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2011-09 Seattle, WA: Lighthouse-keepers' retreat

    Dear all,

     
    Storm and I would like to invite you to join us on a retreat that will aim to further our individual and communal explorations of the nature of both external and internal reality.
     

    Our starting points

    In our explorations of the Nature of Reality, we will be assuming that each of our views is valuable and informing, and that our shared experiences inspire and deepen our individual and communal experiences. By paying attention to these internal and group processes, we hope to discover portals to yet deeper experiences and tools for further exploration. While flexibility will be very important we will offer some different exercises for individual and group exploration. 

    Retreat format

    In addition to individual time and space, we will encourage small groups to work together, and there will be at least two full group gatherings each day to share and process our experiences.

    We've planned a series of short daily meditations, including some PaB oriented exercises, and these will be led by Storm. We also hope to incorporate dream circles, using the Stone, as Luci has suggested. And we will have time and space for large group sharings, including the ongoing creation of a group montage.

    Despite this, there will still be flexibility in our schedule for as yet unanticipated insights as we accrue depth and richness over the week.

    Our venue

    The retreat site, the Point Robinson Light Station and Lighthouse Keepers' Quarters (which is a park on Vashon Island near Seattle) offers pebbled beaches, wooded areas, and rather incredible vistas of sky, sea and bits of city with Mt Rainier and the Cascade mountain range in the background -- all for inspiration and personal and group exploration.

     

    Facilities
    The Lighthouse Keepers’ Quarters (LKQ) at Pt Robinson, Vashon Island, will be our home base.  Its kitchens, sleeping quarters, wifi and cellphone access should meet our needs.  However, if the weather and our interests suit, we have access to 7 acres or more of deep woods, including several old growth cedars and Douglas firs, a 25 minute car ride from the LKQ.  This woodsy location with a spacious cabin could accommodate our group gatherings including lunch for a day if we as a group so choose.

    We will have 2 or possibly 3 cars available for off-site sojourns, ice cream emergencies and Vashon craft shopping as desired.

    We will have catered lunches and dinners prepared by a local caterer who specializes in local, very fresh food (mainly vegetarian); we will also have plenty of breakfast fixings and Maxine also hopes to provide a couple of pre-prepared home made desserts such as berry crumble and cheesecake.  In addition we will have at least one dinner out, including a ferry ride.    We also have the possibility of exploring the small island community of Vashon.  

    Dress
    Dress will be casual, with various layers as the days may be cool, though warm in the sun; evenings will be cooling off; Sept weather is generally clear and becoming crisp.  Vashon is a very relaxed place.  Footwear for the beach might be tennis shoes, and these will also do for any walking in the woods.  Restaurant wear may also be very casual; not much formality in this part of the world.
     
    Dates
    We arrive Sunday September 25th and the retreat starts with dinner in the evening.  Then we have 5 full retreat days, Monday through Friday. Finally we leave on Saturday morning, October 1, after breakfast.
     
    Costs
    Depending upon the number of people (up to the maximum of 9) who confirm, we originally estimated the cost for lodging and food as somewhere between $575 and $840 for Sunday evening through Saturday breakfast (plus one dinner out extra). We're currently estimating around $700. As of Sept 6, 2011, with 6 attendees the costs are $635. per person.
     

    Deadlines

    Signup: Aug 31 (necessary for planning)
    Payment: Sep 10th

    ~ Maxine and Storm

     

    Current list of attendees:

    Maxine

    Storm

    Aphrodite

    Susan

    Lucinda

    Riddle

    Note: The quarters allow 9 maximum for comfort and privacy

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

     

    Recommendations to PaB from the Vashon Island Retreaters

    1. Issue:

    • We need a place to present and discuss contentious political or religious issues.  Should we separate them out from our Pavilion discussions or integrate them? There are those who intentionally avoid those who have a need to voice with this group. Is PaB the appropriate audience for these individuals?

       

        Recommendation:

    • Any PaB avatar is invited to raise a topic, for a single theme session or a series of workshops, and schedule and present it at the Kira cafe, their own plot of land, the Pavilion or the Pub (small groups)
    • If it is to take place at the Kira Café or the Pavilion the request should be presented to and processed through the Working Group who will approve and help schedule it.
    • The language of the debate should be respectful
    • These could be open invitations to all Pabbers (eg Sofia Placebo’s discussion on Islamic women.)
    • Any political signs, banners or manifestos can be placed within a guardian’s plot but not at the Pavilion, Kira café or Pub without permission of the WG.
    • Any such items should be signed and displayed in such a way as to be clearly not the views of PaB nor of the Kira Institute but only of the individual.

     

    2. Issue:

    • We need a way of greeting arrivals and departures to the Pavilion that doesn’t end up taking up a lot of space in the chat log.

     

    Recommendation:

    • Only the GOC welcomes each new arrival and departure in the chat box
    • If others wish to welcome or say goodbye to an avi they can do so in an IM
    • The GoC will explain this at their session.

     

    3. Issue:

    • We need a place to store the references (e.g. Recipes, Books, Videos, Translation hyperlinks, abstracts re virtual worlds) that are given out during chat sessions at the Pavilion and Kira Café. It can be cumbersome to search through the chat logs to find them again.

     

    Recommendations:

    • We set up a location in our wiki for this, linking each entry to the discussion it came from.
    • Susan/ iwandertoo has agreed to do this. Thank you!

     

    4. Issue:

    • It is often difficult for the GoC, especially new Guardians, to deal with people at the Pavilion who are emotionally fragile, disruptive or disoriented. They need to have tools (skilful means) to diffuse a difficult situation.
    • They also need to know what is appropriate to post in the log and what isn’t.

