Hello Everyone,
I've been enjoying myself so much over the past few days at my very own Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat at Snowflake Lodge in Arnold, California. I made new friends, and reconnected with so many other friends that I haven't seen in two years. Here I am standing next to a wall hanging that Barbara and Lynnette made for me two years ago. I think it looks just like me!
We jump started the retreat by setting up on Sunday, August 22nd. That way we could hit the ground running Monday morning at 8am and got those machines humming.
Sunday, after set up, we had appetizers at my cabin. What a spread!! The girls brought the most delicious appetizers which we thoroughly enjoyed.
My sister Gail, on the left, is chatting with Janice. We all had a lot of catching up to do.
This was just part of the dessert table.
We had a feast.
The cabin was humming with chatter, laughter, hugs, and kisses. It felt so good to be able to be together once again.
So, you just saw pictures of the beginning of the retreat. Now here are pictures of the end of the retreat on Wednesday evening. While we we enjoying our appetizers and wine on the deck at the Lodge, management came to me and advised me of a new fire that was just 11 miles away from us. I looked at the CalFire website and determined at the time that is was a small fire, and we weren't in any danger. After dinner, I huddled with management and we collectively decided it was time to pack up after reading that the fire was exhibiting an extreme rate of spread....in our direction.
Mr. Joe went downtown to gather information about the fire at our fire station, and saw that our two gas stations had long lines. Prior to the retreat, I had given my quilters instructions to fill up their gas tanks when they arrived in town just in case we needed to get the hell out of Dodge. They listened to me, and it's a good thing they did. If the main road into Arnold had closed, we were going to be in a world of hurt. Roads were closing and my fear was the main road out of the mountains would not be accessible.
What started as a small fire grew to this very quickly. Evacuation orders were starting to pop up on the web and via texts for small communities in the immediate area of the fire. Standby evacuation orders were also posted.
These are not images that I took. I found this on the web taken by individuals close to the fire.
Air tankers came out in force and covered the fire with retardant. The red you see is the retardant, not flames.
It usually takes us a fair bit of time to pack up. We were packed and gone in a very short period of time. The girls packed up their quilting supplies, then they had to go to their rented cabins and hotel rooms to collect their things before they could hit the road.
Needless to say, Mr. Joe and I didn't get much sleep Wednesday night at the cabin. I kept waiting for an mandatory evacuation notice. Luckily that never happened.
As of this writing, the fire is 50% contained, and we don't feel any anxiety or worry that we are in any danger.
The girls all have a good story to tell. Next year we should all wear T-shirts that say, "I survived the Sew'n Wild Oaks Retreat!" The girls were real troopers through this entire experience.
Throughout the coming week, I will post pictures of the three wonderful days we had together until we were so rudely interrupted.
I've always said that quilters are the best people on the planet. This group of quilters were exceptional. I love them all for their creativity, their desire to help each other, their compassion, their laughter, and their love. We were truly blessed to have our three days together.
Soon,
Lynn
