I'm back.

Kinda tired and a bit cranky. Retreat was... Well, great really, but rather intense spiritually what with the getting up at 6am every morning to sit in meditation for an hour, lots of deeply challenging relationship work and the ferry schedule wait-in-line-for-hours-and-still-miss-your-boat-hell we went through.

But really, what better setting could there be for soul searching than the gorgeous wild woodlands on top of Mount Tuam on Saltsprings Island? We groggily walked our early morning path to the meditation hall accompanied by the silent gaze of deer and the throaty chuckle of ravens. Then there were the three baby coons who owned the compost pile and would scurry out of the bucket hissing when we walked by, leaping up onto the majestic fir nearby to stare at us with precise synchronisity and incredible cuteness.

It was really great to visit with Nate, who lives up there. He took us up to the top of the mountain and showed us many wondrous, freaky and breathtakingly glorious sights. Daniel and I greatly mourned our lack of foresight in not bringing the digital camera-so many good blogging opportunites missed!

I wasn't quite ready to come back yet. I feel a bit worn... I think I need a vacation to recover from my vacation!

But I'm so happy to be with my dear sweet SammySam again-I missed that boy! And the whole family, Ben and Rowan and my mom and Josh and Jess... Everyone came by for dinner last night-a wonderful impromptu feast to welcome us home.

OK, the kids little discussion of which couch cushion house is whose is starting to escalate into a fullblown disagreement, so I think I will resume my mommyhat now...