     

    Recommendations:

    • Stevenaia, in her role as mentor + perhaps someone else can help prepare/train new Guardians for such an occasion.
    • We discuss this further at a Sunday Guardian meeting and in the WG

     

    5. Issue:

    • Sometimes the editorial comments in the chat log are opinionated and colour the discussion.

     

    Recommendations:

    • Editorial comments are limited to explanatory descriptive statements like,”x arrived at the Pavilion in a bus” or  “everybody did the ongokko exercise”.

     

    _____________________________________________________

    2011.10.16 13:00 - Vashon Retreat review (reprinted from PaB log)

     
    The guardian at this meeting was Maxine Walden, the comments are hers.
    This theme session recounts the recent RL Retreat on Vashon Island.  Five of the six participants spoke, showed pictures, remembered common experiences.  The first portion of the log expresses folks impressions about the pictures taken at the retreat site and posted in rotating picture show by Storm.  And interspersed among the presentations are spontaneous responses to the pictures being displayed.

    Photo page, including the slideshow mentioned below, is here: Vashon photos
     
    Maxine Walden: yes, these pictures show some of our experiences
    Eliza Madrigal: :)) lovely
    oO0Oo Resident: :)))))
    Agatha Macbeth: Whoa
    Maxine Walden: and we will speak to some of them as we go
    oO0Oo Resident: :)))))
    Agatha Macbeth zooms in
    oO0Oo Resident: Aph
    Eliza Madrigal: zooming zooming....
    Maxine Walden: We thought we would wait til about 1:05 before beginning our presentatio
    Wol Euler: ah, the painter must be aph
    Maxine Walden: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain blushes
    oO0Oo Resident: What gorgeous people!!!
    Pema Pera: hi everybody!
    Maxine Walden: :)
    Storm Nordwind waves
    Agatha Macbeth: Howdy pem
    Maxine Walden: hi, Pema
    Aphrodite Macbain: Hey Pema
    Wol Euler: hello pema
    Eliza Madrigal: Hi Pema :) we're drinking in photos.... just wonderful
    Agatha Macbeth: Ooh nice van
    Pema Pera: ah, I see, wow!
    Eliza Madrigal: Hi Zen :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: wonder where that girl is
    Maxine Walden: 'Vashon is over there" (captioning Luci's image of pointing to the island from the ferry)
    Agatha Macbeth: That deck looks pretty wet
    Zen Arado: Hi all:)
    Eliza Madrigal: Luci <3
    oO0Oo Resident: :)
    Maxine Walden: a brewery
    Pila Mulligan: really nice pictures :)
    Riddle Sideways: of course a brewery
    Maxine Walden: of course!!
    Agatha Macbeth: Hic
    Eliza Madrigal: hehe...
    Pema Pera getting very thirsty all of a sudden . . . .
    oO0Oo Resident: "As Well As Enough Love"
    Storm Nordwind: and the "roasterie"
    Pema Pera: what more does one want?
    Aphrodite Macbain: we may have to start w/o Luci. She was going to talk about Mt Rainier and star gazing
    Maxine Walden: oh, yes, the coffee roasterie
    Aphrodite Macbain: there she is with a starfish
    Eliza Madrigal: :))
    Storm Nordwind: She will be here - just a little late
    Maxine Walden: we can fill in for Luci if need be
    oO0Oo Resident: Parade!
    Agatha Macbeth: Quack (pic of ducks, geese)
    Alfred Kelberry: *sneaks in quietly*
    Maxine Walden: yes,
    oO0Oo Resident: Boxy ;)
    Aphrodite Macbain grins at 0 - what a memory!
    Agatha Macbeth: Lovely sunset
    Storm Nordwind: sunrise
    oO0Oo Resident: ooooo colour!
    Eliza Madrigal waves to Boxy
    Maxine Walden: We are each planning to say something about the retreat, have little presentations prepared...
    Agatha Macbeth: Yay
    Maxine Walden: Maybe I can start, will cut and paste several comments
    Alfred Kelberry: oh! the slideshow! :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: we'll start with our fearless leaders and them move to others
    oO0Oo Resident: Lovely
    Storm Nordwind chuckles
    Eliza Madrigal: mmmm
    Aphrodite Macbain: Shall we start? It's 1:05
    Wol Euler nods.
    Alfred Kelberry: agreed
    Aphrodite Macbain: we will post our text into the chat box
    Maxine Walden: The idea for the theme Explorations of the nature of reality had been in mind for some time
    Maxine Walden: and after searching out the retreat site of the Pt Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon Island near Seattle
    Maxine Walden: the focus easily became 'Exploring the nature of reality as experienced on Vashon Island'
    Storm Nordwind: :)
    Alfred Kelberry: nom
    Agatha Macbeth: YUM
    Maxine Walden: This site allowed for the dimension of time, Lighthouse Keepers Quarters is 100 years old...
