Sometimes you just need to fill the well….
By Donna Alward
This past weekend was a fill-the-well weekend. I’m under a heavy deadline schedule this year, so I try to guard my downtime as ferociously as my work time because it’s needed – that old saying that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy is so true! And this past weekend was just PERFECT!
Every year one of my RWAC chapter mates and I (and sometimes a third person) give workshops at an event at Prescott House Museum in Starr’s Point, Nova Scotia. Prescott House is a gorgeous specimen, set in a tranquil spot in the fertile Annapolis Valley – one of my favorite places on earth. The summer event – Romancing The Writer – came about after I took my girls to visit the museum and began speaking to one of the staff. Two wonderful things happened that day. Margrete made it possible for me to do this workshop every summer, and talking to her and visiting the house inspired the setting for my upcoming book, THE HOUSE ON BLACKBERRY HILL. Not bad for an afternoon of playing hooky!
The weather has been gorgeous all three years now and we were set up under the Japanese Heartnut tree in the backyard. There are usually some familiar chapter faces mixed in with a new crowd of writers, a few who write Romance and others who just love writing. At noon, the staff brings out a lunch of sandwiches, fruit, cheese, and sweets for us to nosh on and then it’s back to work. We break things up about three o’clock, and those of us in the RWAC chapter usually head to The Port Pub in Port Williams for something cold to drink and a snack. Saturday my pal Kelly and I split a plate of Potato Skins that were to die for.
The area is quite agricultural, so we also made a stop at Fox Hill Cheese and Noggins’ Farm Market- though we left out stopping at a winery which we must rectify next year. 
The workshop itself costs $10 and as my co-presenter Michelle Helliwell said, it’s the best $10 you can spend in the summer. It’s a real fill-the-writer-well kind of day.
Yesterday was a quiet family day at home. As the girls started cleaning (yay for that!) the husband and I went for a coffee and then stopped at a moving sale and talked to a neighbour who is leaving for out west. We came home and he mowed the grass while the girls and I finished cleaning. The afternoon was spent in the pool, sipping strawberry coladas, and ended with a roast beef dinner with the fresh veggies I bought the day before. Last night I enjoyed a glass of wine and read while the dh played the game-du-jour online with his brother.
Am I ready to work today? You bet. Sometimes the time off is so important just to recharge! Besides, everyone deserves some summer relaxation, and August is passing by so quickly that it’ll soon be fall.
What was the last thing you did that was super-relaxing and recharging? I enjoyed reading this weekend so I’ll give away a book (winner’s choice, as long as I still have it!) to one commenter!
