when: February 2005
where: The Wilds of New Hampshire
who: Sarah, Chris, Kim H., Kim M., Ben S., Ben A., Christine, Christina, Debbie, Sue, Sean, David, Laurie, Karen
So there we were, studying the spiritual disciplines at the same time as we were relishing the non-Biblical themes of the weekend, including odd food, inventive nicknames, and funny conversations. All of this combined with cold weather and lack of sleep--what more could anyone ask for?
Driver Chris in his stylish Subaru station wagon decrees a dinner stop at Wendy's
for our car of coolness (aka David, Laurie, and me). At dinner, Chris puts a
lot of ketchup on his fries. The poor little french fry drowns in the
ketchup, actually.
Also at dinner, David puts a lot of salt on his fries. But
then again, maybe he was just trying to be as interesting and photogenic as
Chris.
We had a lot of time to talk with the other members of our group. Here, Karen,
Kim M., David, and Sarah take a break from conversation over cocoa and cookies
the first evening.
Did I mention the odd food? Lunch on Saturday was the bizarre combination of
tortilla chips with artichoke dip, baked potatoes with cheese, broccoli, and
chili on the side, and cornbread, with gingerbread for dessert. The windshield-washer-fluid-blue
beverage, pictured here with Kim M. and Karen, was also a delight.
On Saturday afternoon, a photo scavenger hunt kept our group busy. We didn't win--in fact, we were 10th out of 25 groups, thereby fulfilling our team name, Slightly Above Average. Here are some of the better shots from the event.
"Take a picture of your group interacting with wildlife." Oh
yeah, they're interacting all right. . . .
"Take a picture of your group in a scenic location." Great--too bad we filled up the background so well you can't even see the scenic frozen lake.
"Take a picture of your group reenacting an Old Testament story." Many other groups went the boring route and chose Abraham and Isaac, but we went for the Ark. From left to right, above, we have a pair of bunnies, of unidentified four-legged animals, and of flamingoes entering the ark; Noah and his wife standing nearby and supervising; and a pair of dogs (hyenas?) panting from the top of the ark.
"Take a picture of your group being contemplative." I like that we're contemplating children's books here.
"Take a picture of your group in a cemetary." There may have been a cemetary nearby, but we didn't know where it was and we were too cold and lazy to troop around in the woods looking for one. So we went the creative route with a whiteboard. Isn't Karen's zombie (second from left) particularly fetching?
The concept of a state-run liquor store is so foreign to us that we just have
to stop before re-entering Massachusetts. We're the cool car, after all.
Hey! We run into other Cafe people on their way home from the retreat, too.
We browse pathetically together for awhile, then leave without buying anything.
Did you see those crazy long lines?
After a quick, traffic-free trip to Boston, we grind to a halt in odd, 4pm Sunday traffic as Chris tries to drop us all off at home. He eventually succeeds, of course, or I wouldn't be able to post this now.
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Created: 3/1/05. Last Modified: 3/1/05.