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Eliza Madrigal smiles
    Alfred Kelberry: no captions :/
    oO0Oo Resident: :)))
    Maxine Walden: preserved by the Coast Guardsmen who have lived and loved the site;
    Maxine Walden: the dimension of a small, warm community (Vashon Is),
    Maxine Walden: just a ferry ride away from a sophisticated city (Seattle);
    Maxine Walden:  the dimension of metaphor (keepers of the light, shining the light into dark waters, etc);
    Aphrodite Macbain: whozzat?
    Maxine Walden: and the personal dimensions we each could bring to our conversations,
    Agatha Macbeth: Brill
    Maxine Walden: and indeed we each brought our warm personal touch alongside our rather sophisticated gorwn up selves into the mix.
    Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
    Alfred Kelberry: *yays quietly. great pics!*
    Maxine Walden: Storm and I agreed that our appraoch to the retreat would be flexible to allow for unexpected explorations
    oO0Oo Resident: and Luci said, "let there be an Island.... and lo.. there was an Island"
    Maxine Walden: but that we would also offer the grounding of meditations which Storm led each morning.
    Maxine Walden: He will speak more about that in a bit
    Maxine Walden: Storm also suggested that we have a running montage, as a kind of
    Maxine Walden: accruing document of our experienes, and Luci brought a long roll of paper
    Maxine Walden: colored pens and the such, andt the montage indeed
    Maxine Walden: became a center piece for documentation and illustraion of our sojourn
    Maxine Walden: both communical and personal.
    Maxine Walden: We deciced not to have a silent day, different from some previous retreats
    Maxine Walden: but instead we took a ferry ride on Wed afternoon into Seattle
    Alfred Kelberry: cool
    Maxine Walden: both to explore the 100 year old Farmers market
    Maxine Walden: and to join up with two of our PaB companions for dinner
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Maxine Walden: That was a lovely experience which others may speak about.
    Maxine Walden: Luci was able to provide invaluable transportion (van)
    Maxine Walden: A note about the Lighthouse:
    oO0Oo Resident: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: yayy Luci
    Maxine Walden: built in 1915 it lit the way for ships taking timber
    Alfred Kelberry: ah! it's her van - i love those :)
    Maxine Walden: to the UK to aid the WWI effort;
    Maxine Walden: as an inland lighthouse its dimensions and size of the light
    Alfred Kelberry: it looks so tiny
    Maxine Walden: were/are smaller than coastal lighthouses,
    Eliza Madrigal: oooo aaaahh
    Aphrodite Macbain: he he
    Maxine Walden: but its proportions seem classic;
    oO0Oo Resident: indeed
    Maxine Walden: one of the most interesting features is that the lighthouse tower itself
    Alfred Kelberry: who was the photog?
    Aphrodite Macbain: all of us
    Alfred Kelberry: now who is this guy?!
    Maxine Walden: is built over a foundation of 90 vertically placed creosoted timbers (90!)
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Agatha Macbeth: Erk
    Eliza Madrigal knows that hug
    Alfred Kelberry: 90 :)
    Maxine Walden: customary building for the day; but 75 years later
    Eliza Madrigal: :))
    Maxine Walden: the swaying power of the timbers
    Agatha Macbeth smiles
    Alfred Kelberry: mermaid from the sea
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Maxine Walden: allowed the lighthouse to come through a significant earthquake virtually unscathed! (great metaphor in there somewhere :)
    Alfred Kelberry: love this van
    Maxine Walden: The quarters, two houses for keepers and their families,
    Alfred Kelberry: *hugs luci*
    Maxine Walden: are now rented out for retreats and get aways.
    oO0Oo Resident: *hugs Boxy*
    Aphrodite Macbain: hugs everyone
    Aphrodite Macbain: oof
    Maxine Walden: And the whole site is maintained quite lovingly by the local community.
    Aphrodite Macbain: Hi Luci!!!
    Aphrodite Macbain: welcome
    Maxine Walden: Part of the site, for me is the setting on a point seeing Puget Sound north and south, and towering Mt. Rainier to the south east.
    Maxine Walden: But also tempestuous weather which surrounded us -- the beauty, the weather, the power of nature was so close to hand, to inspire and to provide awe.
    Alfred Kelberry: luci with the starfish?
    Riddle Sideways: yes, we found out Cinda is a fireball
    Lucinda Lavender: :)))
    Maxine Walden: (finished my little presentation). Storm?
     
