Back from retreat

Lucky me! I got to spend this past weekend on retreat at St. Anthony's again. Here is my good friend Cookie who always goes with me. Or I go with her. Or perhaps we just go together?
I was so excited to go this weekend because I had decided to give her the wine quilt!!! yeah!!!! She was very surprised and pleased. I really think that is the best part of quilting, giving them to someone when you know it's just exactly right. or maybe everything is really the best part of quilting?



Time for a tour! Last March when we went on retreat there was still about 3 feet of snow on the ground. It was so lovely to see everything still in bloom and the trees beginning to change.Here is a picture of St. Anthony's from the front with one of the many beautiful flower beds in full bloom.










The angel Gabriel I think. There are so many lovely areas to sit and contemplate, or read, (or draw or paint). Many of these areas are designed and fixed up by volunteers.

here is a lovely view from one of the wooded trails, you can see the little river that flows into the Rib River, if you look on the grass you can see the labyrinth, and beyond you can see one side of St. Anthony's. The building is a huge square with 2 inner courtyards, and then a "newer" Ell off one side.













Just some beautiful leaves, stones, and grass. I love how fall leaves look on grass and walkways. I want to paint it or quilt it or something, but at least I got a photo so I can try something later.

Here we have the view out my window. Cookie and I always ask for rooms in the old section. They are just the same as they were in the early 1900's when it was built. Heavy wooden doors with wooden latches. The windows are new as you can tell, and here is my morning coffee ready to be pressed in my new travel size French press (a gift from Cookie) We love the Cappuchins, but we do not love their idea of mass produced coffee. :-)





Here is the grotto with one of the Mary statues. Isn't all the growth lush? The ferns are beautiful. I walked down here barefoot because it felt so gooooooooooooooood!!






Here is one of the inner courtyards. Last fall there were even more grapevines and we got to eat fresh concord grapes! Awesome!
While I was there I did some outdoor oil painting and played with oil pastels. I'll post those pictures next time. I just wanted to share the peace and the beauty of this fabulous weekend with my blog friends. I actually thought of you all while I was there, hence all the pictures. (there are actually 138 more on my camera, but I understand time constraints!