Sponsored by the BlackNeedleSociety (no clue from whence came the name) this stitching retreat was scheduled for late April 2020. And we all know what happened to everything planned that month and for months and months afterwards. I don’t think the owners of this particular company even made any attempt to reschedule for last year, choosing instead to wait for this year, better news, or at least a chance to not be cancelled at the last minute.

So here I am in the middle of nowhere – officially we are in Independence, MO but this is one of those hotel/conference center complexes just far enough away from anything to be able to sell the lovely grounds and view of the local lake. Pond really from my point of view, but then I get to see SF Bay and the Pacific Ocean every day from my living room window.

Silly me, when I went down early in the morning to see where we would be, I found the room open, set up and empty. I failed to take a picture. When I came back later – door safely closed, I never got the opportunity.

None of my table mates are locals – one is from Quebec, one from Ohio, and two from Iowa. More than that – I really can’t offer. The organizers are lovely, the group is quite a bit younger than either of the other two retreats. Having said all of that, it is probably not one that I would do again.  Reasons are both simple and complex. The venue is good, the people are good. I am not much for organized activities. My fault for not expecting games, but then I am not on Facebook so didn’t have too much warning. Today’s games were related to “how many things on this list do you have in your bag.” The winner? 32. Me – about 5. I don’t bring printed patterns and I leave everything nonessential in the room. Two pairs of scissors? Why? 10 needles? why? Thread conditioner? Why when I don’t need it for this piece.

See, neither of us care much about that sort of thing. Tomorrow is a scavenger hunt. It will be a balance between my irritation and not trashing the fun of the others at my table…..