    Again to mention, that much of the attention was going to the pictures being displayed, the spontaneous comments interweaving with the short presentations.
     
    Agatha Macbeth: It tends to do that max, yes
    Eliza Madrigal: thanks Maxine :))
    Alfred Kelberry: thank you, maxine :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: yes luci with the starfish and diamonds
    Pila Mulligan: thanks Maxine
    Storm Nordwind: Thank you Maxine. Very detailed and comprehensive. Let me see if I can add just a little to that...
    Storm Nordwind: Being at sea level again was odd for me, like swimming through thick air! :) Anyway, to the retreat...
    oO0Oo Resident: thank you Maxine :)
    Zen Arado: ty Maxine
    Storm Nordwind: The wonderful Vashon Park district people had provided lovely amenities but were rather 'quaint' in not providing internet access!
    Bruce Mowbray: [`·.] APPLAUSE!! [.·´]
    Storm Nordwind: Maxine's husband Al set us up a Wimax facility that sat in one corner of the amazing picture window of Quarters A overlooking Puget Sound.
    Alfred Kelberry: storm, is it that noticeable?
    Aphrodite Macbain: what?
    Storm Nordwind: It was firing 3 miles across the water and the only times we lost signal was when large container ships passed by!
    Agatha Macbeth: Wow
    Storm Nordwind: When setting it up we were lucky enough to see a pod of dolphins swimming by.
    Wol Euler: !
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Storm Nordwind: Later in the week we all saw seals visiting.
    oO0Oo Resident: :))))))
    Aphrodite Macbain: you're taking my lines stormy
    Storm Nordwind: On the original schedule that Maxine and I had suggested, there was time for morning meditations together, and I led these.
    Eliza Madrigal: ::::oh!::::
    Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
    Storm Nordwind: I was conscious that we each came from different backgrounds and practices (or non-practices!).
    Storm Nordwind: I was also conscious that half of us were "originals" who had been with PaB from the start, whereas the other half were more recent and had missed some of the meditation experiments we tried when PaB was still new.
    Storm Nordwind: So I decided to reintroduce the YSBS and ESBS practices from 2008 - which might therefore be new stuff for some but a revisit for others.
    Storm Nordwind: I wanted to build up to it, so we started the week with gentle breathing, centering and grounding meditations, and also a meditation to include and welcome each other into our communal space.
    Storm Nordwind: Then we moved on to an awareness expanding meditation, and I also introduced people to a fun walking meditation that could be done at any time.
    Storm Nordwind: Midweek we tried YSBS and later we included ESBS as well.
    Storm Nordwind: And for most the week, Riddle had a timer running on his phone that interpolated the gentle zing of a finger cymbal every 15 minutes.
    Storm Nordwind: Thank you Riddle for that! :))
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Eliza Madrigal: :))
    Alfred Kelberry: did you talk during meditations?
    oO0Oo Resident: :)))
    Riddle Sideways: :)
    Storm Nordwind: if you haven't noticed, Mt. Rainier is to the south of us, just as we saw it in size
    Agatha Macbeth smiles
    Aphrodite Macbain: Luci's dancing
    Storm Nordwind: Lots of other contributions. So I'll stop there. Can't remember who goes next... (?)
    Eliza Madrigal: she wanted a closer look t the brewery....
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Agatha Macbeth: Wouldn't we all?
    oO0Oo Resident: Thanks Storm!
    Aphrodite Macbain: Luci - are you OK to proceed?
    Alfred Kelberry: aga, i pass :)
    Agatha Macbeth catches the pass
    Alfred Kelberry: :P
    Pema Pera: :-)
    Aphrodite Macbain passes out
    Storm Nordwind chuckles
    Pema Pera: en passant remarks
    Maxine Walden: ferry pass
    Lucinda Lavender: sorry friends my avi has gone way up in the sky!!
    oO0Oo Resident giggles
    Lucinda Lavender: I cannot see you to pass the note card
    Storm Nordwind: We see you here
    Lucinda Lavender: will try
    Storm Nordwind: I can pass a copy - you gave me it earlier
    Aphrodite Macbain: Maybe we should move on to Riddle and return to Cinda
    Riddle Sideways: ok
    Agatha Macbeth: Luci in the sky with diamonds
    Lucinda Lavender: yes good
    Maxine Walden: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: is that OK Luci?
    Riddle Sideways: Any gathering of friends MUST include the best of Feasting.
    Aphrodite Macbain: ok Riddle
    Riddle Sideways: There is little that makes a retreat better then great Food and Drink.
    This Retreat had the best of both.
    Alfred Kelberry: who's next?
    Alfred Kelberry: ah
    Aphrodite Macbain: food is always good
    Riddle Sideways: We enjoyed a lovely Tea shop attached to the island bookstore on the very first hour on the Island..
    Maxine Walden: :)
    Agatha Macbeth: TY
    Riddle Sideways: Cinda's husband's homemade beer, which was labeled by numbers so we had to blind taste test.
    Riddle Sideways: And Wine, Wine, Wine and no whine..
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Riddle Sideways: And the best of single malt scotch.
    Riddle Sideways: The best was the food !!!!!
    Storm Nordwind gave you New Note.
    Wol Euler smiles.
    Pila Mulligan is Offline
    Riddle Sideways: Organically grown, hand picked, lovingly cooked and delivered by local islander Emily.
    Lucinda Lavender is Offline
    Riddle Sideways: Each lunch and Dinner she brought new and wonderful delights.
    Storm Nordwind gave you New Note.
    Alfred Kelberry: aww
