Retreat

We’re having a gorgeous fall in Virginia — sunny days and cool evenings, when you step into the night and feel blanketed by the misty air and see the moon through a haze.  I was privileged to spend one of these gorgeous weekends on a personal retreat at Corhaven, out in the Shenandoah Valley, to spend time reading and listening and praying and to mark this significant moment of healing.

The property has a maze of hiking trails down to the river, and for the first time in at least ten years (!!!) I got back into the woods.  Before getting sick, I did a lot of backpacking and fell in love with the wild and the quiet of nature, and with the stunning experience of watching night fall and seeing every shade of sky between one day and the next.  My heart rejoiced to be back!  (And was happy to be sleeping in a cabin rather than a tent.)

A reminder that God is here and loving you — one of the gifts of my trip.

I fell in love with this guy — my hiking buddy!

I didn’t get a great picture of the chickens, but one of them — the mean one, who rules the roost, is named Lady Catherine de Bird.  HA!Watching night fall.