“You can’t know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been.”
This quote popped into my head this morning as I was thinking about how much I love history, heritage, people’s stories. Maybe I made it up, but I don’t think so. Feeling incredibly inspired lately and even though doubts creep in, I am going to go as far as I can to create a particular dream. (Self-doubt being, “who do I think I am? I’m with Emily, I’m nobody, who are you?”)
The dream is an event for late fall 2010, something I’ve dreamed of for years, and as I watch other people doing this, I think why not me?
The food would all be sourced locally and when possible organic, including dairy, produce, coffee and the fabulous Iggy’s breads and such.
The place is amazing, having been in the same family for generations and borders a wildlife preserve. The property is on both sides of the street and you can walk down to Buttermilk Bay from the main house, Overbrook. Kofi and Erin’s organic farm, called Bay End is across the street. Kofi’s grandmother used to host artists there (Kahlil Gibran for one), and the dance hall was built for his aunt (Kofi’s) who was a ballet dancer.
It will be a small retreat (about 30 on-site attendees, 10 off-site nearby), and will be a different kind of art retreat. Many of the beds are doubles, but by the time this all comes together I expect the people drawn to this will be okay with that. I hope to share the development process here in all its bits and pieces as I manifest it, with back-story, more photos and so on. In the meantime, I leave you with a few pictures of the location, the southeastern Massachusetts woodlands on the shores of Buzzards Bay, known as the wrong side of the bridge, the land of King Philip and Hockamock Swamp.
To more photos (my camera battery was dying, my battery was dying — I saved as .gif files instead of .jpg and my editing skills are minimal, but you’ll get the idea of it anyway): 4 bed room, hallway, another view, great room, library, butler’s pantry, pantry, to the dance hall, dance hall, red room, blue room, aqua room, another 4 bed room, dining room, with my travel mug, king, queen, space
Wow ~ you are dreaming big, Michelle ~ good on you! X
Claire
you had me at emily dickinson! will be anxious to hear more as your dream plays itself out.
xo