    Riddle Sideways: Including eatable flowers, fresh baked garlic breads, etc. etc.
    Eliza Madrigal: sounds wonderful
    Riddle Sideways: Thursday noon, Emily sat with us and told a little of her life (single mom, veggie resturant).
    Pila Mulligan is Online
    Alfred Kelberry: garlic bread! nom!
    Riddle Sideways: And her plans to move back into her Yurt to save money so she and 12 year old son could travel Central America.
    Riddle Sideways: Staying at different WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) farms along the way.
    Lucinda Lavender is Online
    oO0Oo Resident: wow
    Riddle Sideways: What a great way for an organic farmer / cook to travel cheaply, but also get to know a country by her and her son's own lifestyle.
    Alfred Kelberry: cool
    Alfred Kelberry: living the dream
    Riddle Sideways: (finished with my little presentation, Aph? Cinda?)
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: I'll post Cinda's
    Bruce Mowbray forgot who "Emily" is.
    Lucinda Lavender: ok...
    Aphrodite Macbain (posting for Luci): During our time at the the Lighthouse quarters...
    From a perspective "through the big window" of the living room we would cast our glance out to the east...
    The view was contiually shifting through the day in a soft manner. Gradual changes in the sky and water were giving us pause as well as creating noteable definition to our time. We would generally start the day going to check the beach at sunrise, somtimes clear and sometimes cloudy. Mostly it was somewhat clear...
    I invite others who were present to recall what they saw...
    Lucinda Lavender: back
    Maxine Walden: Emily was the caterer
    Aphrodite Macbain (again posting for Luci): One morning just as the sun was about to come up I downloaded the Star Walk app for the ipad and was able to view The Sun, Saturn, Venus, Mercury and the Moon... all lined up together as if in a parade. The view was then in a way extended on beyond
    the horizon into an unseen dimension. All really there tho:)
    Seeing Mt Rainier was of importance since it inhabits the horizon line and brings a majestic feeling to the view.
    It is a volcano, and, has it's own ecosystem surrounding it. At dawn it was usually hazy around it and at evening there was a lovely warm glow there even tho everything below had passed into shadow. It is such a lovely shape from this view:)
    oO0Oo Resident: thanks Riddle!
    Lucinda Lavender: thank you aph
    Lucinda Lavender: , storm, all
    Aphrodite Macbain: Thanks Lucinda and for coming here when you have a concert this afternoon!!
    Alfred Kelberry: star gazing... :)
    Alfred Kelberry: and pema missed it!
    Bruce Mowbray: Emily = caterer -- TY!
    oO0Oo Resident: Thanks Aph!
    Pema Pera: :-)
    Eliza Madrigal: Luci caught one...
    Aphrodite Macbain: THE FLORA AND FAUNA OF VASHON
    There were reports of dolphins and whales swimming by and we all saw what we thought were salmon leaping out of the water (‘tis the season). Gulls and other sea birds filled the sky and their wild cries were a constant background noise to our daytime conversations. Loons or cormorants swam by majestically in the evenings unless the weather was wild and rainy. 
    We gathered leaves and berries as we walked through the trees and sometimes attached or traced them to our visual record of the retreat – a long role of white paper that grew to almost 10 feet over the 6 days. Snowberries, maple leaves, chestnuts, whirligigs, yellow flowers, red berries. Some went into a vase by the window.
    There were also sea life on the sea shore – seashells galore and Lucinda found a red starfish.
    Anything else people remember
    Riddle Sideways: star gazing through her new iPad
    Agatha Macbeth: Hiya Shaz :)
    Eliza Madrigal: Hi Sophia :)
    SophiaSharon Larnia smiles and sits quietly
    Alfred Kelberry: neko girl! :)
    Aphrodite Macbain waits
    Alfred Kelberry: hmm, snowberries
    Aphrodite Macbain: anything else relating to flora and fauna?
    Agatha Macbeth: Hello Bertrum
    Eliza Madrigal: Hi Bertrum :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: Luci found a starfish
    Maxine Walden: Each of these qualities of experience added to our ongoing explorations
    Riddle Sideways: lots of driftwood
    Riddle Sideways: that the tides would move around
    Aphrodite Macbain: yes we broaught back alot of the flora and put it into our stories
    oO0Oo Resident: bert :) , SSL :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: OUR TRIP TO SEATTLE
    One day we all went into the big city of Seattle to explore Pikes Place Market and have a meal together at Cutters restaurant. It was fun to take the ferry to the mainland and back. There were so many of us two cars had to go, one was Lucinda’s big van and the other was Maxine and Al’s car. With Riddle’s iphone we were able to stay connected as we wove through the streets of Seattle. We were happy that Santoshima was able to come down and join us for the day and night and that Calvino and Al were able
    Aphrodite Macbain: to join us for dinner
    Aphrodite Macbain: any othr additions to the seattle trip?
    Maxine Walden: Storm and I swore that we saw whales in the dark on our ferry ride back to Vashon
    Pila Mulligan: :)
    Maxine Walden: after the dinner. We had had such a good time...
    Aphrodite Macbain: We kept hearing stories about whales.... and dolphins
    Storm Nordwind: By the way, that photo is Santoshima wading in the sea - the only one brave enough to do so! :)
    SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
    Eliza Madrigal: ah, wondered who :))
    Maxine Walden: temp about 45 dgrees F at this time of year
    Alfred Kelberry: san! :)
