It's always a little bit different from the time before, but always quite wonderful. This is a retreat that used to be sponsored by the Bay Area Folk Harp Society, which is now defunct, but the retreat goes on. Natalie Cox, Mitch Landry and Jacqueline Lynnaugh, (as far as I know) put the thing together and mainly attract people who used to come when there was a society. Even though they give classes, they pay to come as well. I hope they enjoy it as much as we do.
We come to Occidental, which is a town near the northern California coast and stay in a house at a campground (which is kind of a stretch to call it camping) owned by the Episcopal church called Dorothy's Rest. All our meals are provided, and this year we had a class taught by Mitch and one by Jacquelyn.
Both were interesting. I think I got more out of the chord progression class by Mitch Landry than any class I've ever taken at one of these events. At times it was a little difficult to understand, but I think that was just a matter of vocabulary. I think I might be able to move my arranging techniques to the next level after this class. Additionally, we got a couple of pieces to learn with "jazz" type chords, one of which is really gorgeous.
Jacquelyn gave a class this afternoon about developing stories to tell with harp accompaniment. That, too, was a lot of fun, especially because I wasn't really all that interested in doing it, but turned out to be a useful exercise in developing a story and putting music to it.
Last night we had a fun jam session, tonight we didn't jam, because most people were tired after the coeli and just wanted to go to bed. At 9:30!!! A few of us stayed up and talked and drank which was fun, but I would rather have played -- especially with Mitch because he can play anything and at anyone's level.
I have a roommate this year and she's a very nice and pleasant person -- Iyana. Tomorrow morning it's over, too soon as always. I brought 9 pairs of harp earrings to sell and sold five of them. It was like a swarm when I put them out on the table. Sort of like when you throw food into a fish tank.
The last night we were there it was REALLY cold. I was chilled when I went to bed, and a bit nauseated -- couldn't be from all the food and drink, could it? -- and
never could get warm all night, in spite of the fact that I wore my jacket to bed and also they gave us a waffle weave blanket and a big heavy wool army blanket, which was big enough to use folded up. And still I was cold. We had agreed not to turn on the heater in the room, but about 5 a.m. I turned it on anyway. It warmed it up somewhat, but it wasn't too warm by any means. Sunday they gave us a lovely brunch which included some fabulous savory scones and plenty of bacon and a veggie frittata and fruit. We had a little bit of a jam before brunch and thought we would do some afterwards, but people started packing up, and we left.
On the way home, I stopped at one of many cute antique stores in the area and got the salt and pepper shakers of my dreams.
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