Thank You Note from Terri

I would like to say a very warm thank-you to the Prince of Wales women who were a part of the October retreat!!  You were awesome!  In all of my travels I have never seen such a giving & genuine group of people.  Where do I begin?  Well, for starters, thank you to those of you who shared fish and home-canned jellies, sea asparagus, etc.!  It was like Christmas for my family when I came home.  Even though it was nearly midnight, they had to open a can of smoked salmon to taste as I did "show & tell" about my visit to POW.  Since then we've had fish pretty much every day---and you don't know what a treat it is to us Coloradoans!  I took halibut to my son's football banquet and people went nuts over it!  (You would have thought I had robbed the king's pantry!)  The native doll is just beautiful.  Thank you, Tiny Nickerson, for your beautiful craftsmanship, and Mary Ellen Skinna for thoughtfully selecting it.  It is on my piano so my students can enjoy.  The signed books are also very special:  Barbara Joosse's Momma Do You Love Me? is precious.  And Children of the Midnight Sun, with Selena Tolson on the cover, is full of interesting information as well as great pictures.  I want to thank Selena's mother for the beautifully hand-woven rose in a bottle.  Thank you, dear retreat committee, for the Black Hills gold, whale's-tale necklace.  What a special reminder it will be to me of my time with you!  And thank you, Mr. Roy Auker, for shipping to my family the tremendous box of salmon & halibut.  Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Charles Haydu  for your generous donation to the cause.  (And thank you, retreat committee, for the salmon cookbook, which is proving invaluable!)  The list goes on and on, and I know I will leave some of you out.  Perhaps I should just conclude by saying thank you for sharing yourselves with me, which was the most precious gift of all.  Your hospitality and friendship have been a treasure to me.  If you have access to my website, www.territedford.com, I hope to very soon post photos and some follow-up comments to the retreat.  (I've loved hearing from many of you by email already.)  Thanks again, and God bless each of you!