The Samadhi is the one-day replacement for the old Meditative Intensive Retreat at The DeKoven Center. I enjoy this retreat for a lot of reasons, and feel that if I can only go once a year, this is the time. It’s good to see the “regulars” every year, and good to walk the grounds and visit the gardens. And this has always been a vegan-friendly retreat — whether intentionally, or accidentally. So I make it a point to go.

This time I was afraid it wouldn’t be vegan-friendly, since I was advised that it would be a good idea to bring something to eat. So I made sure I had a breakfast, and brought granola bars & sunflower seeds, just in case. I just had orange juice and coffee in the morning, since I don’t know what’s in Racine Kringle. But for lunch, I could eat virtually everything. There was a huge tossed salad with a variety of salad dressings, bowls of garbanzo beans and peas (and cheddar cheese & cottage cheese for those who wanted it) for the tossed salad. There was three-bean salad & beets. There were also crescent rolls & cookies, which I didn’t take. (Half & Half and butter was on the table, but I didn’t need anything for my coffee.) So I had plenty to last me.

Anyway, I took pictures of the grounds again this year, and also of a captivating icon, which was the most memorable thing I saw all day. Icons’ significance usually elude me. I get the symbolism of the James DeKoven icon, where he’s holding the church and chalice, and has three bishop mitres embedded in his halo. And I have put my own significance on the animal icons that Kathrin Burleson wrote. But the one I saw today didn’t need explanation at all, and is worthy for a wider audience.

So here are the pictures I took today:

This is Taylor Hall, where the retreats are held.

This is (apparently) the cook’s herb garden.

The two above are views of the King’s Way garden.

This is the building where the swimming pool is, behind the King’s Way garden.

Those three are different areas of the Secret Garden.

Those above are pictures of the gardens by the east buildings.

This is a tree stump with a pot of impatiens in it, in the Bishop’s Garden.

I took this picture of a tree by the parking lot, when my first thought was “pitiful misshapen tree”, followed by a second thought, “There’s nothing pitiful about it. It’s green and healthy looking.” And it’s allowed to grow in a prominent place.

Here’s the icon that I mentioned. You can click to see an enlarged version:

Not to take away from that in any way, I decided to post pictures of the others I referred to at the top, in case you didn’t click on the links….

(I won a prize for recognizing who this was, in a contest on another website whose URL I can’t find, about a year ago. It might have been the only question I answered correctly.)

(I was given a postcard/bookmark of this, and it’s posted on the wall of my cubicle at work.)