No weather report today. I hope you all missed me. I had a totally relaxing weekend away from EVERYTHING. I had never been to this Retreat Center and was very impressed. It is easy to get to (unless you miss the turnoff because you are not sure where your purse is). I had my own room. The food was excellent and the retreat was well planned and packed with many opportunities to learn and to pray and to meditate.

Padraigin Clancy was our leader. She lives on the Aran Islands on the west coast of Ireland. She says she is the second house nearest to the United States. She works six months for the tourist bureau and spends the other six teaching and conducting retreats ALL over the world. She joined us fresh from a sojourn in Australia where she learned a lot about the spirituality of the aboriginies. They have surprising parallels to the spirituality of the ancient Celts.

Anyway, joining the team was Dennis Doyle a harpist singer from Glendale California Who talked on Holy People and Places and Seosai Nie Rabhartaigh a poet/Irish language teacher speaker who spoke about Gaelic poetry through the early and contemporary eras. She also conducted a workshop later int he day which I naturally attended. The other workshops were the making of St. Brigit Crosses with reeds FROM Ireland and a slide show of the island of Iona where Colm Cille banished himself and established his monastery/university. It was not hard for me to choose with the chance to write and consort with a fellow poet. I figured that this was my serendiptity.

Seosai is charming and VERY knowledgeable. We had an hour session where we discussed poetry and ideas and methods of getting stuff on paper and were able to write for about half of the time. I have a very rough draft of the thoughts that were in my head this weekend that I will share with you. I will try to give you the final when I finish it.

THE TROUBLE WITH DOGS

They steal your heart
Then age so fast
That you fall behind.

When my brother died
We told my Dad
That loving has its price.
To have the joy
One must accept the pain.

Now I need to teach
This lesson to myself.
Again.

There is a labyrinth at the retreat center. It was, of course, covered in snow. However, during the hour of silence on Saturday afternoon, I bundled up and went outside and tried to walk the circles. I could see the circles but not the turn around points, so I decided to do the Celtic thing and walk seven times around the center. It may have been more than seven. I just walked until I got to the center stumps and sat down. Sue joined me as I was walking. She slipped into the circle ahead of me. Is started to catch up with her. God must have sent her to slow me down. You know me, hell bent for leather. But I paced myself to her and finished my rosary in the middle. So there is a reason and that is one of the lessons I must learn.

Take care and have a good week.

As Padraigin would say" An bhfuil Failte roimh Brid? ( Is Brigit Welcome)" You should then answer "Se Beatha, Se Beatha, a Bhrid. Bheannaithe. (It is life, it is life, O Blessed Brigit).

Mary