Before I get to the fun part of my day, I’ll write about the morning, which was much less fun. I woke up at 3:30 this morning and just could not get back to sleep. I probably should have gotten up and done something, but I really really wanted to get back to sleep. We were rehearsing all day for Sola Gratia and I wanted more sleep! I layed and layed and layed, but didn’t fall back asleep until just after 6am. Then I had to get up at 6:30. Poo. I got ready while Matt vacuumed the van for me. I had offered to drive people to our “retreat” today, and I wanted to get rid of any goldfish or cheerios. :) Anyway, I headed out to the car at about 7:20, plenty of time for me to get gas and be at the church at 7:45. Or it would have been, had the van started. All it did was click. Battery dead. Just from the vacuuming. Oy.
Matt tried to jump it but one of the terminals on my battery was very corroded (which is why we think the vacuuming drained it) and it wouldn’t jump. I couldn’t get ahold of anyone (mainly because I don’t have most of these ladies’ cell numbers), and by this point I was really running out of time! I ended up just waking the girls, putting them in Matt’s car, and having him drop me at the church. Fortunately there were enough other ladies planning to drive that my van wasn’t needed.
And also very fortunately that ended the rough part of my day! We headed up to The Retreat at Artesian Lakes for a day of rehearsing and a yummy lunch. Ahhhhhhh…
We sang for a couple of hours in the morning. They had coffee, tea, water, and soft drinks available for us, which was so nice.
Maybe not the most flattering picture of Meredith, but it’s an action shot!
Before lunch, we took a tour of their herb garden.
If you look closely in the next couple of pictures, you can see several people with their hands up to their faces. Our guide encouraged us to touch and taste the herbs as we walked through. Yum!
Here he is talking about something fascinating!
Group shot! I was the only one who brought a camera (It’s extremely rare for me not to have mine) so we’re stuck with the best quality my camera can produce. This one actually turned out pretty nicely.
This one’s a little fuzzier. Oh well! Here we all are in the dining room at the Hilltop restaurant.
We literally had a five course lunch. Oh my. You can see some of the remnants of appetizers in the background of this next picture. They included pickled shrimp with sauce, jalapeño jelly with cream cheese on toast, some kind of pastry stuffed with brie cheese and other goodness. Oh, man. Goooooood stuff! Then there was a simple but very fresh salad with delicious homemade dressings. And this loaf of bread baked in a flower pot. LOVE IT!! I want to bake bread in a flower pot!
The main course: pork tenderloin with rosemary sauce, rice pilaf, and zucchini stuffed with ratatouille. SO GOOD!
Even though I was very full at this point, I managed to polish off my chocolate cake topped with strawberries and raspberry sauce and chantilly cream. I didn’t eat the flower.
It really was way too much food for the middle of the day in the middle of a rehearsal, but IT WAS ALL SO GOOD! (And it’s not exactly like anybody was making me eat it ALL!)
After lunch we checked out the big ol’ turtles and alligators in the lake.
I never did see this guy move, but I’m still pretty sure it’s an alligator.
Another group shot. Again, not the best quality, but that’s okay!
There are two because Susie and Meredith swapped so that everyone could be in one picture.
We rehearsed for about three more hours in the afternoon (a little more sleepy and with not as much attention span…). It was such a wonderful day. I mean – singing, food, and time with grown-ups? Whoo hoo!!
No comments:
Post a Comment