    Riddle Sideways: oh, and a field trip to "The Roastery" for ice cream
    Aphrodite Macbain: wild and windy one day, foggy the next. blue skies the next
    Agatha Macbeth: Yumzy
    Alfred Kelberry: luci showing the whales
    Eliza Madrigal approves
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: excellent icecream
    Eliza Madrigal: what kind?
    Aphrodite Macbain: I even found a pastry called aphrodite
    Alfred Kelberry: can someone please comment the pictures?
    Storm Nordwind: yummy kind
    Agatha Macbeth: The cold kind hopefully :P
    Eliza Madrigal: :)))
    Aphrodite Macbain: strange and woderful flavours
    Eliza Madrigal: my favorite
    Maxine Walden: yes, Boxy, I will comment
    Maxine Walden: Luci with a starfish
    Alfred Kelberry: thank you :)
    Riddle Sideways: had salty carmel ice cream
    Aphrodite Macbain: sure- storm as you assembed the slide show would you comment?
    Eliza Madrigal: catch a swiming star and put it in your pocket.... (sings with Luci)
    Storm Nordwind: Sure - this is sunrise
    Lucinda Lavender: yes and lemon raspberry
    boxy's nose: Bruce slowly strokes boxy's wet nose
    Storm Nordwind: This is the house where 4 of us stayed
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: Maxine and I stayed opposite
    Storm Nordwind: And the house where the other two stayed
    Lucinda Lavender: :))
    Storm Nordwind: with lighthouse in the background
    Aphrodite Macbain: my bedroom!
    Storm Nordwind: Inside of one of the bedrooms
    Alfred Kelberry: heh
    Alfred Kelberry: aph at the window?
    Aphrodite Macbain: so beautiful
    Storm Nordwind: The lighthouse keeper and his lighthouse
    Eliza Madrigal: beautiful windows
    Aphrodite Macbain: what's his name up top
    Storm Nordwind: Sun actually rising over Puget Sound
    Storm Nordwind: fishing boat too
    Maxine Walden: lovingly tended even now. Cap'n Jo
    Storm Nordwind: and driftwood tipi
    Maxine Walden: told us all about it
    Aphrodite Macbain: right
    Storm Nordwind: the sea in bad and good weather
    Riddle Sideways: the porch
    Alfred Kelberry: aph's house?
    Storm Nordwind: Rough sea
    Lucinda Lavender: loved being able to wake up the the sun rise view
    Aphrodite Macbain: my house yes, of course
    Maxine Walden: :))
    Storm Nordwind: Mt Rainier in dawn light
    Lucinda Lavender: loved being able to rise to the sunrise
    Maxine Walden: awesome
    Storm Nordwind: pronounced "re-neer"
    Storm Nordwind: And the volcano in all its glory
    Alfred Kelberry: all the dawn pics look like sunset
    Riddle Sideways: eatible flower
    Aphrodite Macbain: some people could Luci - others had a harder time...
    Storm Nordwind: Some of the food Emily brought us
    Storm Nordwind: Riddle and maxine on the steps
    Agatha Macbeth: That looks gorgeous
    Storm Nordwind: *Maxine
    SophiaSharon Larnia: smiles
    Alfred Kelberry: love this one
    Riddle Sideways: big ugly guy
    Aphrodite Macbain: riddle and Maxine
    Storm Nordwind: Aph and Storm walking by the sea
    Eliza Madrigal: gorgeous avies
    Alfred Kelberry: riddly!
    Eliza Madrigal: :))
    Aphrodite Macbain: me and storm
    Alfred Kelberry: he *is* a cute elephant after all :)
    Storm Nordwind: Aph painting on the porch
    Riddle Sideways: aph watercoloring
    Aphrodite Macbain: lalalalal
    Storm Nordwind: Luci, Riddle and Storm having musical fun
    Alfred Kelberry: great stones setup
    Lucinda Lavender: loved the singing
    Lucinda Lavender: and guitar time
    Riddle Sideways: iPad lyrics come in handy
    Agatha Macbeth: Luci conducting :)
    Storm Nordwind: Santoshima wading!
    Alfred Kelberry: who is on macbook?
    oO0Oo Resident: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: Luci
    Lucinda Lavender: luci
    Storm Nordwind: Luci's van
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: our proud steed
    Storm Nordwind chuckles
    Alfred Kelberry: wrrom
    Storm Nordwind: One of the ferries we travelled on to and from the island
    Alfred Kelberry: the ship that blocked the signal
    Alfred Kelberry: cute
    Storm Nordwind: Luci pointing out... er ... the sea and the island!
    Aphrodite Macbain: Vashon island pointing
    Storm Nordwind: The microbrewery in Seattle
    Riddle Sideways: a brewery
    Storm Nordwind: The Roasterie (for coffee) on vashon
    Alfred Kelberry: ah
    Storm Nordwind: Luci and starfish
    Aphrodite Macbain: great place
    Aphrodite Macbain: peace
    Storm Nordwind: And finally, some avatars spying on the retreat! ;-))
    oO0Oo Resident: :)
    Pila Mulligan: ;0
    SophiaSharon Larnia: heh
    Maxine Walden: :))
    Alfred Kelberry: starfish looks dead...
    Aphrodite Macbain giggles
    Agatha Macbeth: It's asleep Alf
    Aphrodite Macbain: very. hat was the underside
    Alfred Kelberry: oh :)
    Lucinda Lavender: it was dead
    Maxine Walden: a former starfish?
    Agatha Macbeth: Aww
    Aphrodite Macbain: any questions?
    Storm Nordwind: A late starfish
    Maxine Walden: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: concerns?
    Aphrodite Macbain: commentas?
    Eliza Madrigal feels the light beams shining from the group
    Aphrodite Macbain: and commentts
    Agatha Macbeth: An ex-starfish as John Cleese would say
    Maxine Walden: yes, open up the conversation?
    Wol Euler applauds!
    Eliza Madrigal: **********Applause!!**********
    Eliza Madrigal: **********Applause!!**********
    Alfred Kelberry: thank you everyone!!!
    Bruce Mowbray: [`·.] APPLAUSE!! [.·´]
    Wol Euler: thank you all very much for your presentations
    Bruce Mowbray: [`·.] APPLAUSE!! [.·´]
    Aphrodite Macbain bows
    Agatha Macbeth: Thanks, brill
    Lucinda Lavender: :)))
