Friday, February 4, 2011 — Last retreat before a pause

Jean Pierre and Yael sat down with the new group this morning and announced that this will be the 9th and last tapestry retreat here in El Tuito until further notice. It's been such a good run and such a privilege to have been part of this series of workshop/retreats.

We talked a lot today about the new focus provided in this morning's session. The idea of offerings, a sentiment with universal meaning, will be explored. Paying tribute is another key sentiment to be incorporated. In many traditions paying tribute means to render ones gratitude or to participate in honoring. We discussed various aspects of "memory." We will just have to place one foot in front of the other and see where this leads us. Now that I better understand where Jean Pierre is trying to lead this exploring, I feel much better about it and certainly feel that during this transition time in my life, it will be a worthwhile avenue to pursue. Because the subject matters will be dramatically more personal in these tapestries, JP would like us to follow the practice of writing a fifty word explanation of our works and placing them adjacent to the tapestries when they are exhibited.

Dinner tonight was a gorgeous fish filet topped with lemon, tomato and dill. Each serving was wrapped and tied in a banana leaf and steamed to perfection. Jean Pierre made his famous frozen banana with Kahlua dessert. Oh, how we are suffering.