Next Tea n Talk
Saturdays at 2:00 pm Central time
June 28 - Pat H will host, Marissa is our Zoomtech
September 20 - Sage H will host
2026: January 17 - host to be announced
If you would like the Zoom link, email
Spring 2025 Retreat
MAY 29 - JUNE 1, 2025
Once again we returned to the lovely Pilgrim Park near Princeton, IL.
Wisconsin author and speaker Peighton Carter led a discussion on coping with disabilities for their keynote! Pey's afternoon workshop was a Quaker-style silent service with opportunity to release anger by writing a statement on paper and burning it in a cauldron outside the hall.
Pey is an advocate with speaking experience on disabilities, inclusion and accessibility, Post-Traumatic Stress, veterans issues, and military sexual assault. Pey and their daughter have also written a book about coping with EDS, "Bendy Bones and Stretchy Skin."
Connection Council member Gretchen O was our Lead for this retreat, Nyx and Sydney took care of Registrar duties, Pat H wrote us some lovely rituals, and Janet scheduled Workshops.
Sage H organized the big sale of gently used items that past council member Deb Czarnopys-White donated, such as CDs, colorful scarves, and goddess figurines, plus the elegant gong that went home with Tori! You helped us raise over $300!
2025 Winter Retreat Report
It turned out the weather was beautiful the weekend of Jan31-Feb. 2, 2025 for the first annual Winter Retreat sponsored by Women’s Connection. My good friend, Dana, and I (well actually she was behind the wheel) drove down to Harpole's Heartland Lodge outside of Nebo, Illinois, normally used as a hunting lodge. We were rewarded with a warm welcome from our sisters when we arrived around 7:30 p.m.
There were 21 of us in all. The lodge was full. Kathy Miller, an amazing organizational force with the food and everything else, and Diana DeWeese and Elaine Orr were her capable and faithful assistants in the kitchen. The food was great, plentiful, and delicious. There was a nice big dining room table at which to gather, and the rest of us ate in the great room.
There were some new faces at this retreat, as well as some faces we have not seen for some time. Such a welcome sight!
We had two very fun workshops. In honor of Imbolc, Diana DeWeese showed us how to begin the process of planting seeds by moistening a paper towel, sprinkling the seeds atop, and then moistening another paper towel and putting that over the first; making a little paper towel sandwich for the seeds. We put our “sandwich” into a baggie and popped it into the refrigerator. This process is called “Cold Stratification.” Very fun. We took our seeds home and they are now in our refrigerators awaiting germination, at which time they will be delicately transferred to a pot. We also layered different bulbs in a pot and now await their blooming. What a lovely reminder of Imbolc.
