Schedule of Events & Speakers

August 2025 Book Club Event: After Annie by Anna Quindlen

Saturday, August 16, 2025 from 11AM-1PM

Cost: FREE Event!

REGISTER HERE

Hosted by Heather Gray
We will be discussing the fiction novel After Annie by Anna Quindlen.
Book Description
"Anna Quindlen’s trademark wisdom on family, friendship, and the ties that bind us are at the center of this novel about the power of love to transcend loss and triumph over adversity, by the author of Still Life with Bread Crumbs and One True Thing.
When Annie Brown dies suddenly, her husband, her children, and her closest friend are left to find a way forward without the woman who has been the lynchpin of all their lives. Bill is overwhelmed without his beloved wife, and Annemarie wrestles with the bad habits her best friend had helped her overcome. And Ali, the eldest of Annie’s children, has to grow up overnight, to care for her younger brothers and even her father and to puzzle out for herself many of the mysteries of adult life.
Over the course of the next year what saves them all is Annie, ever-present in their minds, loving but not sentimental, caring but nobody’s fool, a voice in their heads that is funny and sharp and remarkably clear. The power she has given to those who loved her is the power to go on without her. The lesson they learn is that no one beloved is ever truly gone.
Written in Quindlen’s emotionally resonant voice and with her deep and generous understanding of people, After Annie is about hope, and about the unexpected power of adversity to change us in profound and indelible ways."
For any questions or concerns, please contact Heather Gray at heather2@hopefloatswellness.com

Registration is required.

For more information, contact us at 781-585-4221 ext. 106 or info@hopefloatswellness.org

Surviving Grief – A Transformative Workshop with Gary Sturgis

Saturday, September 6, 13, 20, 27, 2025 from 1:00-2:30PM (4 Sessions)

Cost: $125 (covers all 4 sessions; includes required workbook)

REGISTER HERE

Hosted by Gary Sturgis
Join Gary Sturgis, bestselling author of SURVIVING GRIEF – 365 DAYS A YEAR
and The SURVIVING GRIEF Workbook, for a powerful four-session workshop designed to help you navigate your own personal experience with grief.
Inspired by the principles outlined in his acclaimed workbook, Gary will guide you through practical tools, compassionate insights, and supportive exercises that empower you to work through the pain, honor your journey, and discover how to live your life with more love than sorrow.
Through a blend of reflection, discussion, and proven daily practices, you’ll learn not only to survive your grief, but to move forward with hope, resilience, and renewed connection. Whether you’re grieving a loss or supporting someone through grief, this workshop is a safe and welcoming space for healing and growth.

Any questions? Please email info@hopefloatswellness.com for assistance or more information.

Oil Painting Workshop with a Twist for the Beginner to the Intermediate…(Adults)
Reawaken Your Creative Soul and Learn to Paint

Tuesdays 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (6-week session)
Starts: Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Ends: Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Instructor:  Laura Tryon Jennings, CAGs
Registration is required
Fee: $225 (plus $30 supply fee if needed or desired). Limited space available.

Tap into an extraordinary resource: the vibrant, vital force of your own creative character in a nurturing, encouraging, and safe environment and discover your distinctive path to oil painting. You only need bring the willingness to give up any attachment to feeling you have no talent or creativity. The focus of this workshop is to enjoy the creative experience and self-nurturing qualities oil painting can provide to your soul. It offers a unique blend of learning the basics of oil painting materials, foundations of color theory, color mixing, composition and working with the flow of the creative process to awaken creative spirit, remember playfulness, and open a fuller expression of authentic self by nurturing your essence. Artist Jennings approaches teaching each student individually, so they can paint freely, at their own level, and paint a subject (landscape, still life, portrait, abstract, interior, etc. from life and/or from a photograph) befitting their skills and needs. The workshop can be used as a vehicle for expression, playing with paint, learning the techniques of oil painting, and/or to have instructional oil painting, which means you truly can be a beginner, intermediate, or simply get a feel for oil painting. All supplies will be provided for $30 or bring your own supplies if you prefer.

For students who have absolutely no background in painting and desire instructional painting, one or two private classes with Laura may be recommended before jumping into a six-week session. If this isn’t feasible, Laura asks for patience, particularly on the first day, and encourages you to contact her with your email and phone number so she can connect with you at least one week before class: LTryonJennings@gmail.com, 781-837-7982.

There is a 12-student maximum.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED. For more information contact Hope Floats at 781-585-4221.

Make-up classes will be scheduled by the instructor only in the event they are cancelled due to weather or if the instructor cancels. No refunds, credits, or pro-rates. The Art Complex Museum in Duxbury and Hope Floats in Kingston have kindly agreed one make-up class per session can be made up at the other venue. This gives you five days to choose from to make up a class if you need to make-up a day. (No make-up on the first day of a new session). At least 24 hour notice is required to make up a class.

In case of inclement weather there will be a make-up class scheduled after the last class of each session.