From everywhere

This weekend we had a group of women (and one brave man) for a retreat, "Mid-Life, Long Life." These retreats used to be rather small and local, but this time the participants were from NY, PA and OH, as you'd expect, but there were also people from MA, CT, MI and GA!

The difference? The wonders of the scope of the internet, our great website and maybe a little bit of word of mouth.

I remember one weekend a few years ago: it stands out because for those two days we had people in the monastery from six continents: North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia.

Imagine--the whole world passing through our little place here in Erie!

We've had a week of spring rains and cooler than normal temps. The rains really stir up our creeks and Lake Erie. One of the few times when it looks more like an ocean!

All the rain has caused the natural world to "explode"--- growth is everywhere. These purple cone-like things are on one of the evergreens. Not sure what they are.