by WebPost | May 23, 2023 | Spring Retreat
BRING YOUR KAYAK TO SPRING RETREAT FOR AN AFTERNOON PADDLE
Another option on Saturday afternoon of Spring retreat, May 27, is kayaking on Amelia Lake which is just down the road from The Clearing. Amelia Lake is entirely within the Amelia Wildlife Management Area so each kayaker will need an access permit. A daily permit is $4 and can be purchased online. Go to https://gooutdoorsvirginia.com/ Next go to Licenses & Permits and Visit Site. You will then have to enroll. Then click on Make a Purchase and scroll down to Special licenses to find daily access permits.
Contact Roni Kingsley with questions
by WebPost | Apr 17, 2023 | Spring Retreat
Friends are invited to register for the 2023 Spring Retreat at The Clearing: Rooted in Community. This year we celebrate 40 years of stewardship of the retreat property in Amelia County. Join us over Memorial Day Weekend, May 26-28, for food, fellowship, sharing stories of The Clearing, and connecting as a community. Activities this year will include a writing workshop where Friends can put pen to paper via poetry or prose to write down memories and/or stories, including of The Clearing, opportunities to make audio recordings (and video, if that is preferred), and an art station where Friends can make Clearing-inspired art. Please see the tentative schedule below for other activities. Please be sure to register Sunday, May 21 so we can plan for you! Registration is online at this link: https://bit.ly/RFMRetreat2023.
Friday:
3pm: Earliest arrival time; check out a tent site/secure cabin accommodations
5:30-6:30 DIY Dinner with soup available
6:30 Clean up/Sign up for Chores!
7pm Possible Movie? and Popcorn; Board Games
9pm Dessert/Coffee/Conversation
Saturday:
7-9:30am Breakfast/Coffee/Conversation
9am Sign up for chores!
9:30am Cleanup
10-11:30am Rooted in Community: Stories of the Clearing (writing workshop led by Ted Heck)
11:45am - 12:15pm Lunch Prep
12:15pm LUNCH
1-2pm Lunch Cleanup
2pm Sign up for Chores!
2-4pm Games / Open Studio / Wonderful Water activity with Katy Rugg
4pm Watermelon Break
4:30 - 6pm Dinner Prep
6pm DINNER
7pm Clean-up; Fire Prep
8-10pm Fire Circle, Singing, and S’MORES!
Sunday:
7-9:30am Breakfast/Coffee/Conversation
9:30am -10:30 Strike/Cleanup
10:30am-11:30am Meeting for Worship
11:30am Cleaning
12:30 LEFTOVERFEST LUNCH
1pm Final Cleaning
3pm Go home 🙂
*Please note: This is a draft schedule and subject to change!
by WebPost | May 2, 2022 | Announcement, Spring Retreat
Please join us for the annual Richmond Friends Meeting Spring Retreat on Memorial Day Weekend, May 27 – 29, 2022! Our theme this year is Enlighten Up! In last month’s announcement, we told you a little about how Barb Adams and Mary Fran Hughes McIntyre will lead us in convening a Council of All Beings. Some of the elements that will make up this activity and experience will include:
- Taking on the persona of another being and (perhaps) making simple masks
- An exploration of our connections to the natural world around us through our senses, guided exploration, and small group sharing
- Sharing the difficulties and strengths of the beings we are embodyingWe expect this to be a fun and fulfilling multigenerational activity for those (roughly) ages 6 and up
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, after two years of virtual retreats, Spring Retreat will be back, in person, at The Clearing this year! This means we will be planning for food preparation as well as programming. It will be especially important for Friends to register so that we can plan for your participation.
One thing we did not mention in the May newsletter announcement is that there will be programming for younger children, but in order to plan for that, we do need to know that your children are coming! Please be sure to register and let us know so we can plan for them as well as you. We will also provide childcare, but we will need to know children will be at the retreat in order to arrange for adequate childcare.
There will be no fee to attend this year’s retreat, although donations are welcome. Please use this link to fill out our very brief registration form: https://bit.ly/RFMRetreat2022. We look forward to seeing you there!
Any questions can be directed to Ted Heck at 804-726-1056 or ted.heck@vdh.virginia.gov.
by WebPost | Mar 21, 2022 | Announcement, Spring Retreat
Please join us for the annual Richmond Friends Meeting Spring Retreat on Memorial Day Weekend, May 27 – 29, 2022! Our theme this year is Enlighten Up! Here is a little about our program for the weekend, which is being put together by our own Barb Adams and Mary Fran Hughes McIntyre:
We often hear that one of the reasons the climate crisis and other forms of degradation of the planet have advanced so far, so fast, is that the human species has been able to distance ourselves from the natural world as if we are separate from it - and feeling effects and impact less, or not at all. Some early ecologists, in a book called Think Like a Mountain, designed and initiated experiences to help humans shift perspectives and revive our deepest connections with the natural world by seeing the world through another being. Councils of All Beings have been crafted as brief as a one hour or up to a week-long experience, but always with a format of sharing perceptions and then "seeing" what needs to be done.
At this year's Spring Retreat, we would like to engage humans of all ages in a simple version of a Council and experience together the world through a different "lens" and see how we can help shift our awareness and as Friends follow the leadings that come from it.
After two years of virtual retreats, Spring Retreat will be back, in person, at The Clearing this year! This means we will be planning for food preparation as well as programming. It will be especially important for Friends to register so that we can plan for your participation. There will be no fee to attend this year’s retreat, although donations are welcome. Please use this link to fill out our very brief registration form: https://bit.ly/RFMRetreat2022. We look forward to seeing you there!
