Miscellaneous

We are happy to offer two options for the purchase of Picture Studies for those attending the retreat this year. Please read through the options carefully; option one is available by pre-order only.

OPTION ONE: A Humble Place is offering retreat attendees a 15% discount on Picture Study Aids, Art Prints, as well as Seasonal Art Devotions & Prints, limited to in-stock items. These items will be available for pick-up at the CMER Retreat (free shipping & handling) or may be shipped (standard shipping & handling fees apply). A coupon code and more details will be sent out via email.

OPTION TWO: The CMER will continue to have budget-quality art prints available for purchase at the retreat (no pre-order necessary). These will be $4 a set. This year we will have Bierstadt, Audubon, Remington, Vermeer, Gainsborough, and Millet. There will also be various artists available from previous years.

What is the difference between these offerings? 

• The prints available from A Humble Place are printed on the equivalent of 160# cardstock on a higher quality printer. Also available are Picture Study Aids which complement the prints. In addition, the prints from A Humble Place are unlabeled; they do not have the name of the artist or work on the front of the print. 
• The prints available from the CMER will be printed on 120# cardstock through Best Value Copy and most will have both the name of the artist and work on the front of the print.

But Cordeill said she lov'd him, as behoov'd:
    Whose simple answer, wanting colors fair
      To paint it forth, him to displeasance moov'd,
      That in his crown he counted her no heir,
But twixt the other twaine his kingdom whole did share.

Spenser’s The Fairie Queene Book II, Canto X

The Shakespeare evening would come to be looked on as a family festa.

Mason, Vol. 5, p.226

This year at the retreat, we will be offering a Shakespeare evening.  After a full day of workshops and sessions, we invite you to join us for a very relaxed and informal reading with the Bard. No preparation needed; scripts and a few props for fun will be provided. Spouses who join us on Saturday for the late afternoon/evening sessions are most welcome.

If you are not familiar with the storyline, read Nesbit’s brief story version here. And, if you would like to read a Parents’ Review article about King Lear, click here.

We are grateful that Tayde is returning this year to lead us in another beautiful handicraft: bookmarks. She has been working steadfastly behind the scenes to have this craft ready for us. We hope this craft will be a source of inspiration, relaxation, and sweet times crafting with friends.

Folksong for 2022 CMER

The Industrial Revolution impacted small communities such as the ones that author Thomas Hardy reimagined in his novel, Far From the Madding Crowd. It disrupted the local narrative that united the “eccentric individualities” that inhabit any locale. Communities were increasingly composed of those who had less and less in common. Less common history; less common legend and folk-lore. Less community.

Sharing something in common—beliefs, practices, history, a way of living, for example—shape us into a community.  We’ve all experienced how “bent leather” (Ourselves, p.75) can suddenly familiarize the unfamiliar and welcome the alien. It is an act of imagination and hospitality; an act of hope.

In February, we will kick-off our time together at CMER 2022 with a rousing celebration of the ordinary man—Robbie Burns’ folksong A Man’s A Man For A’ That.