Pilgrimage

Today around the world: August 12 is Montserrat Annual Pilgrimage in Montserrat, a volcanic island in the Caribbean Sea.

Coincidentally, today is also the day I leave for the seventh annual T'ai Chi retreat, a.k.a. summer camp for grown-ups. Attending the retreat each August is my own sort of pilgrimage. It's a time to get away from the responsibilities of work and home and spend 48 hours concentrating on just two things: my art and my friends. Both get a reasonable amount of attention during an average week, but they're not front and center. Class is somewhere I go after the obligation of work; my friends are people I see after face time with my boss and colleagues. Work may be the main meal of the day, but T'ai Chi is the dessert. Ironically — or not, really — it's the dessert that nourishes most.

So I'll pick up the Kerner after lunch and we'll load the Subarushi with overnight bags, coolers full of imported dark beer organic wheatgrass juice, and other things we wouldn't carry on the bus, like swords and sabers. My job is to drive; hers is to supply the soundtrack for the hour-long drive to camp and back. We'll move into the dorms at a boarding school late this afternoon, two by two, and hang the keys around our necks on shoestrings. Then we'll gather for supper, introductions, and an overview of the weekend's agenda. After that we party.

Too early Saturday morning, someone will walk through the dorms ringing a small gong to summon us to the day's first practice. We'll grumble our way outside, coffee and Cokes in hand. Fog will clear as we complete a round of T'ai Chi. Breakfast, social time, workshop, social time, lunch, social time, workshop, social time, workshop, social time, supper, social time. Sunday: more of the same until we disperse in the afternoon to come back home.

The theme of this year's retreat is "creating your personal practice plan." I'm looking forward to this, because my plan could sure use some revamping. It will be a time to take stock: examine, sort, prioritize, winnow. It will be a time to relax and recreate, which is the root word of recreation. My annual pilgrimage may be brief, but I always return feeling refreshed.

Photos today? YES, and more this weekend if I get any decent ones