We are pleased to announce that we are going to be holding our annual Artist’s Retreat from June 13th through the 15th. We already have some workshops in store, but we still need instructors.

This week, both the lake garden and the secret garden have received some good good lovin’, both of the human and the insect kind. While the bees have been busy making flowers, the beetles have been busy eating the cabbage. If anybody knows any advice they can offer that is an organic, earth-friendly and people friendly way to deal with this problem, we would love to listen.

Since the throes of spring break have finally ended and things are staring to slow down, the staff has been able to take more recreational time lately with the guests. On Wednesday night we took a field trip into Babylon for some bowling, where a new game was created, soon to be all the rage at an alley near you. With every round of the game, a new pose must be chosen, and every bowler must throw from that pose. While the yoga lotus pose and bowling through you legs from behind both work well, the yoga tree pose and spinning around 5 times before bowling we still need some practice on. Thursday night we had another garden party, this time with salad and bass freshly speared from the lake by Jonathon. Sunday night we had an evening concerto as Devon from Montreal played the violin on the screen porch, and the sounds echoed off into the woods to blend with music of the animals. Every night the sky is lighting up in a spectacular show with fireflies so thick against the black forest it’s hard to tell them from the stars against the black sky. The flickering of lights amongst the trees I like to imagine as Morse Code for the lesson taught by Crowfoot, chief of the Blackfoot First Nation in Canada, with his last words: “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.” If life is so beautiful as such things, what fear should we have of the end…

Now for a note of business, we have a chicken situation on our hands. There are simply too many ladies for the roosters to look after, so we are going to have to relocate a few hens. If anyone is interested in owning a hostel chicken and already has a good home for them and promises that it’s not in the oven, then contact us and we can work something out.

Until next time,

May The Forest Be With You…