    oO0Oo Resident: fantastic
    Pema Pera: yes, wonderful, thanks a lot for such a great presentation ! ! ! !
    Alfred Kelberry: amzing trip and thank you for sharing!
    Aphrodite Macbain: we are quite a group. I hated to leave. I fell in love with everyone
    oO0Oo Resident: _/\_
    Storm Nordwind: :))
    Pema Pera: best retreat summary so far, I'd say!
    Wol Euler smiles.
    Lucinda Lavender: awww
    Agatha Macbeth: I'm sure the feeling was mutual Aph :)
    Lucinda Lavender: I felt the same
    Maxine Walden: Yes, it was difficult for the retreat to come to an end
    Zen Arado: nive and appreciate the photos :)
    Pila Mulligan: yes, the photos add a lot
    Storm Nordwind: The biggest thing that I noticed at the retreat was how much more there was to knowing people compared to Second Life. It didn't matter how short or long a time we'd been interacting on SL, it was always a delight to fill in so many more pieces of the jigsaw than I could have guessed existed.
    Lucinda Lavender: yes!!!
    Lucinda Lavender: yes
    Riddle Sideways: oh and Susan doing jigsaw puzzles
    Maxine Walden: absolutely
    Maxine Walden: We tried to address the ending of the retreat and we each had our own experience of the ending of course
    Agatha Macbeth: Sounds like Citizen Kane :p
    Aphrodite Macbain: We spent some time discussing PaB and have made some recommendations that can be discussed over time
    Agatha Macbeth: Good
    Aphrodite Macbain: VASHON RECOMMENDATIONS LINK
    We spent some time talking about PaB and coming up with ideas that might help the organzation run smoothly. They are located in the wiki on retreats.
    We hope to address them one by one at the Guardian meetings and at the Working Group.
    The are currently listed here:
    Maxine Walden: yes, Aph
    Aphrodite Macbain: It was a very pleasant process
    Aphrodite Macbain: we all care about PaB so much
    Maxine Walden: natural coming together of ideas
    Alfred Kelberry: *shakes pema's hand*
    Aphrodite Macbain: and want things to keep evolving as we do
    Alfred Kelberry: thank you for pab, pema-san :)
    Agatha Macbeth tugs Pema's hair
    Pema Pera: (^_^)
    oO0Oo Resident: Pema :)))
    Aphrodite Macbain: Thanks for setting up all those slides Storm
    Aphrodite Macbain: a lot of wonderful work
    Agatha Macbeth: Yes indeed
    Eliza Madrigal: What a pleasure, thank you very much
    Storm Nordwind: You're welcome Aph. So hard to choose a succinct selection from the many we took.
    Aphrodite Macbain: and thank you both for your guidance
    Pema Pera: there are more??
    Maxine Walden: Yes, a wonderful montage, sort of galvanizing as was the montage we had at the retreat
    Agatha Macbeth: Every picture tells a story
    Aphrodite Macbain: many more!
    Alfred Kelberry: *votes for part2!*
    Storm Nordwind: too many more! ;)
    Pema Pera: encore encore!
    Aphrodite Macbain: heheh
    Lucinda Lavender: :)))
    Wol Euler: when do we get to see the 10 feet of comments and notes and flowers?
    SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
    Bruce Mowbray: [`·.] APPLAUSE!! [.·´]
    Lucinda Lavender: thanks Storm...
    Aphrodite Macbain: oh yes. there is a composite photo of that Wol
    Wol Euler grins.
    Aphrodite Macbain: as well as a breakdown
    Eliza Madrigal: :) yay
    Storm Nordwind: But we're keeping it private for the retreaters
    Aphrodite Macbain: Luci ritually burned it later
    Wol Euler: awwwww
    Alfred Kelberry: pema, isn't it "bis"?
    Maxine Walden: We pondered that, Wol, and it seemed that the montage recorded some rather private thoughts and experiendes...
    Aphrodite Macbain: it went up into the sky
    Wol Euler nods.
    Wol Euler: fair enough
    Lucinda Lavender: with the wind...
    Agatha Macbeth: RIP
    Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
    Wol Euler: a pity, but understood
    Aphrodite Macbain: yes. let's hope so
    Riddle Sideways: you took a movie of it?
    Maxine Walden: we can say that one of the major explorations we had
    Aphrodite Macbain: Susan is sorry she couldn't make it this afternoon
    Aphrodite Macbain: Shje is very budy
    Maxine Walden: was that of our various lenses uponn reality
    Alfred Kelberry: buddy
    Riddle Sideways: busy
    Alfred Kelberry: :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: busy
    Aphrodite Macbain: a busy buddy
    Maxine Walden: what experiences inform and shape our perceptions, etc. That was very moving, very informing
    Agatha Macbeth: Busy buddy
    Agatha Macbeth: snap
    Aphrodite Macbain: snap
    Storm Nordwind: Agreed Maxine
    Alfred Kelberry: heh
    Agatha Macbeth: Deja vu
    Aphrodite Macbain: yes- and we captured some of them vosuially in our drawings
    Aphrodite Macbain: visually
    Maxine Walden: indeed, that was quite riviting
    Agatha Macbeth: and vosiually :p
    Riddle Sideways: well, Aph (the artist) captured them
    Alfred Kelberry: no drawings pics?
    Aphrodite Macbain: I made two thnk you cards for Maxine and storm
    Aphrodite Macbain: the rest are photographs- about 50!
    Maxine Walden: and they were absolutely lovely, Aph
    Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
    Aphrodite Macbain: I wondr where we should put all this information on the retreat.
    Riddle Sideways: the single malt pic was not in the show :}
    Aphrodite Macbain: I have listed the recommendations but no descriptions
    Wol Euler: the wiki, of course :)
    Aphrodite Macbain: there were many pix that weren't in the show
    Aphrodite Macbain: shall we put all our pix in the wiki with the exception of personal ones?
    Alfred Kelberry: pabretreat.org :)
    Eliza Madrigal: would be wonderful to have pics...
