I guess, it’s the time to write about my retreat in the past tense. Let’s start then from very beginning. What is it a retreat and why do I needed, if I do? First of all, I have to admit, that I failed to find an equivalent for this word in Russian, when I was trying to explain the idea to my Mom. She kept asking the questions that meant to help me to find a right word: “Is it a vacation”? No! “Is a photography training session”? Nooo! “Is it a prayer”? Not really! Hmmm! So, the best and only explanation that came up with was: That’s the time that I am going to take to be with myself, to look around and understand and appreciate these great things that I do have and usually take for granted. Like what? Like our senses, I can see, hear, touch, smell and taste the world around me. They say that often to be able to value something or somebody, you need that something or somebody to be gone. I hope it’s not the only way to do it. So, it came as an idea and stayed as an idea in my mind for a long time. To understand what is happening to me when interact with different objects through my senses. How the new knowledge gets involved with the things that I know about the world already. I assume when you are 5 years old, it’s all different, it’s all new - you learn every day, and it all keep coming. But as we grow older, there is so little room for the discoveries of that kind. So, just to try to put into words and obviously into photographs, emotions, senses and thoughts, just to try and see what happens! I was asked why do I need such a foolish thing, like to try to photograph the stuff like a sound or smell or taste. My only answer is: it’s not for the experiment sake or because I got else nothing to do with my time, I needed to boost my imagination and creativity; it seems to be the right way to go.
The plan: to have 7 days, each of them with a specific theme associated with one of the senses and very flexible structure of this kind: breakfast – an inspirational movie or reading (I had a number of books and movies, mostly on creative photography and artisanal bread baking) – a walk and taking pictures outside for about 2 hours – lunch – processing the photographs on computer – a walk – a talk (with Sister Peggy MacFarlane, who was my retreat accompanier, a lovely lady whose eyes shine with a wonderful mix of kindness and curiosity) – dinner – an inspirational movie or reading. I think I found quite a good structure for the retreat, when I had a point of focus or task and the same time, I wasn’t trapped into following the prearranged schedule. It was open and flexible enough for me not to think that I need make a number of pictures or anyway to watch or read something that wasn’t relevant to my day.
The main theme of the retreat was: “When you can't find peace within yourself, it's useless to seek it elsewhere.” French proverb
Here how it went day by day:

To EXPLORE “I hear and I forget, I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” Chinese proverb
To SEE “Go as far as you can see, and when you get there you'll see further.” Kenyan proverb
To HEAR “There is plenty of sound in an empty barrel.” Russian proverb
To SMELL “The tip of a finger cannot be touched by itself.” Sanskrit proverb
To TOUCH “Every flask smells of the wine it contains.” Spanish proverb
To TASTE “Who has never tasted what is bitter does not know what is sweet”. German proverb

The location of the retreat: The Ruah (“The spirit” from Hebrew) Hermitage, at Bethany center, Antigonish. A nice and a bright place with a touch of luxury, one big room, half a bedroom, half a living room with an electric fireplace, the place has very high ceiling, an electric heating including a floor heater in the bathroom (there is a nice bathroom!!!) lovely furniture and very comfortable bed, full size kitchen with a stove and a fridge. The Hermitage is located on the grounds of Bethany center, at the beginning of a beautiful trail, in the place where the nature and multiple signs suggest being quiet and respectful. I have been here already, but it was in summer, when the place is green and blooming. Now it’s all look completely different, white and soft, that’s why actually the theme of the first day was to “discover”.
It’s all about how the difference matters, how important to be yourself, to know your limits and not to try to be stronger then you are, about how small things may have a huge impact on the big picture, how something soft and flaky, being paced between two extremes, like cold and hot, may become solid, beautiful and strong. What do I pay attention to when I see the things, is the object SOLID or LIQUID or GAS? Is it OPAQUE or TRANSLUCENT? Is it a MONOCOLOR or MIXED one, with the PATTERNS? Is it BRIGHT or DARK? What about its surface? Does it have a TEXTURE or it is FLAT? MAT or REFLECTIVE? As well as DIMENSION, PROPORTION, DISTANCE, PERSPECTIVE! How to capture the sound? How to put it into words and to have the starting point!
Is the sound QUIET or LOUD? LOW or HIGH? SHORT or LONG? HAPPY or SAD or STRESSFUL or CALM? BACKGROUND or DOMINANT? From all these and many others questions came out the photos.