You will self-transport to our retreat home in Taos from either ABQ or Santa Fe. Once you arrive, the immediate intimacy of this stunningly unique setting invites you to set your luggage down and take shelter. We’ll welcome you to our 4:30pm introductory meeting and Suzie will host the Initial Conversations about Creativity session. We’ll get to know each other as we enjoy a relaxed dinner at MDL.

“There is a vitality, a life-force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. It is not your business to decide how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.”

Martha Graham

Bring your coffee or tea along after breakfast and join us for Conversations in Creativity, Session #2 which will fill our morning. Our afternoon continues with time on your own before we head out to visit Taos Wools located in nearby Arroyo Seco, home to a small family business supporting local ranchers and sheep followed by a group Dinner in town tonight. 

“Artistic growth is, more than it is anything else, a refining of the sense of truthfulness.”  Willa Cather

It’s another cozy, warm breakfast today, followed by our Creative Conversations, Session #3 (A tease for you): the theme is Observing and Defining Your Creative Self. Hmmmm.  After our lunch at Mabel Dodge Luhan, you can enjoy a quiet afternoon on your own, wandering into town, or whatever your retreat-self needs.

We just might have a pizza dinner party at the Inn to welcome a NM photographer who finds inspiration photographing Route 66 and images of abandoned architecture. What a treat.

“To know ahead of time what you’re looking for means you’re then only photographing your own preconceptions, which is very limiting and often false”.  Dorothea Lange

Something different this morning; it might be winter out there, but once you don your swimsuit  and walk amongst the sundrenched thermal pools of Ojo Caliente, you are enveloped in pure bliss . Which thermal mineral waters (lithium, soda, arsenic and more) will you immerse yourself in? All, we hope. Feel free to bring a book along and sit in the high desert sun in between soaks. A towel is provided at Ojo, renting a robe is extra. Attitude adjustment costs nothing. 

You can grab lunch or a snack at the cafe before we return to the retreat house for Session #4 of Conversations in Creativity.

Lunch is on your own. Dinner is included tonight. 

“I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn't say any other way- things I had no words for.” Georgia O’Keefe

After breakfast we’ll engage in a special workshop learning to make contemporary texture paper using flax roving to form over a diverse variety of molds, choosing shapes that inspire your imagination. Once dried, you’ll embellish with various methods of mark-making and stitching. Getting creative throughout the process is The Plan. Our instructor, Jacqueline Mallegni, from nearby Arroyo Hondo, has an artists’ story to tell. An Italian-Mexican girl grew up in the Mission District of San Francisco in the 50s. She loved to crawl around in Mrs. McQuire’s garden snail hunting and being seduced by the scent of tomatoes and basil. She also loved making mud pies under the giant fig tree. After many years disassociating, she moved to the Sierra Nevada Foothills, where -unbeknown to her at the time - was an area where sheepherders drove their herds during the summer when it was too hot in the San Joaquin Valley. Her great-grandfather was a Basque sheepherder from Spain. She felt a sense of belonging in this little town of 50 inhabitants where sheep roamed free and like them, she found her freedom and her sense of being. 

Suzie will keep the creative fires burning for us after lunch, as we engage in Creative Conversations Session #5 in the afternoon.. 

Lunch is included. Dinner is on your own tonight.

“No gods, no masters”  Margaret Sanger

This morning we have a slow start with time to take a walk or enjoy some quiet. Then plan to have a guided tour of Taos Pueblo*, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We’ll return to Mable Dodge Luhan for our lunch and partake in the closing session of the Creative Conversations. 

Our closing dinner will be at Mabel Dodge Luhan.

*Unexpected closures do occur for religious activities and an unexpected death in the community. Taos Pueblo is a living community, there are rules and regulations to abide by during your visit.
“In wisdom gathered over time, I have found that every experience is a form of exploration.” Ansel Adams

It’s time to say goodbye and journey home holding this sentiment in our hearts:…..

....I found out that the sunshine in New Mexico could do almost anything with one: make one well if one felt ill, or change a dark mood and lighten it. Mabel Dodge Luhan

Suzie is an avid knitter, spinner, and all-around fiber enthusiast plus writer, gardener, adventurer and appreciator of both cityscape and landscape.  When she realized she could combine her love of making things with her love for travel and new experiences, she found her happy place! Suzie lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She’s the author and illustrator of The Nervous New Owner’s Guide to Angora Rabbits. No longer a fiber animal owner, she loves nothing more than visiting fiber animals someone else owns -- preferably in another country. She writes about her travel experiences at www.studiobriddsang.com

Colleen is knitting multiple projects right now, spinning hand-blended fibers on her Lendrum DT, and has found it difficult but not impossible to knit and watch a South Korean show on Netflix with subtitles at the same time. She is curious about makers' stories of the lineage and evolution of their craft and where to find truly awesome pie.  Her professional background in outdoor tour guiding and small business ownership makes a great match with RTT. Colleen loves to drive a convertible, swim in natural waters and hula hoops. Does she talk to her plants? That’s what her friends want to know.

Anna is an avid knitter and fledgling spinner with a general passion for all things fiber and textile. After being intimidated early in her crafting, Anna feels strongly about creating a welcoming environment within the fiber community for people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds. She enjoys knitting and fiber traveling, test and service knitting, a good challenge (knitting or otherwise), and is likely to have at least 3 WIPs at any one time. She lives with her husband and three fur babies (dogs) in Minnesota.