    Maxine Walden: yes, post it as a PaB session, but maybe also on the retreat page?
    Lucinda Lavender: I would love that too
    Aphrodite Macbain: I thought it would be nice to compile all our presentation texts and put them in the wiki
    Eliza Madrigal: very nice Aph
    Maxine Walden: good idea, aph
    Aphrodite Macbain: (retreat wiki) as well as the regular log
    Eliza Madrigal: you can look at some previous examples also of the way we filed former retreats
    Wol Euler nods.
    Eliza Madrigal: and link to pages under a few categories
    Eliza Madrigal: :))
    Aphrodite Macbain: thanks. will do
    oO0Oo Resident: :)
    Eliza Madrigal: thanks so much
    Eliza Madrigal: such a thoughtful and loving presentation
    Eliza Madrigal: bringing us all in :)
    oO0Oo Resident: agreed!
    Aphrodite Macbain: if someone shows me how....
    Bruce Mowbray: [`·.] APPLAUSE!! [.·´]
    Lucinda Lavender: any pics I put up will need some understanding how to do it
    Maxine Walden: pleased if some of our experience came across
    oO0Oo Resident: ::applause::
    Wol Euler: very well, maxine, thank you
    Eliza Madrigal: can very much feel the time
    Eliza Madrigal: and sure, Aph :)
    Lucinda Lavender: thank you Maxine...
    Pila Mulligan: thnks for the interesting story
    Agatha Macbeth nods
    Aphrodite Macbain: Thanks for ltting us regale you with misty coloured memories
    Riddle Sideways: Thank you Maxine
    SophiaSharon Larnia: :)
    Maxine Walden: thanks to all of the retreat group...we had a wonderful time
    Aphrodite Macbain: letting
    Agatha Macbeth: Play misty for me
    Eliza Madrigal: :)
    Eos Amaterasu is Online
    Aphrodite Macbain: :-)
    Zen Arado: lol
    Aphrodite Macbain: Bye
    Aphrodite Macbain: Bye! all
    Aphrodite Macbain: Hugs all round
    Lucinda Lavender: Luci feels it goes much deeper...than one might think
    Eliza Madrigal: Bye Aphrodite
    Agatha Macbeth hugs and waves
    SophiaSharon Larnia: Bye Aphrodite
    oO0Oo Resident: bye... Thanks Aph!
    Pema Pera: bye Aph!
    Maxine Walden: yes, very deep, agree, Luci
    Riddle Sideways: btw - cinda has a big concert tonight
    Zen Arado: bye Aph :)
    Lucinda Lavender: Aph I will sing about you today...
    Eliza Madrigal: hmmm, why do you think so in particular?
    Agatha Macbeth: Oooh
    Lucinda Lavender: part of the Brahms song...
    Agatha Macbeth: Hi Berti! Nice landing :)
    Eliza Madrigal: Hi Eos :)
    Lucinda Lavender: in just an hour we will sing
    Eos Amaterasu: (sry I'm late, got caught up)
    Eliza Madrigal: can begin the slide again....?
    Alfred Kelberry: *pokes eos* :)
    oO0Oo Resident: hi Eos!
    Maxine Walden: We will post the log and pics on the retreat pages, and perhaps on PaB wiki
    Agatha Macbeth: Hello E
    Lucinda Lavender: I think it goes deeper because there were areas of common understanding
    Alfred Kelberry: luci, how abotu we song now! :)
    Alfred Kelberry: um... sing, a song :)
    Eliza Madrigal: hmm 'areas of common understanding'
    Maxine Walden: Being together for several days just helps us get under the surface I think, and our efforts to be protective yet honest allowed some deep experience
    Lucinda Lavender: can't really explain due to privace but important areas of common experience
    Zen Arado: bye all going to Bert's meditation
    Eliza Madrigal: mmmm, thanks
    Eliza Madrigal: Bye Zen
    Wol Euler bites Bertram's thigh gently
    Lucinda Lavender: bye Zen:)
    SophiaSharon Larnia: grins
    Riddle Sideways: and who knew Storm was such a great guitarist
    Alfred Kelberry: heh
    Maxine Walden: and while it seemed that we held different points of view, when we listened and remained open we discovered more commonalities than we first thought
    Alfred Kelberry: naughty uou :)
    Lucinda Lavender: thinks about dropping of ego...
    Lucinda Lavender: thinking about dropping of masks
    Maxine Walden: yes...
    Eliza Madrigal: delightfully absorbing views perhaps make it difficult to hold on to those :)
    oO0Oo Resident: "we discovered more commonalities than we first thought" maxine walden nice
    Lucinda Lavender: phew...hot for both Riddle and Storm!
    Eliza Madrigal waves Pema
    Pema Pera: bye everybody, and thanks again for such a great presentation!
    Lucinda Lavender: not hot in that sense:)
    Storm Nordwind chuckles
    SophiaSharon Larnia: bye Pema
    Storm Nordwind waves
    Maxine Walden: thanks for coming Pema
    Eliza Madrigal: heheh
    Sunshine Vayandar is Online
    Pema Pera is Offline
    Lucinda Lavender: they are hot on the guitar!!
    oO0Oo Resident: Pema :))
    Wol Euler: bye pema, take care
    Eliza Madrigal laughs
    Eliza Madrigal wishes for audio
    Lucinda Lavender: the computer is very slow in delivering my words
    oO0Oo Resident: Pictures riddle and Storm *hot* on a guitar
    Eliza Madrigal: jam session :)
    Lucinda Lavender: and not in sequence
    Lucinda Lavender: they knew lots of songs
    Bruce Mowbray: Absolutely wondeful in every way. THANK YOU so much, everyone.
    Storm Nordwind: Thanks to Luci for bringing the guitars!
    Maxine Walden: I should go too. Wonderful to share these fresh memories
    Lucinda Lavender: welcome
    Alfred Kelberry: yes, maxine. even soldiers on either side of the frontline, if they sit long enough in the trench, realize that they have more in common.
    Agatha Macbeth: Ah well...tis berti time
    oO0Oo Resident: bruce :)
    Eliza Madrigal waves to Bruce and Aggers
     

     

     

     

     

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    I giggled at "ice cream emergencies". Plan ahead!
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