Sabbatical - My spiritual retreat begins

Well the final week has begun.  I will spend this last time on a spiritual retreat focused on writing up my project at Holy Cross Monastery in West Park NY.  The setting is beautiful (this is the church at right where I've worshiped twice so far).  The grounds look pretty much like what you'd expect from a monastery (or a private school).  The grounds run down to the Hudson River.  I hope to have photos to share (oooh, I think I forgot my cable for my camera.  So photos may have to wait till I'm back.  Sorry).
My hope, goal and intent is to get virtually the entire first draft finished before I leave.  I certainly have the right environment for it.  My cell (yes that's what they call the rooms in the Guesthouse) is on the third floor at the southern end of the building.  I have two windows that look out over the grounds with a view of the river to my left.  I can actually get the Guesthouse wifi (located on the first floor in the Library) up here so I can actually write in my room with connection if I want.  My goal is to be pretty much shut down as far as social networking for the week.  These posts should post on Facebook but I won't be checking it. 

Having said all that I got off to a fairly typical start for me.  Which means my visit with my friends at Natural Stone Bridge and Caves (if you love hiking and the outdoors and caves and running water and the like this should be a must see.  It's only a 7 hour drive from my corner of the state, lots of places to stay, all of Adirondack Park to explore as well.  Plus a WONDERFUL place to explore.  The current owners include a boyhood friend of my brothers and mine.  They've done a great job.  Here ends the gratuitous commercial plug!) and so I was running late. 

Did I mention it snowed while I was there?  And that just north of there was expecting up to a foot of new snow today?

Anyway all was well till I got to Kingston NY where my handy-dandy instructions told me to get off.  Sadly the instructions and reality do not match.  So I got lost.  No worries.  I pull out my handy-dandy iPhone and use it's GPS function.  Which sent me to the middle of nowhere.  Figuring I had just not given specific enough directions I had it look up Holy Cross and said "Go There".  Which promptly informed me that I needed to be on the EASTERN side of the Hudson.  I was pretty certain that was wrong.  In fact I was CERTAIN that was wrong.  So I called Holy Cross.  Turns out I was on the right side of the river and on the correct road.  Trying to read the directions had caused me to glance down at just the wrong moment and I missed the sign!  Yes, I drove right past it.  With a little coaching from Laurie in the office I got turned around and into the house in short order.

Where I promptly broke a house rule.  Sigh.  Wanting to let my lady wife know that I was in and safe I called her from my room.  10 minutes later I read the rule that said "No cellphones in the Guesthouse".  Nice, Jay.  So the cellphone has been turned off.  I'll check it a couple times a day just to make sure nothing urgent has come up.  So for all my friends, family and other beloveds, try to have anything urgent happen this week.  K? Thnx.  Bye.

More later.