Our Recent Trip to France
In late September 2026, Lea Ann and Gaye spent a week in France, 8 nights and 7 days to be exact. With full intention, this trip was taken at precisely the same time of year that our retreat will be in 2027. Our purpose was to live and breathe in the spaces for a bit where we will be on retreat. We spent two nights at La Domaine Madrona, three nights on the Mediterranean coast, and explored multiple small towns and local hikes in the area. Here are each of our personal reflections from our trip. Hopefully they will shed a bit more light on the wonder of this part of the world.
Lea Ann's Reflections
I have been home now for two weeks, and I can’t quit thinking about this most beautiful place. When I close my eyes, I see the landscaped gardens, the smooth terraces, the ancient stone house, and the gently swaying trees.
When I get still, I can hear again the deafening quiet, the soft hum of the bumblebees, the birds singing cheerily to me, and the wind in the trees. I can feel the soft breeze on my face and the warmth of the sun on my skin. This is La Domaine Madrona in an oasis of nature but luxuriously detailed in every way imagined in beauty and inviting hospitality.
When we arrived at Madrona, Holly (manager and decorator par excellence) gave us the keys to explore and make it our own for two days, I was overwhelmed with emotion at the grandeur and perfect symmetry of it all. This was a unique place indeed. Everywhere I looked invited me to stay for a while and take it all in. Everywhere I walked beckoned to reveal surprises I hadn’t even thought of yet.
Gaye and I took both of our evening meals outside on the huge “al fresco” family table. We cooked both evenings in the Madrona kitchen, surrounded by antiques and beautiful plates and glassware. We felt completely at home making this our own kitchen for two days: inviting and easy in every way.
I ended up sleeping in the only bedroom with south-facing windows. This room was named after the most sacred mountain in the Pyrenees: Canigou. All night long for two nights in a row, the full moon swept over the southern sky, serenading me with its song. Needless to say, it was hard to sleep.
I am so excited to be led to the place full of beauty and welcome. This is exactly what I was hoping for (and more). This most beautiful place is indeed magical and is beckoning me back. And it opens its arms to invite you to settle in as well.
Gaye's Reflections
I always feel it when I’m on a mountaintop, looking down on wisps of clouds and soaring hawks. I often feel it sitting with the shimmer of the quaking aspen in the fall.
It is the alignment of my spirit with all of creation. The knowing that this is my life, my contribution to the timeline that is humanity. And it is good, if fleeting…
And it’s there in the very fiber of Madrona and the countryside that holds it. Those walls have protected and comforted families and their animals through 800 years of living, loving, losing – births, deaths, joys and tragedies – and they embraced me too. They allowed me luxurious sleep, echoey laughter, vibrancy of color and deep feelings of peace and belonging.
I sat and listened to the silence. I allowed in the harmonious drone of bumblebees amid the lavender. I hiked past stone structures that have sheltered shepherds across the hillsides and discovered a sanctuary – St. Martin de la Roca – a medieval hilltop chapel that is still a shrine for believers and still revered.
The authenticity is astounding. Walking the uneven cobbles of Castelnou and breathing the air of ancestors is wonderous and rejuvenating. This juxtaposed with the lively chatter of artists and visitors in a myriad of galleries housed in the ancient labyrinth of the settlement. The azure of the Mediterranean and the history of Collioure was yet another marvel to be absorbed.
Words cannot contain or display the mystery, peace, and replenishment that I feel after the experience. You just have to be there.