Wine Tasting & Picnic

So, these are some photos of the wine tasting and picnic we all had at the beginning of August at Chateau La Villatade.

In the photos, above and below, are the Morin and Fanning families as well as all of our August attendees :

poets Tadgh O Dushlaine, Ted Deppe, Annie Deppe, Michael O'Loughlin and Judith Mok,

artists Jane Hoople and Rachael Peacock, and

novelists Julianne Mooney and Sue Hubbard.

Judith was also working on a novel and sang some beautiful old Irish songs after the picnic.

Below, the amazing "Rituel" red!

July Potluck

Here's a couple of photos from last month's end of retreat potluck dinner.

We fired up the bread oven and the poet Elizabeth Knapp (green top on the right) made a cool vegetarian/Sicilian pizza which Kerry is cutting on the left.

John and Kerry made a leg of lamb stuffed with sardines and garlic and it was fun doing it and all the other stuff in the bread oven.


Below, Robert Olmstead with Julianne Mooney and Bob's famous oatmeal raisin cookies. They were goooood! Julianne was working on her young adult novel for the month and Robert was working on the sequel to his last novel Coal Black Horse.


Robert and Denise Oventile, below. Robert was working on a book about Satan and Denise was working on her art. Robert's book Impossible Reading: Idolatry and Diversity in Literature just came out.