are quaint and tastefully decorated and very comfortable. Peggy and I became "professional porchers"! More on that later :) We got three meals, a day with our stay, and each and every meal was wonderful with fresh veggies and herbs from the gardens on the grounds. I will address more on this in another post in near future.

The picture of the cabin, there, right smack on the lake is called the House of Trix and that is where the art classes are held. Peggy and I took a Felting Class and we created our own fabric with wet roving and adding wonderful fibers, silks, and ribbons. The sample of what I did with mine is shared, here; the colorful piece with the streamers on it. I'm going to use my piece as a journal cover and intend to needle felt some flowers on the piece, too. I've got it all planned out in my head. But the class was so therapeutic; our hands dipped in warm water with olive-oil soap and "massaging" the felt and fibers - just so relaxing and the lake waves hitting the dock right outside the classroom door. It doesn't get any better than that :)

The last picture is of a fabric bag that I won at a silent auction that was being held on the grounds and the spinners contributed beautiful roving and yarns, handmade jewelry. I instantly fell in love with this little bag and I won the auction! The bag holds some beautiful yarn, too! I even got to meet the artist as she was one of the spinners and we made a very wonderful connection with one another!

I will be sharing more pictures, towards the end of the week, to share with you from this fantastic weekend. I just wanted to give you a feel of the atmosphere there and I will definitely be going back.

I'm seriously thinking on organizing a small group to go up there next summer and I would conduct a class there - I think it would be a blast!!!!! Peggy and I talked about that and are very excited about even the thought of it!

Well; I've kept you all long enough, here, and wanted to share my weekend with you here. It's been a very busy past two weeks, for me, and this week looks to be same.

I hope you and yours are all well and I will be catching up with your Blogs during this week. I know I've missed so much and can't wait to see what everyone has been up to.

Much love - Marilyn xxoo